Other movies in this series:
Please see the Nightmares and Dreamscapes page.

Rish's Reviews
"Battleground" is one of Stephen King's earliest short stories. It's a good one, though. An assassin kills a toymaker and gets away scott free. But then a mysterious package arrives at his doorstep. A package full of army toys. Very effective army toys.
The story always had a great concept, but I was surprised at how wonderfully executed it all was. I suppose they had to start the series off with the best episode, to hook the most viewers, but man, was this good. It was a little longer than the other episodes in the series too, if I remember, being presented without commercials.
Basically a one-man show, William Hurt is excellent as the professional and cold-blooded hit man, in over his head against a miniature army. I'm not really sure how they pulled them off, either. Sometimes they looked like real people, sometimes they looked like computer effects. Sometimes I wondered if they mightn't be puppets (after all, we had a Henson directing it). However they did it, they did well.
There's no way toy soldiers can be scary, right? Well, if it's at all possible, this one comes closest.
Posted: August 28, 2006

The tyranist's thoughts
I have to admit that I've never read the King story this was based on. I consider myself well read, but when it comes to the King canon, Rish is years ahead of me there.
Even so, this was a delightful, if sort of brutal, movie. The ideas of toys coming to life is as old as they come and there are literally dozens of movies (both horror and non-) that deal with the theme. Few of them rise to the level of entertainment that this one has.
The little soldiers are so well done that I don't think for a second, I thought it unlikely that they could possibly inflict the damage they were inflicting. And possibly even more amazing is how little dialogue there is. Many weaker filmmakers would have given us at least a voice-over to provide some background exposition, but this was so well done that is was completely unnecessary.
This was a perfect start to the Nightmares and Dreamscapes series. And of those I've seen so far, easily the best. But they'll keep me watching, hoping that another gem like this one comes along.
Posted: August 29, 2006

Total Skulls: 7

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?