Nightmare Cinema
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, your worst nightmares get wine pairings.
Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker was released in 1981 the first time around. You may have caught it in re-release, retitled as Night Warning.
William Asher directed, and you may recognize his name from the early days of television. He directed Our Miss Brooks, I Love Lucy, and many other seminal series. He had a hand in Bewitched, too, on the TV screen. By the way, he was married to Elizabeth Montgomery at the time, everyone’s favorite witch. Considering his sitcom beginnings, it’s more than a little strange to see his talents go to a movie which features murder, incest, and homosexuality.
Jimmy McNichol got the starring role of Billy, the nice teenager who is gifted by the universe with some really terrible luck. Susan Tyrrell played the role of Billy’s Aunt Cheryl, and she Baby Jane’d the hell out of it. There’s a twist in the film, and as a result of it, you probably don’t want to put Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker or Night Warning on your Mother’s Day viewing card.
The Butcher Blaufränkisch hails from Burgenland, Austria. Don’t fear the fränkisch, it’s thought of as the Pinot Noir of the east due to its popularity in eastern Europe. In the US, some call it Lemberger. $25
https://buywinesonline.com/
In 1994, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare gave Freddy Krueger a new spin. In this seventh film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Krueger is a fictional character who gets into the real world to torment those who are making movies about him. How meta.
It is a kick to see the actors and others associated with the film series as real and fictional characters. Even as real people, they’re still actors portraying real people, pretending to interact with their actor selves. Whoa, man, I think I need to sit down for a minute.
The Elm Street movies are undeniably popular. I mean, they just keep on coming. I’m not watching them, but someone is. They scare me too much. I sit with my hand over my eyes, waiting for the Carfax Fox to make everything all better. “Maybe I’m watching too much television,” he realizes, way too late to do anything about it. How meta.
For a Wes Craven production, let’s sip a bottle from Craven Wines of South Africa. No relation. From Chenin Blanc to Syrah, the Craven line sells for around $20 a bottle.
Nightmare Cinema comes from 2018 and is a horror anthology featuring segments directed by, among others, TFH’s very own chief guru Joe Dante. There are also works included by Alejandro Brugués, TFH guru Mick Garris, Ryūhei Kitamura, and David Slade.
Mickey Rourke plays the projectionist at a movie theater that shows films depicting the worst fears of the audience. Yeah, I know, you thought that was Melania. Well, strap yourself in and get set for segments on slasher killers, sex demons and an alternate reality experienced while waiting for a doctor’s appointment. Hey, wait, that’s actually happened to me. My insurance didn’t cover it.
Washington state winery The Walls has a Tempranillo they call a Wonderful Nightmare, Hemingway’s description of the running of the bulls in Pamplona. I’ll leave that sort of thing to other fools. A Nightmare Cinema sounds dangerous enough for me.
https://www.thewallswines.com/wines/wonderfulnightmare/
Randy Fuller
NowAnd Zin Wine – www.nowandzin.com
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