'Nightmare Cinema' Trailer: This Horror Anthology Movie Has Five Stories To Die For

Mickey Rourke is the projectionist from hell in Nightmare Cinema, a new horror anthology film coming to Shudder. Featuring five tales of terror from recognizable horror filmmakers, the film follows a group of potential victims who have their worst fears projected onto the screen of a creepy, run-down theater. Watch the Nightmare Cinema trailer below.

I'm a big fan of the horror anthology movie format. Instead of one story, you get several. Which gives you multiple options for something exciting. Of course, more often than not, anthology films have a few duds in their lineup. But as long as the majority of the stories end up being entertaining, I'm satisfied. Shudder has a new anthology film bearing their name: Nightmare Cinema, featuring shorts directed by Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers), Joe Dante (Gremlins), David Slade (30 Days of Night), Ryuhei Kitamura (Downrange) and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead).

In Nightmare Cinema, "a series of down-on-their-luck individuals enter the decrepit and spine-chilling Rialto theater, only to have their deepest and darkest fears brought to life on the silver screen by The Projectionist – a mysterious, ghostly figure who holds the nightmarish futures of all who attend his screenings. By the time our patrons realize the truth, escape is no longer an option. For once the ticket is torn, their fate is sealed at Nightmare Cinema."

The increasingly raspy Mickey Rourke plays the projectionist of the theater, and it's clear he's going to chew scenery, once he catches his breath. Mick Garris directs the linking wraparound segments with Rourke; "The Thing in the Woods", directed by Alejandro Brugués, is "a pastiche which throws in every cliche from slashers to alien spiders." Joe Dante's "Mirare" focuses on "the weirder aspects of cosmetic surgery philia, taking it far beyond any logical conclusion." "Mashit",  from director Ryûhei Kitamura, "takes place in a Boarding School where staff and pupils are possessed by demons." David Slade helms "This Way to Egress", which is "filmed in dark monochrome, a woman loses touch with reality and seems to have crossed into a frightening parallel universe." And "Dead" directed by Garris again, is "set in a hospital where a boy fights evil spirits and a real life murder."

I have high hopes for this, and my Now Scream This co-writer Matt Donato gave the film a good review, writing: "Nightmare Cinema works the format and brings legends together in a freakish, enthralling callback to similar anthology concept The Theatre Bizarre. It's Masters of Horror Lite, which certainly isn't a bad thing."

Nightmare Cinema will open in limited theaters and on VOD platforms June 21, 2019, and then I assume it will end up on Shudder.