Nightmare Cafe: Aliens Ate My Lunch (1992)
Wes Craven helped produce and write the "Nightmare Cafe" series, which aired on NBC but was canceled after just six episodes due to poor ratings. Craven stepped up as director on the sixth episode, which like the previous five were narrated by Robert Englund who also played a brief part here.
The story has a conspiracy reporter arriving in a small town where he decides to tell the locals that various aliens have been spotted in the area. He plants the idea in everyone's head and then gives them some fake evidence, which turns out to be his downfall when the people take his lies as the truth.
This is the only episode I've seen in the series so I can't judge the entire thing but if they're anything like this then I'm really not overly fond in checking them out. It's clear that this here wanted to be something like The Twilight Zone and while there are some good moments, for the most part the episode is rather forgettable. Craven does a nice job with the atmosphere and keeping the film at a very silly, low-key level. However, there's really nothing overly funny here and I'd argue that nothing really stands out either. Englund plays two small roles here and is good in both but even he can't save it.
Episode: C+
Wes Craven helped produce and write the "Nightmare Cafe" series, which aired on NBC but was canceled after just six episodes due to poor ratings. Craven stepped up as director on the sixth episode, which like the previous five were narrated by Robert Englund who also played a brief part here.
The story has a conspiracy reporter arriving in a small town where he decides to tell the locals that various aliens have been spotted in the area. He plants the idea in everyone's head and then gives them some fake evidence, which turns out to be his downfall when the people take his lies as the truth.
This is the only episode I've seen in the series so I can't judge the entire thing but if they're anything like this then I'm really not overly fond in checking them out. It's clear that this here wanted to be something like The Twilight Zone and while there are some good moments, for the most part the episode is rather forgettable. Craven does a nice job with the atmosphere and keeping the film at a very silly, low-key level. However, there's really nothing overly funny here and I'd argue that nothing really stands out either. Englund plays two small roles here and is good in both but even he can't save it.
Episode: C+
