Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (TV Mini Series) Battleground (2006) User Reviews

Some of the best TV I've ever seen

[diana-2 · 8/10 · 26 February 2010]

No dialogue and no commercial interruptions... How much better can it get?! This was some of the best TV I have ever seen! I was wowed by the suspense, William Hurt's presence and the fascinating toy soldiers.

William Hurt has aged and I couldn't take my eyes off him. His face was an enigma itself. He's a hardened hit-man who has to outsmart some tiny, but committed adversaries, and one just can't figure out how it will end up.

The most amazing part was watching a TV show with no dialogue! All action! William Hurt, fine actor that he is, is just the perfect choice for such a difficult role.

I wish there were more shows like this, but, sadly, there haven't been. Thank you, Stephen King!

But all I can say is thank goodness William Hurt is back!

BTW, his IMDb biography is missing all the interesting parts of his life. I heard him on a radio interview the other day, and I think his life story would make one hell of a book! He was reticent to talk about himself but what did come out was FASCINATING!

Give us more, Bill!

Very entertaining.

[Hey_Sweden · 8/10 · 11 May 2012]

This debut episode in the 'Nightmares & Dreamscapes' miniseries based on Stephen King stories is an adaptation of the short story that appeared in the "Night Shift" collection. There's no fooling around here: this is a straightforward suspense / action flick with a fair amount of gore and a very game performance by William Hurt. 'Battleground' doesn't waste time with filler, it just has fun with its utterly fantastic premise. Hurt plays Jason Renshaw, a highly capable professional hit man who as the story begins executes the boss of a toy company. Shortly after, he retires to his snazzy residence in a high rise apartment building, and receives a package in the mail. This package turns out to be full of toy soldiers, their weapons, and vehicles. That may sound harmless, but these things have a life of their own, and are able to inflict serious damage on our protagonist. During one eventful night, he and the toy soldiers have it out in their own private battle. Adding to the amusement factor, there's a nice nod to the classic "Amelia" segment of the 1975 TV horror anthology 'Trilogy of Terror' and at one point fans of Kings' work will be reminded of his story "The Ledge" which got adapted as the middle segment of the 1985 anthology "Cat's Eye". Director Brian Henson, son of the legendary Jim Henson, directs with efficiency, with adapting honours going to Richard Christian Matheson, son of the equally legendary Richard Matheson. The special effects here are truly impressive, not to mention the ingenious camera-work. This helps the viewer to truly be swept into the action, along with music by Jeff Beal that keeps the momentum going. Dialogue is kept to a bare minimum; in fact, Renshaw, the only principal human character, utters not a word during the whole thing. Actions speak louder than words here. However, it is nice to see Bruce Spence from "The Road Warrior" as the victim at the beginning and Mia Sara (who would go on to marry Henson) from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" as the lovely passenger on the plane. This is just pure fun, this episode, and a pretty respectful adaptation of the story. It's not without humour, which is another good thing. All in all, these are 55 minutes that go by quickly enough. Eight out of 10.

Best episode of the series

[tisthammerw · 9/10 · 4 January 2023]

If you're looking for a horror story, this ain't it, despite ultimately deriving from Stephen King. "Battleground" is nonetheless a cool and entertaining fantasy story in which toys come to life to avenge the death of the toymaker against the assassin who killed him.

In the hands of lesser writers, the choice to have no meaningful audible dialogue (apart from stuff like grunts and yells) in the episode would feel gimmicky, but in this case the artsy choice worked well.

Odd as it may seem, genuine tension exists as the toys struggle to take down their murderous foe and it had me hooked until the satisfying end.

Vintage Stephen king!! And the great bill hurt!!

[joiningjt · 10/10 · 6 June 2020]

If you saw prey in trilogy of terror and liked it, who didnt!! Then this is a must see absolutely amazing!!

Puritanism on the battleground...

[dedeurs · 8/10 · 3 May 2019]

A swimming pool in your living room. Okay, mega rich Americans, every American movie has one, I can go with that. The man lives alone (at least on that particular day he is). Okay, I'm a penniless and thus unattractive widower myself, but it's still fine with me, no reality clash here. We then see the guy - who is watched by no other living person - lowering himself into his indoor swimming pool in a boxershort. As if.... As if that's the most normal thing to do. Like sleeping in pajamas. I'm glad the film spared me THAT 1950s Hays Code Approved sight.

Nudity is not a must of course. And if it's unavoidable, a movie certainly doesn't have to show EVERYTHING. In this case, 'everything' would not add anything to the film. But there could have been at least a SUGGESTION that cold blooded contract killer Renshaw would never go Big Puritan in the privacy of his own home. Sorry, I'm European, this is too American for me.

Fortunately Battleground has easy-going aspects too. It's a much, much better Nightmares & Dreamscape episode than the lackluster one made of that - icky - dead pop stars story. Please, Stephen, quit this retro-sentimental horror!

In Battleground, director Brian Henson is of Frank Darabont caliber and his puppetry is well handled (Henson, Son Of after all), and William Hurt was a good casting choice.

Appropriately Stephen King-esque, a definitively unique tale

[Robert_duder · 7/10 · 4 June 2014]

I had waited so long to sink myself into Nightmares and Dreamscapes. I am a HUGE Stephen King fan and I have had this in my personal collection for honestly years and I finally started to sit down with it. I started with "Battleground." It absolutely has the King flag of weird, creepy, often bizarre overtones. Another reviewer commented that this "wasn't scary at all," well no...it isn't meant to be scary. Fans of The Twilight Zone or similar shows or even King's other works will know that his "horror" is not always "scary" in the traditional sense. Its the absolutely outrageous and bizarre things happening to a person and convincing the audience that this could happen to you. Add to the fact of the uniqueness of Battleground that not a single is word is spoken the entire thing. This was a pro and con to me. Yes, I appreciate that for its artistic quality but was it necessary? It did actually feel like it held back the story just a little bit. I would have loved to have heard some inner dialogue or our main character responding verbally to this incredibly implausible yet terrifying situation. Its gory and twisted and best of all they make it believable and that's how scary this is.

William Hurt is a legendary character actor in his own right. I've seen him do some incredible roles and he is just the sort of guy that brings this quiet intensity to his roles. I've always thought he played a great anti-hero and he is exactly that in this. He appears to be a killer of some kind who suddenly finds himself being attacked by toy soldiers...no kidding. Sound ridiculous? Well it isn't because he makes the role come to life. You believe he likely deserves what is happening to him and yet you're almost rooting for his survival right up to the final moment when you watch him succumb to the battle and give up. Hurt is really great in this role and I'm not sure there are many actors that could have done it the way he did. It is very nearly a one man show as Hurt goes up against the toys and there are just a few faces in the beginning.

I was a little surprised to see this segment was directed by Brian Henson. That seems like an odd choice considering he comes from directing and producing Muppets films but Henson's in general are creative and imaginative people and this is a very creative bizarre film that uses some very unique special effects. They actually make you feel emotion when Hurt stomps some of the toy soldiers and the camera shows them scrambling to "rescue" their wounded. I think it may even be the type of film that will grow on me the more I think about it. I also think it sort of has a distinctive 80's vibe to it and that is certainly a compliment as well. If you're looking for something outside of the box then you might find this one right up your alley. I look forward to the rest of the series and I think it will only get better. 7/10

Silly and Naive

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 3 October 2009]

In Dallas, the hit man Jason Renshaw (William Hurt) breaks in the headquarter of a toys company and kills Hans Morris, the manufacturer and owner of the company. He returns to his fancy apartment in San Francisco, and later he receives a package of toys with soldiers, helicopters and heavy weapon. Suddenly he is attacked by the commando, and he tries to survive.

"Battleground" is a very silly and naive episode, without dialogs and with the character performed by William Hurt being attacked by toys. The explosions and shootout on the fortieth floor of the elegant building do not bother any neighbor. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Campo de Batalha" ("Battleground")

Not scary at all

[diegohb-1 · 1/10 · 29 May 2011]

A package of toys with soldiers, helicopters and heavy weapon?? Really??? Is that supposed to be scary??? A pack of toys fighting a professional killer???

I wonder who give this tile the classification of "Horror". It doesn't even qualify as "Drama". It should have been "Comedy".

The "commando" toy, who is supposed to show an evil expression, completely wrecks the little suspense created by the other toys when he tries to stab the killer with a 6 mm knife.

The plot is very predictable. When the killer is counting the toys to see if one is missing, you KNOW there is one toy missing...

This is like Toy Story with aggressive toys instead of friendly and funny toys.

Don't waste an hour of your life watching this.

It doesn't worth it.