Pesadilla en Canyonland

Took a chance watching this one and it paid off at first. Went in blind and I see the names Wings Hauser, Bo Hopkins and George Kennedy - legends! An incredibly bad rip-off of The Terminator's title card is swiftly followed by a hillbilly being killed by a scientist with a laser gun. Oh, it's gametime.

Too bad the opening scene might've been the best one.. So evil government dudes (who look like a bunch of plumbers) taint the water supply of a small town with a chemical that induces psychotic rage and turns you into a green zombie. All this is part of an experiment of some kind that is never explained. The baddies shut down all communication in-or-out, trapping the citizens in for the battle royale.

The main scientist bad guy looks like a Col. Sanders / Doc Brown hybrid who's suffering from radiation sickness. He has no characterization besides being a (literal) mustache twirling villian... only a cool laser gun and sunglasses. The good guys are an unlikeable lawyer, his snotty wife, a renegade drifter, the town sheriff and the sheriff's deputy. They also serve almost no purpose, just props running around from shootout to shootout.

The experience is saved by B-Movie goodness all around: Horribly outdated 80s future tech and SFX, bad dialogue being delivered poorly, tons of gratuitous violence and inexplicable explosions. The plot doesn't matter and all the characters are uninteresting, but luckily it moves quick enough to offset boredom. After a few minutes of watching paint dry you'll be treated to either some delightful overacting, horrific violence, or one of the seemingly hundreds of van explosions in this movie.

It's funny that Hollywood go-to Hans Zimmer did the score here. It helps the movie, but is dated, and doesn't stand above it much in quality. It also is very Terminator inspired, essentially mirroring it at times.

By the end it falls off the rails and devolves completely into a bad western (The weird government CIA scientist dudes all decide to ride horseback for no reason!). There's also a very boring and pointless helicopter chase tacked on after the plot concludes. So all in all it's nothing special, but worth checking out for the right crowd, especially all the George Kennedy fans out there

"Nightmare at Noon" is a very uneasy mixture of high tech sci-fi and standard western shoot em up. Brion James is visually impressive as the albino mute villain, but that's about it. Bo Hopkins and Wings Hauser act like they are in a mismatched buddy cop movie, while George Kennedy plays the local sheriff. There is some dark humor that slightly elevates things, but overall this is simply a B movie. Lots of green goo, gratuitous big explosions, nice scenery, a great number of "F" bombs, and a goes on forever helicopter battle, which incidentally seems like it belongs in a completely different film. Not totally bad, but not even borderline good. - MERK

This is possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen in my life. I could talk about everything from the bad acting to the non-sensical plot, but it'd be a waste of time. You only need to watch the first half-hour of the film to know it really sucks. It doesn't even have any camp value to it! This film was so bad, it hurt my feelings!

B movie god Wings Hauser and the always amusing Bo Hopkins are the heroes in this follow-up, of sorts, to the 1984 infection-horror flick "Mutant" (a.k.a. "Night Shadows"). A creepy albino villain (the great screen heavy Brion James) is conducting an insidious experiment on a remote Southwestern town called Canyonlands, contaminating the water supply and turning the citizens into maniacs who attack others and spew green acid instead of blood. Wings is a big city entertainment lawyer who teams up with loner Bo, local sheriff George Kennedy, and Kennedy's hottie daughter / deputy Kimberly Ross to save the day.

Co-written and directed by celebrated cult filmmaker Nico Mastorakis, "Nightmare at Noon" is less of an outright horror film than its predecessor, concentrating mainly on action. And it delivers action in spades: gunfire, explosions, human torches, vehicle stunts, you name it. Overall, it's pretty derivative, but it's also pretty damn entertaining for this sort of low budget fare. It's filmed using gorgeous Utah scenery, has some enjoyably nasty violence, and its story moves along more than adequately. Future "name" composer Hans Zimmer contributes to the score, along with Stanley Myers, and it's good stuff. The final helicopter chase does go on for an absurdly long time, though.

Wings plays a guy who is rather insufferable at first, but he becomes more engaging as he moves into heroic mode. Bo is as watchable as he's ever been. Ever-likable Kennedy, the adorable Ross, "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter" final girl Kimberly Beck gets to chew up some scenery as Wings' victimized wife, and Neal Wheeler is a hoot as local old codger Charley, one of the first on-screen victims of the infection who goes psycho in a diner. James, who never has to utter a word, is a true sight to behold, especially when the albino and his henchmen go on horseback towards the end of the story.

A fun movie with a strong Western influence, "Nightmare at Noon" shows B flick enthusiasts a fairly rousing time.

Seven out of 10.

I live in Moab, Utah where this movie was filmed (along with many John Ford/Wayne westerns in the 40's-60's). This film is so stupid that it is funny and that is the way one needs to look at it. It is real fun for me because I grew up here and recognize, and have been at, every place a scene was filmed (except the jail LOL). It is also fun for me because I know many of the locals who had bit parts. This film is pure camp. If one views it as such you might just have a fun time.