Nightmare Cinema finally digs up a trailer full of of disturbing dreams

Back when we found out about Mickey Rourke haunting the upcoming horror anthology Nightmare Cinema, it was a sudden blood rush … until there was silence. Then this happened.

A trailer from Cranked Up Films that sent tremors through International Film Festival Rotterdam has finally emerged. Rourke is the Projectionist or “curator behind these nightmares trapped in the silver screen” of the already creepy Rialto theater, bringing the deepest fears of some unfortunate moviegoers to life in HD right before their eyes. Except you can’t just leave after you hand in your ticket. It takes a while for them to realize exactly what is going on—and by then, good luck trying to escape. They’ll really need it.

Extra points if you pick up on Rourke’s highly appropriate Alice Cooper reference toward the beginning of the trailer.

These aren’t just any nightmares. Each of the five shorts flashing onscreen is directed by a master of horror. Mick Garris (Critters 2, Sleepwalkers) wrote and directed “Dead”; Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead) also wrote and directed his short, "The Thing in the Woods." Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Piranha, The Hole) directed “Mirari,” written by Richard Christian Matheson; Ryuhei Kitamura (Downrage, Versus) directed "Mashit," written by Mexican author and filmmaker Sandra Becerril; and David Slade (30 Days of Night) directed “The Way to Egress,” based on Lawrence C. Connolly’s short story “Traumatic Descent.” Slade and Connolly co-wrote the screenplay for the film.

Faceless hospital patients, creepy priests, creepier nuns, violent schoolgirls, a killer doctor with nurses who don’t seem to mind, welding equipment gone seriously wrong, chains, an ax used for all the right reasons, and, of course, spiders are just some of the unspeakable visions to creep into the brains of the victims who only think they’re spending a night at the movies.

This makes you wonder who in these scenarios started off as an image on a film reel and who was supposed to be eating popcorn in the theater.

You’ll just have to wait until July 12 to find that out.

(via Bloody-Disgusting)