Runaway Nightmare is a 1982 independent horror film directed and stars in, written by Mike Cartel. The film was filmed in the area surrounding Sedona, Arizona, and captures the stunning natural beauty of the region. The story of Runaway Nightmare revolves around a struggling couple, Leon (Cartel) and his wife, Tippy (Seeska Vandenberg), who run a failing gas station near the fictional town of Red Rock. After a series of bizarre events, Leon and Tippy find themselves embroiled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a sinister stranger named Robert (Al Valletta).
The movie opens with Leon and Tippy bickering about their moribund business, but their arguments are short-lived when they witness a woman exiting the Red Rock Travel Inn with a man. The woman appears to be in a drugged-up daze and has bruises all over her body. Disturbed by her appearance, Leon decides to follow the couple but loses them after they start driving alarmingly fast. Later the womanâs corpse is found at the roadside, and who looks like her companion is nowhere to be found.
Leon and Tippy's gas station business takes an upturn when an attractive customer named Melda (Camilla Carr) stops by and buys gas and some cigarettes. Melda gets flirty with Leon but then reveals that she knows something about the murder and the possible location of the killer. She suggests that Leon and Tippy could join her and her boyfriend (who is already in position) on this quest and could earn a $25,000 reward paid by the slain woman's wealthy father.
Leon, Tippy, and Melda leave for the mysterious "Gold Tooth Mine," where the killer may supposedly be hiding. After some questionable driving through the desert, crossing steep and rocky terrain, they find an old mining campsite, where there appears to be some strange activity. They keep finding clues that suggest that they are not alone, and somebody is aware of their presence. To make the matter worse, their car tires get cut, and hence they must continue on foot.
As they approach the killer's location and evidence starts piling up that there might be more people involved than initially thought, the group's tension and terror begin to rise. Soon, all the members of the party come face to face with the disturbing truth, which would surely leave them shocked due to the unexpected turn of events.
Runaway Nightmare had developed a cult following for its effective use of tension and suspense throughout the movie. The majority of the movie's creepiness crafted through a combination of its low-budget production values, acts of violence, and Cartel's effective use of silence to supplement the characters' unease.
While the film boasts a unique atmosphere, there are elements of surrealism and absurdity throughout the movie that feels out of place, even in a horror movie. Some non-threatening sequences provide dark comedic moments that can be jarring against the film's otherwise ominous atmosphere.
Overall, Runaway Nightmare is a deeply flawed low-budget horror movie, but it's decidedly unique and creepy, making it an interesting, if sometimes befuddling, watch. It is a hidden gem of great power that fans of low budget, bizarre genre entertainment are sure to love.
Runaway Nightmare is a 1982 thriller with a runtime of 1 hour and 34 minutes.
It has received mostly poor reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 4.6.
