NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Arrow Blu-ray (December 2022): Arrow have transferred Nico Mastorakis' Nightmare at Noon to Blu-ray. It is cited as being a "Brand new restoration from the original negative". The 1080P image is excellent. No speckles, realistic colors, plenty of depth - in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio on a dual-layered disc with a high bitrate. The video presentation is remarkable and pretty much flawless. No complaints at all.

This came out on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory in 2018 but is now out-of-print.

NOTE: We have added 62 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Arrow offer both a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround bump and a linear PCM 2.0 channel track (both 24-bit) in the original English language. Nightmare at Noon has more gunfire in a film that I can recall in a long time. Add to that car explosions, helicopter dogfights etc. that come through with potent bass and a few adroit separations via the lossless. The score has the team-up of Stanley Myers (The Wilby Conspiracy,  Eureka, Cimino's The Deer Hunter, Roeg's Insignificance, Harold Becker's The Boost, Pete Walker House of Mortal Sin and Frightmare, etc.) and Hans Zimmer (12 Years a Slave, The Thin Red Line, Broadcast News, Angels and Demons etc.) as we've heard from a couple of other Mastorakis films; The Wind and The Zero Boys. It add some class and believability to the, often quirky, situations - essentially supporting the action, and small town desolation, well. Arrow offer optional English, or Greek, subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Arrow offers the third (or four) chapter of The Films of Nico Mastorakis - in various parts on other Arrow Blu-rays by the director. This 1/2 hour featurette focuses on Nightmare at Noon with commentary from director Mastorakis. There is also almost 50-minutes of behind-the-scenes footage from the film with input. There are also 50-minutes worth of original onset interviews with actors Wings Hauser, Bo Hopkins, Kimberly Beck, George Kennedy and Brion James plus a trailer and a dozen-minute image gallery accompanied by the film’s score from Stanley Myers and Hans Zimmer. The package offers a reversible sleeve (see below) featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys and the first pressing purchasers get an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Johnny Mains.

Knowing Nightmare at Noon was Nico Mastorakis (The Wind, The Zero Boys, Island of Death, Hired to Kill, Death Has Blue Eyes, In the Cold of the Night, Blind Date) I had an inkling of what to expect. Luckily I was totally in the mood and it didn't disappoint although a more modest grade on the schlock scale. Low on the gore and nudity (none). I loved the plot; a mad albino scientist injects a substance into the water supply of an isolated town in rural Utah. All communication is sabotaged. Those who consume the local aqua turn into a green-blooded, fanatically violent, zombies. Visitors, hitchhiker Reilly (Bo Hopkins), his ride Ken (Wings Hauser), plus weathered Sheriff George Kennedy and his cute Deputy daughter have to do battle being forced to decipher the zombified from the unaffected residents. It's a film I wasn't expecting much from - so it exceeded my anticipated entertainment value. I actually want to watch it again. The Arrow Blu-ray is at their high standard. Nightmare at Noon is not for everyone but for a down-and-dirty, small town, ghoulish transformation flic with effective 'B'-level stars - it will hit the spot. Include strong a/v, supplements - and I'm going to be keeping it! To each his own.

Gary Tooze