Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King/You Know They Have a Hell of a Band

You Know They Have a Hell of a Band
Episode 8
Airdate	August 2, 2006
Written by	Mike Robe
Directed by	Mike Robe
← 7 Autopsy Room Four	— N/A
Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King

You Know They Have a Hell of a Band is the eighth and final episode of Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King. Clark and Mary Willingham become lost and happen upon a small town called Rock and Roll Heaven. There they discover that the people of the town look strangely like rock and roll legends, and that they don't like visitors to leave.

Starring: Kim Delaney (Mary Willingham), Steven Weber (Clark Willingham), William McNamara (Ricky Nelson), Erin Wright (Janis Joplin), Joe Sagal (Elvis Presley), Jacinta Stapleton (Sissy)

Co-Stars: Portia Bradley (Daughter), Tony Rickards (Roy Orbison), Michelle Cele (Mother), Kristian Schmid (Buddy Holly), Andy McPhee (Pot Bellied Man), André De Vanny (Skater Boy), Che Timmins (Jimi Hendrix), Fletcher Humphreys (Duane Allman), Damien Richardson (Ronnie Van Zant), Bert Labonte (Otis Redding), Mitchell Butee (Emcee)

Plot Overview

Clark and Mary Willingham are travelling down country roads in the woods of Oregon but soon find that they are lost. When the car gets stuck, the CD player catches fire and spits out their CD, which melts. Clark gets out of the car to get them unstuck and Mary notices that he appears elderly; as does she in the rear view mirror. They continue on and just when Mary thinks they can't get any more lost they happen across a town called Rock and Roll Heaven. Clark loves the town, but Mary is freaked out. She finds it to be an eery town because of the frequent hippies and wants to leave, but Clark insists. They walk into a restaurant which is exactly like a 1950s diner. Clark notices that one of the waitresses looks like Janis Joplin. Another waitress leaves a note for Mary on a napkin that says "get out while you still can".

Other dead rock and roll legends walk into the diner (such as Buddy Holly) and so both Clark and Mary get a little freaked out and try to leave. Clark get out by saying he's going to look for Mary's wallet. Mary is blocked by Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly. Janis Joplin vomits maggots, and so Mary runs out. Mary and Clark try to escape in their car but are surrounded by many former rock legends. They manage to escape by running one of the musicians over. They seem to be in the clear, until they run into a hippy bus parked in the middle of the road. Out of the bus walks Jimi Hendrix who begins playing the guitar. A police car shows up and a man claiming to be the mayor, Elvis, walks out. On the way back to town, Elvis tells them that most people who stay for the show wind up staying for a while. He takes off his sunglasses and Mary can see that his eyes are missing.

They meet someone like them at the concert who says that if the musicians get into it, they can go on for a year or more. Clark starts acting differently like he's happy to stay in Rock and Roll Heaven. Mary freaks out about the prospect of being trapped and tries to leave but the spotlight hits her and she sits back down; realizing that she might never get out of the town.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• The Twilight Zone: When they first get into town Mary says that the place feels like the Twilight Zone. The Twilight Zone was a popular anthology series created in 1959 by Rod Serling. Similar to this episode, The Twilight Zone featured people being put into unusual circumstances only slightly different from reality.

Quotes

• Alan Freed: Let’s go…because rock and roll will never die!
  Mary (talking to herself): That’s what I’m afraid of.

Reviews

• Overall Grade: C+ with 1 review
• Review Breakdown: A+: 0 A: 0 A-: 0 B+: 0 B: 0 B-: 0 C+: 1 C: 0 C-: 0 D: 0 F: 0
• C+: The final episode of the miniseries is a good finishing point because it represents what the series is about. It's merely an unusual situation (the same as most of the episodes) and doesn't feel very horrorish at all. It's the type of horror that can be watched without feeling tense while doing so. There are occasions in the miniseries when that's not the case, but this episode isn't one of those. Nevertheless, I wasn't actively disliking this as much as I was some of the past episodes, so it gets a decent grade from me. --MateoP 21:28, 5 August 2006 (EDT)