10 Horror Movie Nightmares WITHIN Nightmares

John Carpenter's 1987 science-meets-religion horror Prince Of Darkness was conceived as part two of his 'Apocalypse' trilogy, along with 1982s The Thing and 1994s In The Mouth Of Madness. While perhaps the weakest of the three, Carpenter's imagination is enough to draw in the most cynical of viewers.

A priest (Donald Pleasence) calls upon the big brains of Professor Howard Birack (Victor Wong) to investigate the findings of a secret society, The Brotherhood of Sleep. In the crypt of a church in LA, the Brotherhood guard a large vial, containing a swirling green substance, which is essentially liquid Satan. When a member of the group becomes infected by the green stuff, she begins killing the others, now possessed. To make matters worse, the church is becoming besieged by sinister vagrants (including Alice Cooper in a great cameo), now willing recruits, intent on bringing Satan to the realm of men...

The nightmare within a nightmare comes right at the climax, as Brian grieves for his lover Catherine, who sacrifices herself to essentially save humanity. He sees her emerge from the church in the reoccurring nightmare (a warning from the Brotherhood of the incoming apocalypse) and like all intense movie nightmares, wakes in sheer panic. He turns over to see... Catherine is actually lying in bed with him, minus her face. Is she trying to communicate from beyond the grave? Who knows, but it's a great jump-scare.

There must be many other examples of false awakenings in horror movies, so please leave these in the comments and have fun spotting this elusive yet wonderfully effective gotcha' gag of the genre.