 An audio commentary came with the new release where Cartel could finally explain his singular production backstory, scene by scene with film historian/filmmaker Howard S. Berger, moderator (film preservationist/distributor) Joe Rubin and polymath Mari Cartel.The next month, Runaway Nightmare premiered in its first 35 mm showing as a theatrical release, followed by a national cinema tour.Joe Yanick of "Diabolique Magazine" called the film "an enigma; a sexploitation without the nudity; a rare hybrid quasi-exploitative-horror-comedy-western-noir that has been salvaged from the past [...] let yourself go and have some fun."