Can we please stop pretending that this film is some kind of buried masterpiece? I contend that SLEEPWALKERS seemed plenty nonsensical upon its premiere in 1992 and now has the added burden of ridiculously dated CGI effects. It marked the first wholly original screenplay by Stephen King, and the first of many King scripts directed by Mick Garris. Neither man, I think it’s safe to say, was at the top of his game.
SLEEPWALKERS (1992) Trailer
King and Garris certainly can’t be accused of withholding information, bluntly laying out the story’s particulars in the opening twenty minutes. The film starts with a textual screed filling us in on the “sleep’walk’er,” which as defined by the 1884 “Chillicoathe Encyclopedia of Arcane Knowledge” are “Nomadic shape-shifting creatures with human and feline origins…the sleepwalkers feed upon the life-force of virginal human females.” Among these critters’ ranks are the teenaged Charles Brady (Brian Krause) and his mother Mary (Alice Krige), who have an incestuous relationship and move from city to city, leaving in their wake tons of murdered cats—which are anathema to sleepwalkers.
Their current location is Travis, Indiana, where the young Tanya Robertson (Mädchen Amick) takes a shine to Charles. After killing a teacher on the road using one of his most impressive powers (invisibility), Charles reveals to Tanya his true nature during a romantic tryst that occurs, appropriately, in a cemetery; “Why don’t you just think of yourself as lunch?” he asks as his face morphs (unconvincingly) into that of a cat. Tanya manages to escape his clutches with the help of a cat belonging to a police officer (Dan Martin), who isn’t so lucky, which attracts the further police attention and precipitates the downfall of Charles and Mary.
That this film hailed from the early nineties is evident in the bizarrely enthusiastic reception it received in the horror community, which was in a sorry state in 1992 (when FANGORIA was devoting covers to inauspicious fare like DOLLY DEAREST). Equally of their time are the many sarcastic quips made by the villains, which accord with those of Freddy Krueger in the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET sequels (Charles after breaking off a man’s hand: “People really should learn to keep their hands to themselves…here’s yours!” and after a corncob stabbing: “No vegetables, no dessert!”) and push an inherently ridiculous story further into unintentional comedy.
The film’s silliness is something Stephen King would never allow in his novels, and it’s presented in the most simplistic, paint-by-numbers manner imaginable. Logic and plausibility aren’t things to which King paid much attention; we never learn, for starters, how the sleepwalker anti-heroes have managed to survive for so long despite behavior that’s erratic and downright stupid (I’d think a supposedly immortal shape-shifter would be smarter than to drive a car into her own living room, as Mary does near the film’s end).
Mick Garris does what he can directorially. The opening scenes have an appropriately ominous air, with sinuous Steadicam visuals and excellent use made of Santo & Johnny’s haunting instrumental composition “Sleep Walk.” Those things, alas, aren’t paid off in the later scenes, which trade deliberation for hysteria, and do so with primitive CGI effects that occur, more often than not, in broad daylight (something that might have worked in the more artful LET’S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH, but not here).
Most notable for horror fans are the many quirky casting choices. There’s Mädchen Amick, then known for TWIN PEAKS, playing Tanya; the then-married couple Lyman Ward and Cindy Pickett, who had already been immortalized in FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF, as Tanya’s parents; Ron Perlman, then known for QUEST FOR FIRE, as a cop; BEETLEJUICE’S late Glenn Shadix (1952-2010) as Charlie’s not-long-for-this-world teacher; Stephen King himself, cameoing with Garris’ horror moviemaker pals John Landis, Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper and Clive Barker. Also on hand is the vastly overqualified Alice Krige, who, as Mary, offers a spirited and sensual turn that helped make her a genre icon (in subsequent films like STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, HABITAT and GRETEL & HANSEL) but was wasted on a character that’s a complete nonentity.
Vital Statistics
SLEEPWALKERS
Columbia Pictures
Director: Mick Garris
Producers: Mark Victor, Michael Grais, Nabeel Zahid
Screenplay: Stephen King
Cinematography: Rodney Charters
Editing: O. Nicholas Brown
Cast: Brian Krause, Mädchen Amick, Alice Krige, Jim Haynie, Cindy Pickett, Ron Perlman, Lyman Ward, Dan Martin, Glann Shadix, Cynthia Garris, Monty Bane, John Landis, Joe Dante, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Tobe Hooper, Frank Novak