Charles Brady and his mother Mary (who is also his lover) are shapeshifting energy vampires who needs to feed off virgin women. They can look like normal humans, but can also transform into big werecat-looking creatures which is their natural form. They also have a lot of powers: they can use telekinesis, and the power of illusion. So what could be their weakness? Well, it’s not a stake through the heart, garlic or silver bullets: it’s simply domestic cats. Yup, cats are their only real threat as the cats can see though their illusion and bullshit and will violently attack them, inflicting fatal wounds. So naturally, Brady and his mother are cat haters. They move around a lot, since they often leave a trail of dead bodies behind and need to avoid too much attention. Now they have come to live in Travis, a small Indiana town, after recently fleeing from Bodega Bay in California. At school, Brady meets Tanya Robertson and she believes she’s met a handsome boy with a romantic interest in her. If she only knew…
Sleepwalkers is a horror film from 1992 written by Stephen King and directed by Mick Garris. This movie was the first time when Stephen King wrote a screenplay intended for a movie rather than adapting one of his novels. It was originally supposed to be directed by Rupert Wainwright as Columbia Pictures initially approached him, but King insisted they offered the film to Mick Garris instead, who had previously directed Critters 2: The Main Course (1988) and Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990).
Sleepwalkers is a creature feature that derives a bit from the norm, as it is told from the perspective of the creatures themselves. They just want to spend the day making love to each other (despite being mother and son), kill cats who are their mortal enemies and suck the lifeforce out of virgins to keep themselves sustained. The movie is quite silly at times, with some odd dialogue, especially by the Sleepwalker Charles. There’s a lot of tacky one-liners like “This doesn’t have to hurt. Just think of yourself as lunch!“ and of course the “Cop Kabob!“ line during Andy’s murder. They almost went into full “Garbage day!“ territory here, that’s for sure. On top of that, there’s also the “death by corn cob” scene. Yeah…it’s not a movie you should take too seriously. The effects are of course quite dated when it comes to the CGI ones, but the practical effects are decent enough. It’s still that famous CGI morphing scene in the car, which was probably cutting-edge at the time but now just enhances the campiness and makes it look even more silly than it already is. There’s also a scene where the Sleepwalkers are getting down and dirty, and this scene was originally so explicit that it had to be cut in order to avoid an X-rating.
Alice Krige plays the role as the mother Mary, a role Mick Garris wanted to cast after having seen her in Ghost Story (1981). Sleepwalkers is also the only movie where both Stephen King and Clive Barker are present in the same scene. These aren’t the only “gag cameos“ however, we also have Joe Dante as a lab assistant, Tobe Hooper as a forensic tech, and John Landis as a lab technician. Ron Perlman (Hellboy) also plays a grumpy cop, and Glenn Shadix (who played Otis in Beetlejuice, and unfortunately died in 2010 so he could not reprise his role in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) also has a role as Mr. Fallows, a creepy teacher. So, yeah…lots of well-known faces and names on the cast list for sure. And then, of course, there’s the biggest hero of all in this movie: Clovis the cat. This feline is owned by a police man named Andy Simpson, and follows him around in the police car. Quite the duo, those two! When Andy is killed by Charles, Clovis manages to wound him severely. Of course, the mourning kitty decides to revenge his deceased owner, with the help of other cats.
Sleepwalkers is by no means any masterpiece, but it’s a cheesy enjoyable B-movie with gore, cute cats and silly monsters that scores pretty high on the fun factor.
Director: Mick Garris
Writer: Stephen King
Country & year: USA, 1992
Actors: Brian Krause, Mädchen Amick, Alice Krige, Jim Haynie, Cindy Pickett, Ron Perlman, Glenn Shadix, Cynthia Garris, Sparks. Cameos by John Landis, Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper, Stephen King and Clive Barker
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105428/
