Charles Brady and his mother, Mary, are the last of a dying breed whose needs are not of this world. They are Sleepwalkers - able to stay alive only by feeding on the life-force of the innocent, but destined to roam the earth, avoiding discovery while searching for their next victim. That search takes them to the sleepy little town of Travis, Indiana, where beautiful teenager Tanya Robertson is about to become an unwilling pawn in their nightmarish fight for survival.
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Incest, check! Rape, check! Cats, check! Equals Anime!
A Sleepwalker is a nomadic shape-shifting creature with human and feline origins vulnerable to the deadly scratch of the cat. It feeds upon the lifeforce of the virginal human female and is probably the source of the vampire legend. The police investigates the Brodies residence in Bodega Bay, California where mother and son have gone missing. It is bloody and filled with dead cats. They find a mummified little girl. In Travis, Indiana, Charles Brady (Brian Krause) lives with his lover/mother Mary (Alice Krige). They have their hatred of cats. He has his sights set on classmate Tanya Robertson (Mädchen Amick) who works at the local movie theater.I like the Stephen King concept but director Mick Garris fails to bring enough cinematic style to the movie. The effects range from cheesy bad to competent. The monster cat looks rather uninspired. The big full costume is a little bit more appealing. The blood work looks low budget. The general tone of the movie is a simple TV production. It never elevates the tension or the scares. I do like the fire work. The special effects run the whole spectrum of old fashion with a couple of weak CG additions. The three main leads do a relatively good job especially Alice Krige. The mother son creepiness is good. The movie could held it back to be revealed around the middle and pushed it a little bit more. The cats are a fun touch. A big problem with the script is that the whole movie is revealed early on. This movie could have used a bit of mystery.
Brian Krause, Madchen Amick, Alice Krige, Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward star in this 1992 horror film based on Stephen King's novel. Krause (Charmed) plays Charles Brady, the new boy in school who lives with his mother/lover, Mary (Krige). They both share human and feline characteristics which allows them to shape-shift and feed on virgin blood to survive. Cats are threatening to them because their scratches are fatal. Amick (Witches of East End) plays Tracy Robertson, a girl Charles sets his sights on and soon, she discovers his and Mary's deadly secret. Pickett and Ward (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) play Tracy's parents. King has a cameo as well as Mark Hamill (Star Wars Trilogy), Ron Perlman (Hellboy) and directors, John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Joe Dante (The Howling), Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist) and Clive Barker (Hellraiser). This is kind of strange, but the cast is decent and there's good make-up effects. I still recommend viewing this at least once if you're a horror fan.
Sleepwalkers (1992) * 1/2 (out of 4) When this film was released there was a lot of hype because it was the first time Stephen King had written something directly for the screen. The hype quickly faded when everyone realized that it was a dud. A son and mom (Brian Krause, Alice Krige) move to a small town where they need a virgin (Madchen Amick) to keep alive. It turns out the duo are "sleepwalkers," which is a form of cat people. The entire story to SLEEPWALKERS is rather stupid and silly and I often wonder if King or director Mick Garris were taking it overly serious. I've heard that there was a lot of trouble with the production so perhaps this is the best that they could turn out but there are so many questionable and rather silly moments here that you can't help but call this a dud. The horror elements are extremely silly, never make too much sense and I wonder what King was even trying to do with this. I mean, were these creatures supposed to be something between werewolves and vampires? Did the son and mom have to have so many sex scenes together? Was this meant to be dark humor? For some strange reason when the son does start to attack the virgin girl, instead of any drama or suspense we're given really bad one-liners and attempts at humor and it just doesn't make any sense. I say no one took it serious because this is followed by a long line of horror cameos including King, Tobe Hooper, Joe Dante, John Landis, Clive Barker and Friday THE 13TH PART 2 fans will notice Stuart Charno. Both Krause and Krige are good in their parts but Amick easily steals the film as the victim. SLEEPWALKERS is a real mess of a movie and it's a shame that King's first direct screenplay was such a bust.
