This one isn't too bad. About the first half of the film felt more like a film that is directed a little more for younger audiences than the last half of the film where it seems a bit more geared for adult audiences. It starts out kinda creepy but cutesy and ends up on the frightful side.My question is: If the older daughter can come back as a ghost for revenge then why not the other dead family members? They had very good reasons to come back for revenge too on _______ (I can't give it away can I?!) I'll confess that parts of the beginning of the film had me scrolling through it (fast-forwarding at times) because it was the "family stuff" going on the screen that was a bit boring to watch for me. Maybe it's just my current mood that had me bored with those scenes. BUT I did watch the last half of the film more intently because that's when it became more interesting to me.I for one can sleep easily after this film - but it might give others a terrible scare with that ending.6.5/10

This isn't exactly a movie that I would deem a forgotten classic, but it's certainly a hidden gem and I can get why it's fondly remembered by pretty much anyone who caught it during its original run on TV. I found it almost right from the start to be a very solid and worthwhile watch that rises above its considerable limitations thanks to a good cast and a very compelling and for me, ultimately satisfying mystery horror story that pays off. Much like another exceptional vintage TV horror movie, "Dark Night of the Scarecrow", it's a terrific example of less being a lot more. It's very subtle and light in the use of its horrors, and to me in this instance it makes the film come off as more engaging and enjoyable because of it. It was good to see a nice old-fashioned scary movie stand on its own merit without relying on gore, nudity, or even a single solitary gosh-darned naughty word! Part of the reason I like it is because to look at it really isn't much of anything at all, in fact it looks more like a 70s picture than an 80s one. At the beginning the story is very plain and average, but before you know it shocking things begin to happen and the tone becomes stranger and stranger, and it gradually builds up to something that I found to be quite profoundly chilling. The homely filming locations help set an eerie summer atmosphere and hazy air of mystery that works very well to the film's advantage. You know, a viewpoint aided by the fact that it has a very young and neurotic shouty Oliver Robbins in it, is that it could be seen as a kind of anti-Poltergeist movie, only in this one the family loses big time! To me that's what really makes it stand out from a lot of other horror movies of the time, that in an era of family-centred horrors where, generally no matter what happens, the sacred family unit will at least prevail and more or less make it out okay, this unknown was the one that had the balls to actually kill off that unit, and with a child nonetheless! It's all done in a very modest way with the violence being implied rather than graphic, but it was still shocking and very daring to me, I was taken aback by how ruthless a movie it was with its characters. In that regard it is a lot more brutal than most other horror flicks that I've seen! I mean jeez, they kill old funny gal grandma, bratty little brother, amiable alcoholic father, and one poor girl is condemned to a psych ward for life for crimes that may not have even truly been her own fault! The body count is low, but they are characters that are given just enough development that you care a little, and I like how they take the time to touch upon the grief , like in a scene where Valerie Harper and Dennis Weaver have a big dramatic confrontation over their son's death. Both actors get genuinely worked up and into it and it's a very heartbreaking scene. Big props to Robin Ignico as "Mary", she really steals the whole show as she gradually transforms from a seemingly regular little girl with a dark secret to a small adult as she is corrupted by the merciless ghost of her sister "Jennifer", who preys upon Mary's guilt and unconfronted grief at letting her die to manipulate her into doing away with most of her own family! I love the brilliant climactic scene that sees Mary looking like hell in a straight-jacket in a padded room being interrogated by a doctor, where it finally reveals what really happened on the night of Jennifer's fiery death, and it's a doozie! The revolving camera and overhead shots are stylish and disorienting. They reveal a lot of vital information in those few minutes that perhaps would have better been spread out over the whole film, not that most people wouldn't have figured out the twist already.. The little epilogue is so nightmarish as Jennifer finally has her mommy right where she wants her and you see the surreal and memorable image of her silhouette rise from the bottom of the bed and then emerge into the light with a hideous frozen grin on her face... The first time I watched? Could freaking not get that leering face out of my head for the rest of the night, it was like it was superimposed onto my retinas! It was an awesome and over-the-top way to end the film on a high note and it gave me a great chill, loved it! Tiny nitpick, as much as I like how there turned out to really be a Jennifer, just think how much more disturbing a film it would be if Mary had been schizophrenic and had a split-personality the whole time, and the approach to the horror would have been revealed as psychological rather than supernatural. It's far from a perfect film, it drags and lacks in parts and is a slow-burn for sure..but as far as sheer creep-factor goes, "Don't Go to Sleep" delivers very handsomely. And one thing that it certainly never made me wanna do was go to sleep!!

Aaron Spelling, wanting to cash in on the slasher craze of the 80s, developed this passable little thriller concerning a family moving into a new home following the death of their eldest daughter. The surviving younger sister begins experiencing visitations from the dead one, and various tragedies occur around the house. Is it a creepy entity at work, or someone else?Most of the people that know this film (myself included) are going on their memories of it as children. Unfortunately, this muddles a modern day reception of it, as for the first time in 20 years, I viewed it last night. After a frustratingly redundant opening (girl screams in the night, annoyed dad comes running in), it finally drags into the plot. You really realize how underdeveloped the story is and how much more effective it could've been if put into better hands.OK, SPOILER TIME...More pressing issues arise, such as: is it really the dead sister, or a hallucination causing the younger sister to act out? If not, why is the dead sister --- who is seen in flashback teasing the living one --- so hell-bent on being "together" with her? What is her motivation for killing off the whole family? What's with the foreboding house address including "666" when it's never fully utilized? Is the final shot really the dead kid, or another delusion of the schizo daughter's imagination? The unanswered questions make for a great deal of aggrevation.The cast works well, but what would you expect from Weaver and Harper? Though Weaver's mixture of the boozin'/grieving/giggling father is a bit uneven, and Harper pretty much takes a backseat to the kids. Especially Ignico, who basically has to carry the whole thing. Her scenes with the pyschologist have a pleasant humor, as she smart-mouths her way through them.In the end, this is nothing more than a batch of bizarre, bloodless scenes trying to carry a ghostly throwback-type spook show. Pieces of it work at times, but on the whole, it's lacking. And the shock ending (complete with freeze frame on "Executive Producer Aaron Spelling") was a little too easy, though the back lighting made for a good final jolt.

I saw this as a kid in '82, without really knowing what it was. It's a well made TV movie about an all-American family that has lost a daughter in a car accident. The surviving daughter does not seem to be coping well.....She starts hearing and seeing strange things. Is she really hearing and seeing her dead sister, or is she having hallucinations? Is she mourning her dead sister, or does she have a guilty secret? The movie is typically TV-paced, meaning that it starts out a little slow, but steadily picks up steam until deaths start happening. Which sister is the killer? I don't want to reveal TOO much, but I will say that the closing scene has successfully creeped me out for 20 years.