SLEEPWALKERS
[**Spoilers**]
A film review by Gregory D. Peterson
Copyright 1992 Gregory D. Peterson
Well, a group of us just returned from a sneak preview of Stephen King's newest, and I have to say that it was quite memorable. For those that keep track, the movie has Brian Krause, Madchen Amick, and Alice Krige "starring" in it. After seeing the movie, I am impressed by how brave they were to let their names be associated with this movie.
A quick summary of the movie: a shape-changing mother and son team have moved to a little town in Indiana for some lunch. Of course, the sweet, innocent virgin (tm) is to be the main course. The plot is peppered with lots of chases, deaths, and helpless screaming by our heroine, the virgin. Pretty much your average horror fare, except for the ridiculous plot. We laughed at the first scene, and quite a bit more as it progressed. Indeed, the whole audience was roaring as we approached the climax.
I have to point out that I got to see it for free, and it was worth every penny. Given Stephen King's recent track record, I was not expecting much, but I am glad I saw it. Everyone had a great time, but we might have cried if we had paid full price. We all decided that it deserved two thumbs up, so I heartily recommend it - but only at matinee prices. If you can wait for cable or rentals (shouldn't take long), then all the better. This movie is a great parody - I'm just not sure that it was intended to be.
Spoilers follow:
SLEEPWALKERS had a multitude of silly scenes. We knew we were in for a great time when the opening credits featured dozens of mangled feline carcasses decorating a house. As they entered the house, one of the cops noticed that someone sure didn't like cats. Funny enough, but that seemed to be the central plot of the movie.
I can't really say which scenes were the best. There were some classics, like the incest/animal sex scene. And I have to credit King with the most creative death in a long time: death by corn-holing. If you don't like cats, you'll enjoy watching a number of them meet their maker. King had a cameo as the keeper of a graveyard whose aimless wandering evoked images of the director (Mick Garris) wandering about, attempting to salvage some semblance of a horror movie from this faulted work. People say that Stephen King writes a new book every week. Based on SLEEPWALKERS, I think he's decided to cut back his efforts.
SLEEPWALKERS is so bad that it is worth seeing. Just don't pay much.
-- --greg greg@wucs1.wustl.edu Greg Peterson
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