I sonnambuli (1992) Online

A shape shifting young man (Brian Krause) and his mother (known as "sleepwalkers" for some reason) arrive in a new town. But the mother (Alice Krige) needs to feed, so her son Charles must find him a pure young woman. But who will he love more, his mother or the beautiful Tanya Robertson (Madchen Amick)? "Sleepwalkers" is a film that has a special place in my heart. I saw it repeatedly on television as a teenager watching our local horror host, Ned the Dead. And while I never thought it was great, I found it entertaining. I place it in the same category as "Maximum Overdrive" -- cheesy and fun, though by no means a great film. And look at the cameos in this film! Mike Mayo tears this film apart, calling it "arguably King's worst film". He says the "script meanders through pointless chitchat scenes." Director Mick Garris "doesn't know how to photograph" and throws in "close-ups of knees." Wow. He has nothing nice to say about this film, giving it a dismal 0 on his one through four scale. I must beg to differ with Mike on this one.

First of all, King's worst film is "Langoliers". Second, I did not notice these pointless chitchat scenes he speaks of. Some of the plot is a bit loose, but nothing is completely pointless. I furthermore do not recall any shots of knees, though if the knees belonged to the beautiful Madchen Amick I think this is forgivable. Mick Garris has made many a bad film, this is true. And "Sleepwalkers" is by no means a masterpiece. But I think to lay down such heavy scorn is misplaced and really ignores the "fun factor" of this picture.

Oddly enough, Howard Maxford, whom I almost never agree with, seems to get this one. He calls the film "silly but quite lively" and points out the "nifty effects" and "gag cameos" (Stephen King, Clive Barker, Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper and John Landis). And there you go -- recognition of the fun this film was and still is.

Ron Perlman ("Hellboy", "Pro-Life") plays a cop and doesn't get nearly enough screen time. Not sure what else to say about that. Clearly they did not foresee the star power in Perlman.

Director Mick Garris has commented on how "Sleepwalkers" was a troubled production, and one only has to watch in disbelief to see what he means. Before its 1992 theatrical release, I remember the film being heavily hyped as Stephen King's first foray into cinema with a completely original screenplay (and as was true with most adaptations of his work--with or without his involvement--at the time, the reviews were less than sympathetic). Ironically, Garris would become better known for helming TV-miniseries versions of some of King's best-known works ("The Stand"; "The Shining"; "Desperation"), directing right from the author's own scripts. Needless to say, these made-for-TV works outshine "Sleepwalkers," which simply further proves that King's writing style (heavy with internal dialogues and detailed, unspoken perceptions) is better suited to a format that can fully develop his themes and characters. This tale of an incestuous mother/son duo who shapeshifts into bloodthirsty felines, roaming from small towns to dine on virgin prey, is fairly decent for the first 50 minutes--King's use of 'local color' (and the resulting humor) is well-rendered, and Garris does a fine job of creating an atmosphere of mystery and intrigue. But just when "Sleepwalkers" seems headed for the zone of good (if not truly memorable) King adaptations, its final third devolves into overblown, ridiculous action sequences (as though the producers chopped away 30 pages of King's script for explosions and shootouts) and a queasy imbalance between absurd humor and sentimental melodrama. The end result hobbles the overall experience--had King's ideas been thoroughly fleshed-out, "Sleepwalkers" may have been a solid entry in his filmography...but as it stands, it feels like a lament over what could have been. The cats are incredibly cute, though.

An incestuous mother and son (Krige, Krause) of preternatural origin move to a small town to find a young female virgin (Amick) the son may take the life force of and feed the mother with.

It's Stephen King, who wrote the screenplay, at his not bad best. Interesting music; I've never heard Enya in a horror movie before but surprisingly it works. As with Ron Perlman, I'd pretty much sit through anything with Alice Krige in it.

The down side is that although the mother and son are interesting beings the curiosity about them the movie arouses is not satisfied. What are they? A kind of feline lineage is hinted at as they can morph into variations of cat like creatures yet cats are their mortal enemies (a scratch can be fatal). Where are they from? Egypt is hinted at (the origin of the worship of Bast, perhaps). Why are they called Sleepwalkers (origins of the incubus/succubus/vampire mythologies)?

Despite the questions raised and unanswered the film is still an enjoyable gore-fest horror break from reality.

Worth a rent/buy used, especially for fans of Stephen King's work.

Best Stephen King film alongside IT, though this one is more fun than scary.

This one's got it all:

-a great cast with a Alice Krige and Brian Krause and a fun cameo from King himself;

-well dosed horror in an amusing storyline;

-great use of music, Santo & Johnny's "Sleepwalk" in particular;

-likeable characters in a typical King setting: middle of nowhere village;

-lots of humor. You can't really get good scares here because it's too much fun and over the top;

-old but really nice makeup effects like they don't make anymore!

A 4,5 rating: I don't get it really. When was the last time a horror film was as much fun as this one?

WARNING: I advise anyone who has not seen the film yet to not read this comment.

Director Mick Garris brings to us a nostalgic feature from the mind of Stephen King that sets new rules to the term "blood-thirsty creature", however lame they may be. All the way from dialogue such as tacky one liners like, "Cop-kabob!" and juicy delivers such as, "This doesn't have to hurt. Just think of yourself as lunch!" to scenes of mother- son incest between supernatural, flesh-eating whatever they are and murder by ear of corn, Sleepwalkers takes us on a quirky, poorly done, but overall enjoyable adventure with tons of undeniable mediocrity and shines of sheer camp brilliance along the way that gives us that icky, "Why do we like this?" feeling.

Sleepwalkers is just so fun and it's entertaining cheesiness is ultimately rewarding in the utmost sense. The hunky Brian Krause is so likable and cute as the son who wants the flesh of a local teen girl, but Alice Krige is even more likable and amazing as the controlling, yet oddly loving mother who takes pleasure in the part time hobby of having sex with her son. I wanted Tanya to die, I'll say, so badly did I want her to die, and usually when a horror film does that it ultimately fails in being pleasing to the audience, yet that's not the case with Sleepwalkers. The characters are bland, and the actors/actresses know that, so they overact to make them more likable, which in turn does not work, which in turn works! Understand what I'm saying? Anyone? Oh, nevermind.

The movie has an assorted collection of nice, memorable cameos, humorous anti-satire and cute, killer cats! What more could you want in a film?! You either love it or hate it, regardless of what you rate it, and I can understand both sides of the scale in different ways. I personally thought it was pure bliss that put smiles on my face, but here again, I enjoy most things.

`Sleepwalkers' is a film whose main plot thrust comes from the pre-opening credits description of what the film's title means. Just about all character backstory and motivations are given here, and we are then treated to a ninety-minute entertainment vehicle that plays out these events in a simplistic but interesting manner.

The film's acting, for a horror picture, is remarkably good. Brian Krause and Alice Krige give standout performances as the titular feline troublemakers who also share a disturbing Oedipal relationship, cult favorite Madchen Amick gives a wonderfully nuanced performance as Krause's troubled love interest, and the cameos by many famous faces from the horror world will give fans something to look for and smile about. Even the supporting cast members seem to be having a good time, including Ron Perlman and Glenn Shadix in relatively small but amusing roles.

The make-up effects are very good, although not top-notch. They're certainly nothing amazing, but they serve their occasionally-gruesome purposes well. The optical effects look pretty dated by today's standards, but it's still interesting to see CG effects in some of their earliest forms. The transformation sequences now look like something out of a made-for-TV movie, but they don't significantly detract from the film.

Where this picture does tend to fail is in its plot and dialogue. Just about all of the mystery of the story dissipates by its halfway point, leaving the audience to predict and anticipate just about everything that happens in the rest of the film, essentially destroying the tension and suspense aspects. And since this is a horror picture written by Stephen King, one would expect these two elements to be the strongest components of the film. The dialogue is at times campy and at other times overly-serious. This has the effect of making some of the characters unbalanced in many ways, something that detracts from the film as a whole. It seems the director and/or writer was/were having difficulty deciding whether or not to play this film up as a comedy or a true horror movie, and so as it stands it awkwardly lies somewhere in between.

`Sleepwalkers' is not horror at its finest, either in terms of ability to truly frighten or to provide fun campiness. It straddles the line between the two, existing somewhere equidistant from both. It is never too over-the-top for us to laugh out loud with it, nor is it ever truly scary enough to make us shiver. As it stands, it is an extremely simple and very entertaining work of filmmaking, something that horror fans will enjoy and others should probably avoid.

If you like cats, you may like this movie. If you like movies, you'll hate it.

It seems impossible to me that Stephen King wrote this. It seems even more impossible that someone filmed it. This disc should be shred, the pieces burned, the ashes buried at sea, and the sea set on fire.

You have to love this film. It starts with a mother and son making love, and then cuts to Amick dancing whilst cleaning a cinema, or thereabouts.

Plotwise, it's about a pair of cat things called Sleepwalkers (never explained) whose kryptonite is cats, and the son has to suck glitter from virgins, and then have sex with his mom to feed her.

And thats the plot.

It's an awful film, but there is something about this that has car crash movie written all over it. For all it's bad acting and silly lines and unintentional laughs, one cannot help watching it right to the end, and then want to watch it again when it pops up on TV.

It's not scary in the slightest and it suffers from post terminator 2 morphinitis, a term used for films released during 92-95, thinking that a bit of CGI morphing would equal a hit. The effects here are very bad, but add a little more fun to the film.

There are cameos galore from big name directors, Luke Skywalker, and King himself, playing himself saying the film wasn't his fault or something like that.

The three leads are okay, even if Krause is a bit wooden, the scene in the cemetery is very funny and camp.

But Kridge is the best thing in the whole mess. she is very alluring and keeps a straight face when she is delivering the poor script.

The deaths are funny too, and despite the gaping plot-holes and the overall badness of it all, it's a very watchable movie and far from the worst King adaption made into a film.

Who could resist a woman running around screaming with a dummy cat on her back and then killing by stabbing him with an ear of corn.

silly, pointless, but fun.

OK, I taped this off TV and missed the very start. The film was about 10 or so seconds into the titles (I assume) so if anything happened before that I missed it.

Lots of people say Mark Hammill is in this, I didn't see him. I did recognise Clive Barker, John Landis and obviously Stephen King doing some really awful acting as the graveyard attendant.

Alice Krige looks lovely apart from the scenes where she has the cat face or is in full alien make-up.

Even with the opening titles it's never really explained very well exactly what Sleepwalkers are or where they come from. From the title sequence I assume they are catlike bipeds who live by extracting life-force from humans. I assume they live a long time and these particular 2 are possibly the last of their kind.

Add to this a very large dose of incest (Yes! I thought it was a bit suspect too), shapeshifting, killer cats and invisibility and you have Sleepwalkers.

It's a very bad story that has no real explanations behind the main 2 characters and far too many cameo's to try and distract from the simple fact that not enough is explained to the viewer.

Avoid.

.... And after seeing this pile of crap you won't be surprised that it wasn't published

!!!! SPOILERS !!!!

This is a terrible movie by any standards but when I point out that it's one of the worst movies that has the name Stephen King in the credits you can start to imagine how bad it is . The movie starts of with two characters staring open mouthed at a scene of horror :

" My god . What happened here ? "

" I don't know but they sure hate cats " *

The camera pans to the outside of a house where hundreds of cats are strung up dead and mutilated . Boy this guy is right , someone does hate cats and with a deduction like that he should be a policeman . Oh wait a minute , he is a policeman and when a movie starts with a cop making an oh so obvious observation you just know you're going to be watching a bad movie

The reason SLEEPWALKERS is bad is that it's very illogical and confused . We eventually find out the monsters of the title need the blood of virgins to survive . Would they not be better looking for a virgin in the mid west bible belt rather than an American coastal town ? Having said that at least we know of the monsters motives - That's the only thing we learn . We never learn how they're able to change shape or are able to make cars become invisible and this jars with the ending that seems to have been stolen from THE TERMINATOR . Monster mother walks around killing several cops with her bare hands or blowing them up via a police issue hand gun ( ! ) but if her monster breed is immune from police fire power then why do the creatures need the ability to change shape or become invisible ? The demise of the creatures is equally ill thought out as there killed by a mass attack of household cats . If they can be killed by cats then why did the monsters not kill all the cats that were lying around the garden ? There was a whole horde of moggies sitting around but the monsters never thought about killing them . I guess that's so the production team can come up with an ending . It was that they started the movie my complaint lies

We're treated to several scenes where famous horror movie directors like John Landis , Clive Barker and even Stephen King make cameos . I think the reason for this is because whenever a struggling unknown actor read the script they instantly decided that no matter what , they weren't going to appear in a movie this bad so Stephen King had to phone up his horror buddies in order to fill out the cast . That's how bad SLEEPWALKERS is

* Unbelievable as it seems that wasn't the worst line in the movie . The worst line is - " That cat saved my life "

There's something about the b-grade sleeper "Sleepwalkers" that keeps me from liking it, but not enough to entirely hate it either. It kept me entertained, but I wasn't all that satisfied. Director Mick Garris' handling might come off stagy (which took any sense of atmosphere) with an almost TV-like feel, but remains crisp and well paced in its actions. Some imagery shows moments of creativity with the illustrative camera-work with its scopes and tilts. I just wished it had been much more darker in its visual styling. Stephen King would adapt his own book, where the premise creates a wickedly novel concept that would turn upon its sly tone with nonsensical and over-the-top dramatic lashings. This goes for its outrageous, if clumsy climax. While the jolts are grisly, they do come off quite risible with it being punctuated by sadistic heavy-handedness. The eccentric make-up FX is decently pulled off, even with some cheesy and blotchy trimmings. The script is rather ill-defined, but still has a neat touch of morbid humour and a sexual charge thanks to the seductively deranged performances by Alice Krige and Brian Krause in their mother and son relationship. Mädchen Amick is suitably appealing in the victim role. Ron Perlman makes a short, but commanding turn. Also keep a look out for some amusingly interesting cameos by Stephen King, Tobe Hooper, John Dante, John Landis, Clive Baker and Mark Hamill.

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*

Stephen King must have been petting his cat one day while listening to "Sleepwalk" by Santo and Johnny when he was struck with inspiration. "Cats, cats, cats. I love cats. I love this song. How can I get these two loves in one movie?" Thus "Sleepwalkers" was born.

Two freaky monsters move to a small town so that they can suck the life out of a virgin girl. They both despise cats and love each other. Yes. Mom and son getting it on like all monsters should. The son finds the last supermodel virgin on Earth. The romance is brief as life sucking takes precedence over anything sexual. Besides, he's got a hot mom aching at home. There is much blood and mayhem as super virgin tries to fight off the freaks with the help of an army of angry cats. Go Clovis!

I enjoyed this simple little movie. Monsters find virgin, virgin fights back and the cats go wild. There was plenty of blood and guts to keep a smile on your face. Speaking of smiling, Madchen Amick is at her hot babe peak in this one. She has one move that lets you know she's a shy, sweet girl: She bites her bottom lip and then slides her teeth slowly off. This move happens at least a dozen times. I could have watched it a dozen more. Mmmmmm...Virgin teasing. The monster was hooked at that point. So was I.

One last thought, what decade is this movie supposed to be set in? The main monster loves "Sleepwalk" and Madchen Amick is shaking her groove thing to "Do you love me?". In other scenes there will be loud modern rock blasting away. King obviously loves his 50's rock and roll but I had a hard time imagining a 90's girl doing the Twist and the Mashed Potato.

this Stephen King adaptation was entertaining but not great,by any means.it's worthwhile to pass time.it''s probably as weird as any of the King adaptation i have,and even weirder than others.this movie sort of felt like a fairy tale to me.although not a kid's fable,obviously.i did like the cast,many of whom have gone on to other things,since then.Brian Krause also appeared in the TV show Charmed,Madchen Amick (who could be Kim Delaney's twin sister)has been in several smaller budget pictures.Alice Krige was seen most notably as the Borg Queen in Star Trek:First Contact,while Ron Perlman was previously seen in The TV series beauty and the Beast.his most notable role(In my opinion)was in Hellboy as the title character.like in most King movies,king himself appears in a cameo.at least three other modern horror masters(Jon Landis,Joe Dante,and Clive Barker also have cameos.anyway if you wanna pass 90 minutes or so,i'd say this movie is worth it.for me,Sleepwalkers is a 6/10

While many adaptations of his books are mediocre, screenplays written by Stephen King himself include Rose Red, a fun haunted house tale, and the creepy The Storm of the Century. Sadly, Sleepwalkers is an unwatchable film with no entertainment value whatsoever.

Charles (Brian Krause) and his mother (Alice Krige) are vampire-like creatures, able to assume both monstrous and human appearance. Hilariously, they are also afraid of cats, their mortal enemies. The two monsters move to a new town, where Charles befriends a classmate (Madchen Amick), planning to kill her.

Not much happens, so the movie tries to stretch itself as long as possible with ludicrously gory scenes of vampires killing extras, plus endless shots of cats meowing and running around the house of the evil family.

Sleepwalkers is campy but tedious; although the "vampires versus cats" encounters should be hysterical, the stupidity is also partly intentional. If you are making a lousy horror movie, at least have the decency to play it straight, because the moment you wink at the audience ("Hey, we know it's garbage!"), you kill the fun.

Buried behind overacting, stupidity and bad taste there is an attempt to humanize monsters and show their solitude and sadness: a potentially interesting idea, but it couldn't have been executed worse. Avoid this one like a plague.

2/10

This is not a good movie but I still like it. The cat Clovis is gold in a jar as well as the premise of the cats themselves - intrinsically opposed to the evil Sleepwalkers. I think there is more to this movie than people realize, basically it is very harsh, but this brusqueness can sometimes be good. It's got the corny lines, the abrupt ending and a comedic element conveyed by the bumbling policemen.

Did anyone find the incestuous element a bit disturbing? Ultimately this movie is casually and randomly acrimonious, which is quite effective, I liken it to Psycho - the relationship between the mother and son, the changing of protagonists. I think the abruptness works also, this is not a movie that you want them to lengthen, it only works if it's short.

I'm still not sure whether the director lacked depth, or whether he did these things with purpose, we know Stephen King has ability, yet I haven't even read his books, only seen some of his movies.

Anyway, I liked it. If you like harsh corny movies with 80's overtones just watch it. but don't expect too much. It really is so bad its good.

I have nothing against a fast-paced fright-flick, but this Stephen King-derived nonsense is too freshly-scrubbed, too bright and modern. The plot, about a new teenage boy in a small town who is a "Sleepwalker"--sort of a cross between a vampire and a werewolf--and who feeds on the blood of female virgins, begs for a more mysterious, ambiguous treatment. This thriller is given an inappropriately colorful look and feel, with hardly any atmosphere. The kids are predictably pretty and energetic, but the big plus is Alice Kridge as the boy's mother; Kridge, from "Ghost Story", never broke out of the filler-female mold, and it's a huge loss that she hasn't been used more. Her performance is creepy and intense, and gives hint that "Sleepwalkers" might've been a much better film with a different focus and tighter direction. It's too over-the-top and commercially-driven, with an uneven tone that swings wildly from thriller to comedy to drama. Stephen King pops up in a cameo, as do real-life directors John Landis and Tobe Hooper. *1/2 from ****

It Could Have Been A Marvelous Story Based On The Ancient Races Of Cat People, but it wasn't.

This work could have been just that; marvelous and replete with mythological references which kept my fascination fueled. The lead characters (Charles Brady played by Brian Krause; and his mother Mary, played by Alice Krige) were shallowly done, had no depth of personality and were hardly likable or drawing. Not even Mädchen Amick (who played Tanya Robertson)'s character fit into that description.

However, as I've said many times before, when you adapt a Stephen King novel for TV, you simply must take into account the fact that his books aren't written for TV, and his screenplay talent sadly lacks the fire and depth he exhibits as a novelist.

This is another botched attempt to take the magick of Stephen King writing, whether that is of his novels or an original screenplay. To simply cut and paste his work onto the small screen. His novels get completely bastardized in the process and all you end up creating is a nice movie; nothing less but certainly nothing more. His screenplays are hit and miss. Unfortunately, this screenplay translation was a miss.

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry movie.

This movie gets a 1.0/10 from...

the Fiend :.

Incest, check! Rape, check! Cats, check! Equals Anime!

As we discover from an opening title card, The Bradys--Charles (Brian Krause) and Mary (Alice Krige), are "sleepwalkers"--shape-shifting, leonine, proto-vampiric and lycanthropic humanoids who must feed on the essence of a virgin to rejuvenate themselves. Because of the nature of their sustenance, they are usually quickly found out and must move from town to town like gypsies. As the film starts, they've just moved to a small town in Indiana.

Sleepwalkers has a lot going for it, most strongly its attitude. This was writer Stephen King's first script written exclusively for the screen, and director Mick Garris' first King project, so they both have something to prove. They did so by creating a "balls to the wall" horror film that's just as daring and disturbing in its dramatic material as it is in its more traditional horror material. At least in retrospect, it may be a bit rough around the edges, both technically and artistically, and its final moments are slightly clichéd, but its spirit easily makes up for that.

The beautiful Santo & Johnny song "Sleepwalk", the B.J. Cole version of which was also used to great effect in 12 Monkeys (1995), may have been the catalyst for the whole affair. I can just picture King listening to the song, his imagination going to work on a twisted demonic family slinking through the night seeking the élan vital of a virgin. The song occurs a number of times throughout the film, always during intimate moments between Charles and Mary (whose very names have countless historical connections, not the least of which was a skewed-by-today's-mores engagement between Queen "Bloody" Mary Tudor and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V), whose relationship is sure to shock some viewers. Given my artistic/philosophical dispositions, motivations, and views, I'm always a great fan of taboo breaking, so putting this material at the beginning of the film already had me strongly on King and Garris' side.

The performances in the film are delightfully curious. Partially due to King's writing, the characters all have distinct quirks, and the cast plays them with a subtle exaggeration that almost threatens to become camp, but remains more in the realm of surreal weirdness. Many of the supporting roles stand out just as strongly as the principles, especially Jim Haynie as the sheriff who loves sing-songy adolescent dirty rhymes, limericks and the like, and Ron Perlman as the police captain who is comically gruff and cynical, as only Perlman can be. There are also a number of cameos that are extremely fun for genre fans--King, Clive Barker, Tobe Hooper, John Landis, Joe Dante and Mark Hamill.

The gore and special makeup effects are excellent for the film's era. Sleepwalkers is also one of the earlier horror films to use computer-morphing, ala Terminator 2 (1991), for special makeup transitions. Genre fans will take note that the "early" stages of the sleepwalker transformation strongly resemble the vampire makeup in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) and Angel (1999) television series. It's difficult to imagine that this was not one of the influences on the Buffy development team.

Shot in an oddly bucolic area of Los Angeles near Beverly Hills, Sleepwalkers also features terrific locations, sets and cinematography. The Brady house is intriguing in that it looks a bit dumpy from the outside, but the interior is almost gothically lush. There are also a lot of cats throughout Sleepwalkers, and it's the first time I can remember the mere presence of domestic pets doing so much to create an overall eerie atmosphere.

this movie was so gay like its a mom and son cat that have sex, they also get scared of little kitty cats. they get set on fire by them. the mom cat alien thing kills a guy by stabbing him in the back with an ear of corn? they are bullet proof. invisible. and what not. the star of the movie, Clovis, is the cops cat, Clovis leads the cops to find the mom alien, and after the mom kills the cops, Clovis kills the mom by eating her head then she catches on fire. this movie sucks. it was way way more funny than it was scary, it wasn't even scaryt at all. the girl hits the alien on the head with a camera, it knoks him out. she then goes and hugs her. the then grabs her and begins to rape her. once again, Clovis comes to the rescue

There are no spoilers here... Because there is no plot to spoil. Madchen Amick is living proof a face can make a living acting-- no talent required. The only bright spot are a few really good one-liners delivered very nicely by Alice Krige, but then again, she IS Alice Krige. Her soft dreamy voice gives the only hint at just how seductively dangerous these odd creatures can be. She is believably creepy in this otherwise unbelievable plot. How they got her to agree to this project remains a mystery. The screenplay writers must have been medicated when they submitted this script. It has major continuity problems, superficial stereotypical characters, horror formula writing, and simply falls short of making any sense what-so-ever. The creatures, while they have neat skills like going "dim", the question of where they come from and what they are is never so much explored.

Don't waste any time on this one.

SLEEPWALKERS starts out promisingly enough to be a creepy tale about a mother and son vampire team--needlessly involved in an incestuous relationship--played by BRIAN KRAUSE and ALICE KRIGE. These two handle their roles extremely well and the creepy atmosphere of the story makes you believe you're in for a good Stephen King thriller about a small town about to be devastated by vampires seeking nourishment.

There's even a pretty girl (MADCHEN AMICK) who flirts with the new boy in town, first at the movie theater where she works and then at high school--and these three characters carry the first part of the film nicely. You start to wonder whether the girl is going to be an easy victim of the mother and son team or whether she'll fight them off.

But as the plot thickens, so does the absurdity of the whole thing, all directed in comic book style so that none of the characters have any dimension beyond being puppets in a horror story that is so grotesque and over-the-top, particularly in the last half-hour, that you'll wonder whether a sane hand had any part in these proceedings. All of the business involving a menagerie of cats that sit on the couple's front lawn becomes laughable before the story uses them in a way that lacks any credibility at all.

To be fair, there are some scenes that do hold the interest, usually because a quirky supporting character, such as the black cop with his trusty traveling companion Clovis (a cat), provides some much needed humor--but those moments are few and far between. And any attempt to provide humor by having Stephen King play an obnoxious local man seeking help from a sheriff, fails utterly to do anything but convince the viewer that King should leave bit roles to professionals.

Whatever potential it had as a thriller is diminished by the outlandish ending which has Alice Krige losing her marbles completely. She hasn't had an eerier role since she played the girl who came back to life to haunt men in GHOST STORY ('82). But as good as she is, she can't save a trashy horror film from looking absurd.

Although written by Stephen King, an overrated writer if there ever was one, this is actually quite entertaining B-movie. Vampiric, incestuous creatures who live in the candle-lit house and drain the life-force of virgins, great graveyard scenery, heroic cats and very pretty virgin. The soundtrack even has Enya's music, an idea which I found quite... nice. I'm sure King is disappointed to this little movie, although it HAS crappy dialogue and ideas, all of them from a true and tedious King potboiler. (Albeit Sleepwalkers, if I'm understood right, is a script without any novel or short story behind it). Still, those touches of sewer-odors show he DIDN'T use a ghost-writer after all...

If you're the kind of movie-goer who enjoys original content and intelligent suspense...then look elsewhere, kids, cause Sleepwalkers really sucks. Usually I'm more eloquent than that, but...wow...this was bad. I especially love it when Charles offers Tanya a ride home, she declines, and then he is seen WALKING HOME. Where's his car?? Anyway, just don't see it, folks. I really want to be more specific, but words escape me. Cats jumping on people. A guy getting stabbed by corn. Cheesey lines up the proverbial "wazoo". Just don't see it. Wait, I take that back! See it for writer Stephen King's cameo as the guy who owns the graveyard. He's actually pretty good. Even with guest appearances by Mark Hamill and Ron Perlman, King gives the best performance of the film. But, other than that...wow...BAD.

This film has its share of negative comments and I have to agree with those who consider it one of the worst movies ever made. True, most of the films based on the works of King are pretty bad, but this one goes beyond bad into the realm of horrible. There is not one scary moment in it unless you consider stupidity scary. It is typical King garbage -- myths twisted around that made no sense in the first place, mixed with obvious and belabored so-called "scares" that are about as shocking as PeeWee's Playhouse (which, at least, is entertaining). It is full of ridiculous moments, not the least of which is Alice Krige's character. When she goes on a rampage and starts quipping like the villain in an old Batman TV show, it is so absurd as to be sickening. All the people who had cameos in this (including John Landis)are lucky they still have careers. But the most absurd part has to be the cat costumes towards the end, which look like cheap rubber outfits someone bought at K-mart. The best part of the movie is the appearance of some real cats who actually out-act the people in the movie.