Sleepwalkers Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A girl becomes the unwitting target of shapeshifters who need her lifeforce in order to survive.

Review: This is one of those movies where it's tough to pinpoint what the hell went wrong. The first half is actually not bad at all with interesting suspense, a cool theme song, and a promising plot. Then, out of the blue, the tone completely switches to cornball slasher where the sleepwalkers are dishing out one-liners and a guy was legitimately killed by an ear of corn! Maybe the story was too offbeat for the era, considering this was made in the early '90s, and they felt inclined to mimic the likes of Freddy, Pinhead, and the Leprechaun? I don't know--maybe Stephen King was fresh out of blow when writing the second act and winged it. If that weren't bad enough, we start to get all manner of shenanigans at the end with little kitties running about. I dare say, this probably should have been a horror/romance instead of whatever it's currently considered. The groundwork was definitely in place with the sexy Madchen Amick playing the main girl, Tanya. The sleepwalker, Charles, was even hesitating to kill Tanya, kept staring at her picture, and carved her initial into his skin. Stalker-ish, for sure, but this doesn't strike me as behavior done by someone who sees Tanya as nothing more than dinner. Ehh...still a better love story than "Twilight," am I right?

First up, we get only the faintest of explanations on what a sleepwalker is supposed to be. They're cat-looking shapeshifter-vampires who are only vulnerable to...cats. Whaaaat? The cats also magically sense sleepwalkers in the area and are drawn to them for no reason given. Sleepwalkers have various psychic powers and superhuman strength yet struggle to kill one high school girl? I mean, Charles can rip Otho's hand clean off, but struggles to subdue Tanya? Charles' mom takes on, seemingly, the whole town at one point while starving, and, again, struggles to subdue one girl?! The sleepwalkers need to feed on virgin girls. Why? The sleepwalker process doesn't really make sense. Male sleepwalkers drain virgin girls through a kiss, then the male bangs the female sleepwalker to transfer the energy? Okaaay...yet they still eat regular food? Whatever, dude. They imply that Charles took the form of a little boy in his last town which makes sense since the younger the girl the more likely she is a virgin. So, if Charles wasn't in love with Tanya, why would he even bother with high school aged girls?! I get Tanya is supposed to be a "nice" girl, as the movie keeps reminding the audience, but how did the sleepwalkers know she was a virgin? One of the dumbest moments in the film is when Charles and his mom could have easily killed Tanya but didn't for, what, the lulz?!

There is way too much build up to Charles and Tanya getting together just for him to turn crazy. Hell, Charles even says something about not wanting to kill her only minutes earlier! I don't understand why they would spend 45 minutes establishing this relationship if nothing was meant to come from it. In fact, their flirting is kind of cute, Tanya is a sweetheart, and Charles, while a bit obsessive, appears to want something more than this sleepwalker life as shown by the story he wrote. Speaking of which, why introduce that plot line at all? Was that an excuse to add Otho to the kill count or a weak attempt at exposition? It really would have served better to develop Charles and why he was originally reluctant to kill Tanya. Plus, Tanya was receptive to the story, and Charles genuinely appeared moved by that gesture. I know I'm focusing a lot on the romance aspect, but, seriously, this should have been a supernaturally themed romance with maybe some slasher elements. I'm not saying things had to end great between Charles and Tanya, but the transition to one-liners before and after kills was beyond moronic--ruining all the momentum that had been built.

I know a lot of people hate this movie, but it's more on the mediocre side than outright bad. There are good ideas, and the sleepwalkers had nearly endless potential even if it was squandered. The first half is fun with Charles trying to woo Tanya; by the way, she is far, far too dreamy to be a geek as the film implies. There are a lot of cameos strewn about which was another cool aspect, but no one really does much; this was especially disappointing with Mark Hamill as a sheriff for all of two minutes. On the other hand, the second half is laughably bad, the sleepwalkers make little sense with no explanations given, the effects are shoddy, and the film appears to be all too happy to drift into absurdity. I'd say it's maybe worth a view, but you should turn it off once Tanya and Charles go to the graveyard; just write your own fanfic ending from there.

Notable Moment: When Stephen King is whining to Clive Barker and John Landis at the graveyard. An amusing cameo if you can appreciate it.

Final Rating: 5/10

The enchanting Ms. Amick: