Main Cast: Brian Krause, Mädchen Amick, Alice Krige, Mark Hamill, Jim Haynie, Ron Perlman, Cindy Pickett
Release Year: 1992
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Stephen King wrote his first original screenplay for this horror gore fest that features cameos by directors Clive Barker, Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper, John Landis, and King himself (playing a cemetery attendant). The story concerns a twilight people named "sleepwalkers" --creatures similar to vampires and werewolves whose faces turn animalistic whenever they are frightened or angry and who require the lifeforce of a virgin to survive. A single-parent sleepwalker family, consisting of Mary Brady (Alice Krige) and her son Charles (Brian Krause), have taken up residence in a small Indiana town. Charles has expressed a romantic interest in the attractive Tanya Robertson (Madchen Amick), a girl in his high school literature class. Mary wants Charles to lure Tanya home so that she can suck out her life force, but it appears that Charles has fallen in love with her --that is, until their first date, at a picnic at the cemetery. There Charles changes from a shy romantic suitor into a brutal and violent force, slapping Tanya around and attempting to rape her. But Tanya wards off his advances by plunging a corkscrew into his torso. Charles staggers back home to mother, where she nurses him back to health. Then Charles and his mother seek vengeance upon the Robertson family. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
Although Stephen King himself wrote the screenplay for this horror exercise, Sleepwalkers is no better or worse than the many quickie adaptations that have been produced without the author's direct input. It's merely an adequate outing full of cool ideas whose execution lacks enough atmosphere or true psychological insight to frighten or even unsettle most audiences. Likable Twin Peaks vet Madchen Amick seems wasted as the good-girl protagonist; Alice Krige is far more alluring as the matriarchal vampire whose feline sensuality sets up all sorts of intriguing Oedipal conflicts with her son. Unfortunately, director Mick Garris doesn't milk such subtext as much as he should. He seems more interested in showing us his titular shape-shifters turning things invisible and slipping into Beauty and the Beast drag. Still, for all its quotidian special effects and familiar thrills, Sleepwalkers is fairly entertaining. A bit of campy humor and a few celebrity cameos give it just enough genial charm to tip the scales in favor of watchability. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Lyman Ward - Mr. Robertson; Glenn Shadix - Mr. Fallows; Monty Bane - Horace; Stephen King - Cemetery Caretaker; Joe Dante - Lab Assistant; John Landis - Lab Technician; Clive Barker - Forensic Tech; Tobe Hooper - Forensic Tech; Joey Aresco - Victor; Karl Bakke - Police; Lucy Boryer - Jeanette; Stuart Charno - Police Photographer; Bojesse Christopher - Crawford; Diane Delano - Police; Cynthia Garris - Laurie; Ernie Lively - Animal Control Officer; Michael Reid Mackay - "Charles" Sleepwalker; Dan Martin - Andy Simpson; Roger Nolan - Stenta; Donald Petersen - Boy with Ear Ache; Rusty Schwimmer - Housewife; Karyn Sercelj - "Mary" Sleepwalker; Hayden Victor - Little Girl at School Bus; Judette Warren - Carrie; O. Nicholas Brown - Officer Wilbur; Frank Novak - Deputy Sheriff; Wendy Kurtzman
Credit
Sig Tingloff - Art Director, Wendy Kurtzman - Casting, Lisa Mionie - Casting, Richard Stenta - Co-producer, Marleen Garris - First Assistant Director, Randall Badger - First Assistant Director, Mick Garris - Director, O. Nicholas Brown - Editor, Dimitri Logothetis - Executive Producer, Joseph Medawar - Executive Producer, Nicholas Pike - Composer (Music Score), Enya - Songwriter, John Blake - Makeup, Rick Stratton - Makeup, Tony Gardner - Makeup Special Effects, John F. de Cuir, Jr. - Production Designer, Richard Stenta - Production Designer, Rodney Charters - Cinematographer, Michael Grais - Producer, Mark Victor - Producer, Nabeel Zahid - Producer, Bruce Gibeson - Set Designer, Peter Kelly - Set Designer, Don H. Matthews - Sound Mixer, Robert O'Brien - Sound Editor, Don S. Walden - Sound Editor, John O. Wilde - Sound Editor, Cindy Folkerson - Stunts, Andy Gill - Stunts, Michael Haynes - Stunts, Denver Mattson - Stunts, Peter McKernan, Jr. - Stunts, Jeff Ramsey - Stunts, Jim Wilkey - Stunts, Spice Williams - Stunts, Tony Conforti - Stunts, Bud Davis - Stunts, Dwayne McGee - Stunts, Noon Orsatti - Stunts, Doc Charbonneau - Stunts, Patricia Peters - Stunts, Perry Barndt - Stunts, Jane McKernan - Stunts, Phil Adams - Stunts Coordinator, Stephen King - Screenwriter, Tony Gardner - Creature Effects, Michael Condro - First Assistant Camera, Marty Wereski - Music Editor, Ray Mercer, Jr. - Properties Master, Robert D. Nellans - Second Assistant Director, Leslie Joyce - Costume/Wardrobe, Aida Swinson - Costume/Wardrobe, Richard Baum - Assistant Properties, Bryan H. Carroll - First Assistant Editor, Robert Hedland - First Assistant Editor, Mike Revell - Production Accountant
Sleepwalkers (also known as Stephen King's Sleepwalkers) is a 1992Americanhorror film based on an unpublished Stephen Kingnovel and adapted by Mick Garris. The original music score was composed by Nicholas Pike.
Charles Brady and his mother Mary are Sleepwalkers — nomadic, shapeshiftingenergy vampires who feed off the lifeforce of virgin women. Though they normally maintain a human form, they can transform (partially or fully) into human-sized bipedalwerecats (presumably their natural form) at will. They are considerably more resilient than humans and have powers of both telekinesis and illusion. Their one weakness is cats, who are not only able to see through their illusions but whose claws are capable of inflicting severe to fatal wounds upon them. They also maintain an incestuous relationship.
Charles and Mary have taken up residence in a small Indiana town, having recently fled Bodega Bay, California (where they used the aliases Martha and Carl Brodie) after draining and killing a girl there. Charles attends the local high school, and there he meets Tanya Robertson in his creative writing class. Tanya does not suspect the real reason why Charles wants her so much — to take her lifeforce for his mother, who is starving. At first, it seems that Charles has fallen in love with Tanya (to the dismay of his jealous mother). On their first date, however, a picnic at the nearby cemetery, Charles attempts to drain the lifeforce from Tanya while kissing her. Tanya tries various things to ward off Charles' somewhat unusual advances, including bashing his head with her camera, scratching his face, and ultimately plunging a corkscrew into his left eye.
As it happens, Deputy Sheriff Andy Simpson who had earlier tried to pull Charles over for speeding and passing a stopped school bus (and seemingly trying to run down a young school girl), drives by the cemetery and notices Charles’ (now undisguised) car. When Tanya runs to him for help, Charles tracks Andy down and kills him. When Charles then turns to resume his lifeforce-depleting makeout session with Tanya, the deputy’s cat, Clovis, rises to the occasion and nearly kills Charles by scratching him in the face and chest. Mortally wounded by Clovis, Charles staggers back home to Mary who is able to make both of them "dim", i.e., turn invisible, and thus keep Charles from being arrested when the police storm their house.
Mary then seeks vengeance on the Robertson family, killing the sheriff and his entire department and fatally wounding Tanya’s parents. She kidnaps Tanya and takes her back to her house, where Charles by this time is all but dead. Mary resurrects him, and Charles tries to drain Tanya’s lifeforce. However, Tanya plunges her fingers into Charles’ eyes, killing him. Tanya manages to escape to safety with the help of the sheriff who is later impaled on the picket fences surrounding the house by Mary. Several of the cats that had been gathering around their house throughout the movie, led by Clovis, jump on Mary and claw at her until she bursts into flame, killing her. The movie ends with Mary lying ablaze on her driveway and Tanya hugging Clovis, her savior[1].
The film won the 1992 Fantafestival Award(s) (aka, Mostra Internazionale del Film de Fantascienza e del Fantastico di Roma) for Best Actress (Krige), Best Direction (Garris), Best Film (Garris) and Best Screenplay (King).[2][3][4]
One of the film's producers, Joseph Medawar, was tried for fraud in 2006 for making a fake TV show about the Department of Homeland Security and stealing money from the show's would-be investors[citation needed].
One of the first motion pictures to use morphing in visual effects. The effects were created by Apogee, whose works include Spaceballs and Batman Forever.
