Stephen King books are often mauled in their translation to the big screen so its little wonder that(after failing miserably to direct one himself in Maximum Overdrive) King decided to write an original screenplay which would come to the screen with no literary baggage weighing heavily upon ... Read review
Stephen King'sSleepwalkersis about a half-human, half-cat race of shape shifters called, ... more
for no apparent reason, sleepwalkers. Hunky Charles Brady (Brian Krause) and his incestuous mother (Alice Krige) are sleepwalkers, and they've come to the small to...
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Stephen King'sSleepwalkersis about a half-human, half-cat race of shape shifters called, ... more
for no apparent reason, sleepwalkers. Hunky Charles Brady (Brian Krause) and his incestuous mother (Alice Krige) are sleepwalkers, and they've come to the small to...
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Charles Brady and his mother Mary aren't your average American family. They are ... more
Sleepwalkers nomadic shape-shifting creatures with human and feline origins. Vulnerable only to the scratch of a cat they thrive on the life-force of virginal flesh... An...
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Charles Brady and his mother aren't your average American family. They are Sleepwalkers - ... more
nomadic shape shifting creatures with human and feline origins. Vulnerable only to the scratch of a cat, they thrive on the life force of virginal female flesh - ...
Stephen King'sSleepwalkersis about a half-human, half-cat race of shape shifters called, ... more
for no apparent reason, sleepwalkers. Hunky Charles Brady (Brian Krause) and his incestuous mother (Alice Krige) are sleepwalkers, and they've come to the small town of Travis, Indiana, where they've somehow acquired a nice house and false identities. They need virgin souls to survive and have fixated on local beauty Tanya (Madchen Amick fromTwin Peaks). That's about it for the story--from then on it's a series of chase scenes full of badly done gore. King must have been sleepwalking himself when he wrote this screenplay: the dialogue is terrible, the characters are cardboard, and the plotting is clumsy. Combine that with mediocre acting, thoughtless direction, slapdash editing, and cheesy special effects, and you haveSleepwalkers. Amick comes off reasonably well and there are cameos by King, Clive Barker, and horror directors John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Joe Dante (Gremlins), and Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). But really, if you're interested in were-cats, see the originalCat People, starring Simone Simon; it's both sexier and scarier. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com
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Stephen King books are often mauled in their translation to the big screen so its little wonder that(after failing miserably to direct one himself in Maximum Overdrive) King decided to write an original screenplay which would come to the screen with no literary baggage weighing heavily upon it. The result is Sleepwalkers, a movie which is entertaining but once again, simply not very good...and certainly quite uncomfortable viewing for cat lovers. ... ...really be surprised - its Stephen King after all. *sigh*
The special effects also leave much to be desired and this is obviously not one of the highest budget movies around - you'd think just occasionally the King of horror fiction might be afforded a decent budget for a horror movie but its rare. Cats have never been trained to attack on command so where you see them here they are mechanical replacements and quite obvious ones at ... more
Stephen King books are often mauled in their translation to the big screen so its little wonder that(after failing miserably to direct one himself in Maximum Overdrive) King decided to write an original screenplay which would come to the screen with no literary baggage weighing heavily upon it. The result is Sleepwalkers, a movie which is entertaining but once again, simply not very good...and certainly quite uncomfortable viewing for cat lovers.
The movie opens(unless you see the cut TV version) with the cameras panning around a house surrounded by the corpses of dead cats, some trapped, some poisoned and some mauled, but all very dead and lots of them. The explanation for this will become clear very soon but its a quite revolting and creepy start to a movie(and carries on a King theme of animal abuse which somewhat worryingly perhaps seems to run through most of his novels...but I digress as usual). The previous occupants of the house are an incestuous mother and son who also happen to be the last surviving members of a kind of Nordic shape-shifting vampire clan who need to feed upon the life force of virgins to survive. They've moved to a new town in the Midwest, where Charles(Brian Krause - yes, "Leo" in "Charmed" for all you other fans of the TV series) is enrolled in school and mother Mary(Alice Krige - the Borg Queen in "Star Trek: First Contact" amongst other things) stays holed up at the house which seems to be rapidly becoming besieged by cats once more. Cats are drawn to the creatures, but they lose their shape-shifting powers when they come in contact with them so the house is surrounded by traps to keep them at bay...one wonders why no one seems to notice or question 100+ cats sitting in someone's front yard, argues about how laying bear traps around a suburban front lawn to snare moggies might be slightly ?anti-social? or how Charles gets out of the house with these supposedly deadly felines all around the place but anyway...
Charles has problems other than traversing huge holes in the plot however. You see, mother keeps complaining of being hungry and needing to feed soon or she'll perish whilst Charles has something of a thing for the sweet virginal Tanya(Madchen Amick - an actress so talented her recent star turns have included the likes of the TV crapfest "Dawson's Creek") who ought to be the one being served up for dinner. Faced then with the option of a leg-over or a dead mother who is more than happy to offer a leg-over anyway Charles makes the obvious choice and takes the leg-over...no only kidding...he puts Tanya on the menu but soon finds out sometimes your food fights back...
The idea of shape-shifting vampire creatures preying on suburban virgins probably sounds like a great idea, but neither the budget, nor the execution allows it to ever come close to being one in reality. Actually, put like that it sounds like a rather hokey idea but anyway, the result is still rather lame with a plot more full of holes than your average colander. Some things can pass, but other things like why a guy who looks like his at the very least in his early 20s (a little investigation puts him at 24 years old during filming!) is enrolling in high school, or why Mary simply can't leave the house because of the cats but Charles comes and goes as he pleases, or why creatures who supposedly are in some way related to cats are so scared of them...and so on, have you scratching your head and rolling your eyes skywards far too often. The plot is initially intriguing but ruins its effectiveness with these and many more unexplained contradictions and misjudgements. I suppose I shouldn?t really be surprised - its Stephen King after all. *sigh*
The special effects also leave much to be desired and this is obviously not one of the highest budget movies around - you'd think just occasionally the King of horror fiction might be afforded a decent budget for a horror movie but its rare. Cats have never been trained to attack on command so where you see them here they are mechanical replacements and quite obvious ones at that. In fact, mechanical and stuffed cats are used wherever possible, which is a good to know from a cat lovers? point of view - a quick nosy over at the AHA (American Humane Association) website (link at the bottom for those who care) details every effort made to protect animal safety - but on more than a few occasions its quite badly disguised...and of course, showing real cats jumping a foot off the ground and ending up on a 6ft tall monster's head is never going to work. The creature effects towards the end are improved, but its mostly low budget stuff all the way, with Charles' early transformations making him look more Klingon than monstrous.
I suppose my real problem with Sleepwalkers is that given some of the ideas here, it could have been a lot better. Interesting elements are introduced and then glossed over without any further investigation as if just the idea itself ought to be enough. The incest between Mary and Charles is one such idea which is introduced in such a matter-of-fact way that its impact is less than minimal when at the very least such a social taboo should have been a little disturbing. Furthermore, the general tone of imagery of the movie is very light and airy, when perhaps a more gothic or darkened atmosphere would have suited it better. Maybe its me, but monsters don't seem quite as scary on a bright summer's day in suburbia and that?s what Sleepwalkers offers you.
At the end of the day, this is low budget horror which seems specially made for a TV audience although apparently it sneaked its way onto the cinema screens across the big pond when it was released, no doubt solely by having the name "Stephen King" attached to it. I found it quite entertaining because its certainly well paced and doesn't bog down in trivialities (like erm, explaining anything at all!) but then I tend to find all Stephen King adaptations 'quite entertaining' whist openly admitting they are, in the main, really badly executed. Sleepwalkers is another to add to the list of 'crap but watchable' horror movies - not scary, not particularly amusing, badly acted, scripted and everything else, but watchable. Its not one I would recommend for purchasing, but when it makes another late night TV appearance, it might be worth taping for a rainy day.
Advantages: A suspenseful first act Disadvantages: The rest of the film, and Alice Krige
Based on Stephen Kings novel of the same name, Sleepwalkers is the gory story of a mother and son who feed on human blood to keep them alive. When they move to a new town after wreaking havoc in Ohio, Charles Brady has to search out a virgin to feed his mother as she verges on starvation. That virgin comes in the form of resourceful town beauty Tanya, who falls for Charles charms almost immediately. The murderous pair seem virtually fearless until ... ...turn up on screen, and Stephen King gets in on the act for a pointless throwaway cameo. Brian Krause and Madchen Amick are decent enough in their roles as Brian and Tanya but even they must have cringed at the disturbingly bad dialogue they had to mutter. Alice Krige is just terrible as Mary Brady, the merry murdering mother who takes things too far by indulging in incest with her son. The effects are decent enough for their time, and make the film ...
bilbob20 03.01.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Stephen King's Sleepwalkers (DVD)
Advantages: Playing spot the cameo Disadvantages: Poorly explained plot
...Werewolf In London) 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 ... ...I haven't read the book but I assume its suffering the standard fate of a Stephen King book turned into a movie which is to say they totally screwed it up which is what normally happens when Hollywood meets Mr Kings work. (this review also apears on dooyoo) ...
atytyut2434 22.02.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Stephen King's Sleepwalkers (DVD)
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Quick review of Stephen King's Sleepwalkers (DVD)
Actually it is 3,5 stars. Mother and son team (Alice Krige and Brian Krause) suck the life energy of virgins and try to kill the lonely good girl (Mädchen Amick), but the duo is vulnerable to scratches of the cats.... Idiotic but enjoyable B-movie, thanks to atmospheric graveyard and other touches of Gothic: incestuous vampiric creatures , the candle-lit house, Enya´s eerie song in the soundtrack etc. Polluted by King´s potty-mouthed, obsessive hate toward fat people and undoubtly idiotic, Sleepwalkers is trashy fun. ...
scarletpurity 11.03.2009
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Stephen King's Sleepwalkers (DVD)
Advantages: Glued to your seat sort of Horror AND it won't make you feel like you've lost 2 hrs of your life! Disadvantages: Nothing clever, and as usual not a very accurate depiction of the actual book.
...what film is reality?!
Stephen King's characters are some of the best bits of his books, the depth in which he goes, you either hate or love a character and this film managed to do that ....nearly.
The title is sort of misleading as you expect sleepwalking people, but in fact you have a special type/breed of person who can at will turn into a cat. We have a very attractive teenage girl and teenage male. They of course fall for one another, but ... ...her and luring her to his house at his mothers bidding and she is one scary lady!....erm...cat!
So if you like cats, gore, wierd family relationships and lots of jump out your seat moments, then this film will entertain you and make you look twice at the family cat! ...
lizzybeth1998 15.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Stephen King's Sleepwalkers (DVD)
Advantages: This DVD will kill a couple of board hours Disadvantages: Two hours well wasted!
...very very dissapointed in this Stephen King supposedly scary horror movie! What was Mr King thinking-maybe thats it he was not thinking at all!
I love horror movies and this was deffinatly not a horror, more of a comedy! The TV on standby would have been more scary and interesting.
The cats were all very pretty and I hope none were harmed in the making and they all found good homes after filming.
I must say the highlight of the film to me (apart ...
blammo 08.11.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Stephen King's Sleepwalkers (DVD)
A mother and son living in a small community are not like anyone else. They're Sleepwalkers, creatures who feed on young, innocent girls... Stephen King appears briefly.
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DVD Description
A mother and son living in a small community are not like anyone else. They're Sleepwalkers, creatures who feed on young, innocent girls... Stephen King appears briefly.
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