Sleepwalkers

“Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers is a classic horror story that takes a perfect Norman Rockwell town … and turns it inside out.

Brian Krause and Alice Krige star in this terrifying tale of modern-day vampires who move from small town to small town to prey on virtuous young women. Imperceptibly inhuman to everyone except for felines, these vicious shape-shifters have their eyes on a new victim: Mädchen Amick is Tanya, the sexually curious virgin who falls for Charles, the new boy in school (Krause). Mutating at will from golden boy to savage monster, Charles stalks Tanya to feed his seductive mother. As the tension mounts (and the casualties pile up), the town’s tabbies gather for a final, chilling showdown with the monsters in their midst – and we all know it’s not nice to hurt people’s felines.”

Sleepwalkers opens as police investigate a gruesome scene at a beachside home where countless cats have been mutilated and strung up all over the front of the home. Inside, the police discover the bodies of the occupants, looking as though the life has literally been sucked out of them. Later on, mother and son Mary and Charles Brady have moved into a new town, with Charles setting his sights on a local high school girl, Tanya. Charles makes sure to force his way into Tanya’s life, introducing himself at her place of employment and getting to know her at school. When Charles offers to give her a ride home, they make plans to go out to a secluded graveyard where Tanya can take some photos. While Tanya and her family may be quite taken with Charles, some aren’t as charmed. Charles’ English teacher Mr. Fallows (Glenn Shadix) confronts him about his fake school transcripts and we finally see what Charles is capable of, and even more so when Charles partakes in a high-speed chase with a local police officer who has a cat riding shotgun. When the day of Charles and Tanya’s date arrives, Tanya meets Mary who is eager for her son to take her out. When they reach the cemetery that’s when Charles turns and attacks Tanya, who manages to defend herself and wounds Charles severely. Now his mother seeks revenge, vowing to finish the job that her son started.

Sleepwalkers features an original script written by Stephen King and directed by Mick Garris. What’s most interesting to me about this film is seeing the continuation of Stephen King’s fascination with cats. Of course there’s Church in Pet Sematary, Cat’s Eye, and this film, which features hundreds of cats who are the heroes of the story. Not only that, but the antagonists of the film are mythical creatures that seem to be feline in nature, which have mysterious powers like projecting images of themselves and their surroundings to other people. While they aren’t the most terrifying things in Stephen King’s writing, there is still an air of mystery about this species, how many of them there are, and why they have such a mutual hate with regular cats. As a cat lover myself, this certainly was a draw, having an entire Stephen King story revolving around them. But not only that, Sleepwalkers, like all of King’s stories, has some great horror combined with that quirky sense of humor that he injects into all his stories.

The best thing about this film by far is the cast. Brian Krause does a great job as the charming teen-turned psycho-cat-person and does it in a fairly believable way. Mädchen Amick is stunningly beautiful and a great actress, able to pull off some great action scenes with never going too over the top. Alice Krige has always had a strong, sensual presence in everything I’ve seen her in. This is no different, as the relationship between herself and her son is quite strange to say the least, but she plays it with such confidence that despite the strangeness of it it’s hard to cringe at. There are so many smaller roles played by big names it’s just fun to see them all. Mark Hamill, Ron Perlman, and a hilarious scene with King himself, John Landis, Tobe Hooper, Clive Barker and Joe Dante, all big names in the horror genre.

Despite the strangely unique story which is mostly fun and entertaining, the effects of the Sleepwalkers themselves leave much to be desired. That doesn’t include the half-cat makeup, which does look pretty impressive, as well as the morphing effects that have surprisingly held up quite well despite being one of the first few ever done. However, the full-sized, full-cat suit is just goofy looking, with an enlarged head that looks entirely too big for the body. It could have looked a lot more cat-like if that’s what they were going for.

Video

Sleepwalkers is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 1.85:1. Although this Collector’s Edition doesn’t include a new scan of the interpositive like many of Scream Factory’s titles do, this transfer still looks extremely good. With no defects noticed throughout the film, it maintains a consistent grain that never gets out of hand. Color balance looks good, with some nice, crisp detail, especially in the brighter scenes.

Audio

The audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo. No remixed surround track here, but the stereo track sounds good for what it is. Levels sound fine, with the other channels never overpowering the center channel.

Special Features

Scream Factory has put together an amazing list of extras with this set. Mick Garris is always great to listen to, and he offers a plethora of information about the film and its making. I highly recommend watching all of these, as they will enhance your appreciation of the film, especially the commentary!

Here’s what you’re going to see:

• NEWAudio Commentary With Director Mick Garris And Actors Mädchen Amick And Brian Krause
• NEWFeline Trouble – An Interview With Director Mick Garris
• NEWWhen Charles Met Tanya – A Conversation With Actors Mädchen Amick And Brian Krause
• NEWFamily Values – An Interview With Actress Alice Krige
• NEWFeline Trouble: The FX Of Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers – Interviews With Special Make-up Effects Creator Tony Gardner And Prosthetics Designer Mike Smithson
• Behind-The-Scenes Footage
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Still Gallery

Sleepwalkers is definitely not Stephen King’s best stories, but it is fun, entertaining, with a great set of actors that can make even the lowest points of the film forgivable. Scream Factory has given this a great treatment with an excellent set of extras.