Musings upon the motion picture that we call Sleepwalkers

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Neil W

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2008
1,203
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Isle of Wight UK
Hunk Charles (Brian (Charmed) Krause), and his Mum Mary, (Alice (Borg Queen) Krige), move to a small town and Charles falls for local cutie Tanya. Unfortunately, Charles and Mary aren't so much people as cat-vampire thingies with appetites which don't go down too well with the locals. Mayhem ensues.

This was the first Stephen King property written exclusively for the screen, I think, and it is not without merit. The story is a bit formulaic, but our monstery protagonists are moderately off the beaten track. There are multiple guest cameos to spot, some decent action, early (and effective) use of CGI morphing, and Alice Krige is as compelling as usual.

Less pleasingly, Mick Garris' direction is as pedestrian as usual, and the whole thing has a TV movie feel to it which, what with it being a theatrical presentation, isn't really what one wants to see.

It's not a bad King movie, but it certainly isn't one of the good ones.
 
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Sundrop

Sunny the Great & Wonderful
Jun 12, 2008
28,520
156,619
I enjoyed this movie.....It wasn't overly scary, but I found the characters interesting.
I especially enjoyed the ending.
 
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Sunlight Gardener

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Jul 22, 2013
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Ok, I'm just going to say this from my own past life experience. If you are a teenager and you are going to go out to the theater with your mother to watch a movie.....this is not the movie you want to go see, just trust me on that. If you've seen the movie you will understand. I think it took both of us a good two years to recover.
 

SutterKane

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2014
297
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As much as I love both Stephen King & Cats, this movie just aged horribly. I liked it when I was a kid but even then, deep down, knew it was kind of cheesy. But it does have some of it's B-Movie charms, it's more funny then scary.
 
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Tim D.

Well-Known Member
Jan 15, 2013
704
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Kentucky
It's not a bad King movie, but it certainly isn't one of the good ones.

I'm going to have to be disagreeable on this point and say that it is, indeed, a bad movie. But for reasons I cannot fathom I've always kind of liked it. Maybe because that Madchen Amick is one cute chickie boo.
 
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morgan

Well-Known Member
Jul 11, 2010
29,353
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North Dakota
I saw this movie EONS ago! Own it on DVD & it's still in its wrapper-I'm too much of a critter softy to watch some of these classics anymore!
 
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Rrty

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2007
1,394
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I always liked "Sleepwalkers," but I agree, it is of its time. I do wish King would try to return to one-shot movies again (in a bigger way than he currently has). I've said this before, but come on my friend -- maybe get involved with that Blumhouse Productions outfit and come up with a "Purge," a "Paranormal Activity," an "Insidious;" show the kids how it's done. Here's a title -- "The Incident in Bangor." Take that title, create a plot, spend no more than $5 million on the negative, voila -- capture the attention of the "The Conjuring" crowd, make a lot of money, and let the younger moviegoers know who the real boss of horror is. Wishful thinking, certainly, but I'll tell you, a low-budget horror film set in Bangor, if done in one of those documentary/found-footage sort of ways, could actually feature King in a cameo as himself talking about reports of the incident. That would be fun.
 
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Machine's Way

“Go then, there are other worlds than these.”
Jul 13, 2009
671
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Baltimore
This is an absolute awful movie, but I still like it in some ways. A quote from some critic I read a long time ago about King comes to mind, Something to the effect that "Stephen King could publish his grocery list and it would be a best seller" Now that can be taken many ways depending on the context it was written, Could be a statement of how dedicated King fans are, or a slant on Kings writing abilities, or any number of things. But I mention it in this post because I think if it wasn't for Kings Name being attached to this film and his Cameo appearance, I would dismiss this movie completely and say it sucked and a waste of my time.
 
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muskrat

Dis-Member
Nov 8, 2010
4,518
19,564
Under your bed
Saw it once, when it came out--drive inn double date in my buddy's old Ford Fairmont. My date (cute little blonde that never, never shut up) and I got the front seats while said buddy and his stank up the back. Then it's all, "is that dude doin it with his mom?" and trips to the snack bar for all sorts of junk--little blonde wasn't that little, as I recall. And yak yak yak yak. No funny business, just yak yak yak. Then it's "a freakin CORNCOB in the face?" And steamy windows, cramped, odorous Fairmont, bleh, and yak yak yak...

I should probably see this one again, finally.
 

Doc Creed

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2015
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Ok, I'm just going to say this from my own past life experience. If you are a teenager and you are going to go out to the theater with your mother to watch a movie.....this is not the movie you want to go see, just trust me on that. If you've seen the movie you will understand. I think it took both of us a good two years to recover.
I agree. The Oedipal cat vampire storyline was a bit much.
 
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Lee9900

Deleted User
Jun 29, 2016
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I didn't particularly care for the incestual relationship hinted at between him and his mother.

This was an early Ron Pearlman role as an ******* cop.

Mr. Pearlman does a heck of a scary guy and does actually frighten me.
 

Rarebit

Active Member
Sep 9, 2015
27
91
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If you are a teenager and you are going to go out to the theater with your mother to watch a movie.....this is not the movie you want to go see, just trust me on that. If you've seen the movie you will understand. I think it took both of us a good two years to recover.

LOL
I can see why!
 
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SteveValek

Well-Known Member
Jan 10, 2018
57
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Saw it YEARS back,and have got it on DVD now..
Only thing I can remember is that creepy weird "mother/son"relationship thing that went on..

It's in my "bought but queued to watch" list..