Tanya, a high school girl played by Mädchen Amick (
Twin Peaks), is an intelligent student who lives a wholesome small-town life with friends, but she is inwardly lonely and sometimes feels out of place. When Charles, a clean-cut and good-natured teenager played by Brian Krause (
Charmed), moves to town, becomes a new student at school, and makes her acquaintance, she quickly falls for him, believing that she has found a kindred soul at long last. Unfortunately for Tanya, however, her new boyfriend is actually a murderous shape-shifting werewolf-like creature who has an incestuous relationship with his mother, with whom he travels from one place to another to feed off of the life blood of virginal females so that the two of them can survive as the last of their species and protect themselves against their only natural enemies, cats.
The 1992 horror film,
Sleepwalkers, was the first story written specifically for the screen by Stephen King, and it was the first of many collaborations between the author and director Mick Garris, who would later helm television miniseries adaptations of
The Stand,
The Shining, and
Bag of Bones. This film did not exactly knock down the doors to Academy Award prestige at the time of its release, and it received a largely negative reaction even from devoted King fans. During my first viewing, when I saw it at the theater with a college friend, both of us, along with most of the audience members around us, were shaking our heads in bewilderment at the early scenes where Charles and his mother, played with a wonderfully sensual seriousness by Alice Krige (
Ghost Story,
Star Trek: First Contact), are making out inside their home, only to find ourselves laughing out loud at the final half hour of gore-splattered mayhem, feline attacks, exploding cars, and over-the-top special effects.
These days,
Sleepwalkers is more palatable and fun, especially now that I am more attuned to its inherent silliness. This movie, along with
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, was one of the first to feature computer-generated morphing effects, and, although Charles's morphing transformations from human to sleepwalker demon still come across as crude, they somehow fare decently in present day instead of appearing obnoxiously outdated. The practical makeup effects are outstanding, and they are a throwback to the days when gory scenes were handled with an attentive strive for realism, even if the violence is rather cartoonish.
The supporting cast throws several marvelous winks at the viewer. Tanya's parents are played by Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward, both of whom are best known for starring as the title character's parents in
Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Mark Hamill, whom you all know as Luke Skywalker, appears in an early uncredited scene as a mustached police officer. Ron Perlman, of course, would go on to stardom in the 2004 Guillermo del Toro film,
Hellboy. During a mid-film police investigation scene, be on the lookout for Stephen King, who, as a cemetery caretaker, appears onscreen with fellow iconic horror masters, Tobe Hooper and Clive Barker, both of whom play forensic technicians. Directors John Landis and Joe Dante also appear in a later scene as police lab technicians.
During a late sequence, one character kills another character by stabbing him in the back with a corn cob. I have never seen anything quite like that in any other horror film.
This Scream Factory Blu-ray delivers a video presentation that, while not reference material, is pleasantly filmic. The supplementary interviews are all terrific, and I love seeing present-day interviews with all of the main players (especially Mädchen Amick). The commentary track is a fun listen.
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you think those same costs, plus hefty licensing rights, and new extras for boutique labels are free? They’re not. And despite them being a boutique label they still do disc replacements, yet a parent company like WB doesn’t.
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