Sleepwalkers (1992)

Sleepwalkers (1992)

I saw the film when I was a little too young. I was already a fan of monsters, so luckily I wasn’t too traumatised. But surprisingly, the film didn’t make much of an impression on me either!

I had to see it again. And even though I try to keep an open mind and put myself back in the context of the time, I still don’t find it that incredible. Far from being a masterpiece, it nevertheless has quite a few little nods that are worth spotting.

Stephen King fans who saw it at the time must think that owning this film is like owning a ‘super rare, typically King’ item, as this review shows: ‘If you like King’s films, this is a must-see. A real old-school horror film, without digital effects. After Stephen King’s IT (old version), this is King’s second-best film.’

That’s crazy! This comment must be really old. Or else the person who wrote it has never seen Frank Darabont’s adaptations of The Shawshank Redemption (1995), The Green Mile (1999) or The Mist (2007).

And if you haven’t, Christine, Misery and Gerald’s Game are also good adaptations.

Friends, fake blood is better than real blood! Because it has to be said that there’s quite a lot of it in this feature film. Once again, they didn’t skimp on it. I should point out that there’s also incest here.

Anyway, whatever the case, I don’t think it’s that great. I’d even say it’s one of the worst adaptations of King’s work, although I haven’t read it this time. But I have no doubt that the book is pretty good.

Oh, look, I just found proof of that in this comment: “Very weak!
The story and the book are really very good, but the production is more embarrassing than shocking.”

There you go! Personally, I trust him, because I’ve always loved Stephen’s books, even if I don’t necessarily like the films. In fact, I don’t want to see Cujo or Thinner for those very reasons: I love these stories so much that I don’t want to be disappointed.

Apart from that, I think the soundtrack is simply brilliant and saves the day a little. We have to admit that if we’d been treated to kitschy 80s synths (which would have been more in keeping with this dud), we would have really hit rock bottom.

We will always think back to this film when listening to the excellent ‘Sleep Walk’ by Santo & Johnny.

Fun fact: the original title is Sleepwalkers, but it’s not about sleepwalking at all!

I particularly like the fact that the creatures are afraid of… cats! Stephen King had certainly already understood that cats were our masters, apart from having seven lives as well.

To conclude:

The film isn’t very appealing and frankly leans towards cheap fantasy. The poster is attractive. I’m still slightly ambivalent. It’s a nice little B movie with a fairly original concept and some entertaining scenes… but the problem is that after watching this feature film, you’re left with the impression that something is missing. Not much happens (except at the end), and the pace sometimes leaves something to be desired. An offbeat film, not to be taken at face value!