Sleepwalkers (1992)

The Sleepwalkers movie is a chilling Stephen King tale about a mother-son duo of shape-shifting, vampiric creatures with a deadly fear of cats.

Author Stephen King is known for prominently featuring felines in a handful of his stories, most notably Pet Sematary and Cat’s Eye, but King’s most interesting use of cats would come from one of his strangest stories: Sleepwalkers.

The tone of Sleepwalkers is immediately set thanks to a convenient description found at the opening of the film, courtesy of director Mick Garris:

“sleep’walk’er n. Nomadic shape-shifting creatures with human and feline origins. Vulnerable to the deadly scratch of the cat, the sleepwalker feeds upon the life force of virginal human females. Probable source of the vampire legend.”

-CHILLICOATHE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ARCANE KNOWLEDGE

1ST EDITION. 1884

This opening exposition dump gives the viewer a quick and dirty background into the lore of the sleepwalker, with a few exclusions, the most noteworthy being incest. Whether incest is a trait of the titular creatures as a whole is questionable, but it is undoubtedly the case for the two sleepwalkers the audience is privy to in the movie.

The film focuses on Charles Brady (Brian Krause) and his mother, Mary (Alice Krige), who, after recently arriving in a small Indiana town (just outside of Beverly Hills), find themselves desperately needing to feed. Unlike the average person, however, their sustenance of choice consists of the virginal life force of young women, because Charles and Mary are sleepwalkers. It is not long before Charles has set his sights on one of the locals, Tanya Robertson (Mädchen Amick). However, soon after the two have a choice encounter, Charles seemingly starts to fall for Tanya and vice versa. Will his newfound adoration for Tanya cause Charles to spare her life in the name of love, or will his instinctual need to fetch food for his mother, with whom he also shares a graphic sexual relationship, be too difficult to resist?

As a species, sleepwalkers have several interesting traits. Per the definition of a sleepwalker, they are shape-shifting creatures with vampiric characteristics. However, based on their shape-shifting capabilities, the influence of werewolves/lycanthropes on these creatures would be evident. Like werewolves (at least in many media depictions), who often seem to draw much negative attention from domesticated dogs, sleepwalkers’ sworn enemies are indeed the source of at least part of their lineage: cats. Not only do cats dislike sleepwalkers, they also pose a significant threat. A single scratch from a cat can cause severe issues for sleepwalkers. Also notable is the fact that cats are drawn to sleepwalkers, to the point where, by the end of the film, Charles and Mary’s home is surrounded by numerous cats, prowling around, ready to attack, and occasionally getting snatched up by any number of traps Mary has set up for them in the yard.

Besides the ability to shape-shift, sleepwalkers cannot just cloaking themselves, others, and items; they can even change the physical appearance of an “item.” This ability is introduced when Charles, who, shortly after brutally murdering a school teacher on a country road, finds himself being chased by a police officer for speeding. Conveniently, the officer has his cat sidekick, Clovis, by his side, riding along with him. Soon after briefly losing the officer and his feline friend, Charles takes a moment to concentrate, at which point he and the entire vehicle become invisible. When the coast is clear, Charles reappears and then changes the make and model of his car from a blue Pontiac Firebird Trans Am to a red Ford Mustang.

Completely changing the car he drives would take the heat off of Charles. However, this ability is unstable and will come back to haunt him at a critical point in the movie when Charles and Tanya have a picnic. Things have been going well for the young couple, and it all culminates when the cartoonishly innocent Tanya is ready to give herself over to Charles. Just as things get hot and heavy, Charles reveals himself to Tanya (and not in the way she was hoping) and attempts to drain her life force. At this moment, Charles’ car, which is parked on the side of the road, changes back to the blue Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, right when the police officer from earlier is driving by. There is no discernible reason for this to happen outside of setting up another run-in between both the officer and Charles and providing a way to save Tanya from her ultimate demise.

While the officer finds himself on the wrong end of his confrontation with Charles, which would seemingly spell doom for Tanya, the officer’s cat, Clovis, jumps to action, viciously attacking Charles and leaving him wounded and, in turn, a state of retreat. This is where it becomes apparent just how dangerous cats are to sleepwalkers. It is also one of many big moments for

Clovis the cat who, for all intents and purposes, is the hero of Sleepwalkers, to the point that Tanya requests that Clovis stay with her at her home to protect her in the event that Charles may come after her again. Clovis was initially cast to be played by a total of nine cats, with each cat providing certain reactions; however, a cat named Sparks would stand out from the pack and end up being featured in nearly every single scene save for two, which were in scenes where Clovis hisses.

As enjoyable as Clovis is, the real star of the show are the sleepwalkers and the mayhem they bring to the screen. There are a number of different phases of a sleepwalker, ranging from cat-like facial features to a fully bodysuit creature that looks like a giant, bipedal, hairless cat.

Also notable is the early use of CGI technology, specifically the “morphing” technique used for the various sleepwalker transformations. Provided by Pacific Data Images, this morphing technique was popularized the year prior to Sleepwalkers, most significantly in the film Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Michael Jackson’s music video for “Black or White.” The success of the morphing ranges from competent to comical, but one thing is certain: it is constantly dated looking. It does have its charm, however, as it is a fascinating peek back to a specific time period when media/pop culture were noticeably affected by some hot new computer technology.

One thing that stands the test of time are, naturally, the practical effects. Designed by Tony Gardner and Blake at Gardner’s Alterian Studios, the previously mentioned sleepwalkers look quite impressive in terms of makeup and appliances, which can be pretty heavy when in full sleepwalker mode. The film also features a number of gruesome scenes that are certain to satiate the segment of horror fans looking for some fun gore. Pencils are jammed into ears, hands are snapped off, a character is stabbed in the back with a corn on the cob, etc. Many of these moments are accompanied by silly one-liners, courtesy of Charles, which certainly add to the sporadic, odd-ball tone of Sleepwalkers. Sleepwalkers would feature a number of significant horror firsts, most notably it being the first time that director Mick Garris would adapt a King property. Garris would go on to direct a number of miniseries and TV movies, including but not limited to The Stand (1994), Quicksilver Highway (1997), and The Shining (1997). Also worthy of note, unlike previous King adaptations, Sleepwalkers was not based on a previous property, but was written by King specifically to be made into a film. This information was so prevalent that it would even work its way into a blurb on the poster for the film: “The first Stephen King story written expressly for the scream.”

One major selling point of Sleepwalkers, and something that was highly touted, especially in the horror circles, was the number of horror heavy cameos throughout the film. Sleepwalkers features cameos from Tobe Hooper, Joe Dante, Clive Barker, John Landis, and, of course, King himself. This was such a huge selling point that it was even highlighted in Fangoria issue 111, an issue that features Sleepwalkers on both the cover and on the poster insert in the magazine, paired up with Lamberto Bava’s Demons 2. This would certainly cement Sleepwalkers as a movie that was really made for the fans of the genre, which is not a surprise considering the adoration that both King and Garris have for the genre.

Sleepwalkers was a moderate success, even debuting at number one at the box office with just over 10 million dollars domestic, though it was not quite successful enough to warrant any sequels. However, per Garris, there were some discussions and even a treatment written by the author’s wife, Tabitha King, that involved a women’s basketball team. Assumptions could be made that performing decently at the box office was not enough to overcome the studio’s distaste for the taboo subject matter, which was a constant battle between the studio and King.

Regardless, as it stands, Sleepwalkers is a worthwhile watch for anyone who enjoys a good cat-centric horror film, so long as one is not adverse to some implied animal violence. At the very least, the film certainly has a place in history for being one of the strangest studio releases.

It is a roller coaster in terms of tone and unapologetically wallows in pure shlock, which, depending on one’s proclivities toward such elements, will either work for or against it.

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About the author

MATTHEW HOUSE came to love and appreciate all forms of cinema, from classic and foreign films to exploitation and martial arts. This passion led him to his first blogging gig for  Paracinema The Blog in 2009. After that, he wrote for websites such as BthroughZ, Strange Kids Club, The LAMB, and The Gentlemen’s Blog to Midnite Cinema, as well as eventually becoming a contributor to Paracinema Magazine, providing thought-provoking analytical pieces on a variety of genre films. He is a freelance writer and social media expert, contributing content for businesses such as Brides & Beyond, My Mercer County, Ohio, Preferred Insurance Center, Lady Who Travels, Revival Spa, and Community Sports and Therapy Center. His nights, however, belong to  Chuck Norris Ate My Baby, a personal website started in 2009. At Chuck Norris Ate My Baby, Matthew writes introspective, honest, and sometimes humorous reviews and analytical pieces on genre cinema.

The Sleepwalkers movie review was previously published in the book Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies!

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