Sleepstalker (1995)

While Sleepstalker certainly fails to reach the lofty goals you can see those involved reaching for, it still falls into one of those "guilty pleasure" movies. The acting's weak, the special effects are underwhelming, (even for 20 years ago,) and it overstays its welcome by a bit, but you can see that effort was put in to attempt to create a new Freddy/ Jason/ Pinhead character that might, at the very least, capture some of that audience. While most of the actors involved aren't horrible, you can tell that many were still in the early parts of their careers, and while they give it their best shot, the performances are always on the wrong side of good, but they never fail so profoundly that it makes you want to shut the movie off. You'll recognize the ever-present Ken Foree from his long career in these types of movies in a limited run as a police officer. William Lucking, "Piney," from Sons of Anarchy, also takes a small role as another detective, and a young Giuseppe Andrews, (Deputy Winston from Cabin Fever,) also makes one of his early film roles. The main characters however, have had mostly middling success in front of the camera since- with Kathryn Morris as Megan, Michael Harris as The Sandman, and Jay Underwood as Griffin all gathering more than 50 roles apiece in their careers, you're bound to have seen one of them at some point. Michael Harris as the Sandman is perhaps the best of the three, (although Kathryn Morris is perhaps the most consistent of all of them throughout,) actually making the Sandman reasonably creepy at times with his lullabies that are also inconsistent, with occasional attempts to sing, while other times reciting them eerily. It's a shame, because some of the acting inconsistencies would oh so easily be overlooked if there had simply been a little more money tossed at the budget. The Sandman is not just a name given to the killer- although that is how it begins. Eventually, like all good movie maniacs, the supernatural angle kicks in, and he actually becomes a being of sand. While the look of Sandman is reasonable when he takes form, just not enough is done with this great power with the exception of traversing under doors and through ventilation shafts. They do make attempts within budget to show a few things, ie: accidentally dipping fingers into water, making the tips disappear, or using the abrasive sand as a weapon on 2 occasions, but when they do try for these more dramatical effects, it usually looks, at its best, bad... at its worst, horrible. One thing I did remember after watching this again for the first time in nearly 20 years was just how eerie the lullaby playing (Sleep Baby Sleep, sung by Teresa Straley,) on the record player during flashbacks actually is. I remembered it sticking with me for a long time after I viewed this 20 years ago... I watched it quite a bit- was a favorite fallback B-Movie of mine at the time. And after rediscovering this gem tonight, I know that song will stick with me again. A sorrowful lullaby that fits the tone of the movie quite well. And that's where Sleepstalker, besides the music, hits another high note... As the pieces begin falling in place, this movie becomes a bit more than the sum of all its parts. As the movie begins linking past with present, antagonist to protagonist in multiple ways, it achieves a level of sadness that most B-Movies cannot do- mostly because they make the mistake of trying to force emotion down your throat. Sleepstalker waits until the last 1/3 of the movie to begin giving you everything you'll need to put it all together successfully, (although certainly, it can be figured out before that,) but it allows you to come to your emotions on its background on your own. Will it put you in tears? No. Yet somehow, it strikes a chord much more naturally and, despite its supernatural maniac derivative, full of real feeling that the likes of Freddy Krueger's child killing or Jason's revenge killing just never really achieve. It truly is a shame that this movie didn't quite make the cut. There's so much here that really could have made for a great franchise, but you can tell that the studio wanted a new maniac, they just weren't sure if there was room for one, and the budget suffers at times. After viewing this, I have to believe that the extra budget and time would have proved there WAS enough room for another maniac on the big screen. Still, with the limited resources available, I applaud the filmmakers for still putting out a movie well worth viewing once. This movie seemingly reformed in my memory, much like the Sandman is capable of doing after drifting under a doorway, and I'm glad it did- and I'm glad that it urged me to find a copy on DVD (I'm grateful Lion's Gate ever even put it on DVD,) and after sitting down and watching it tonight, I'm more than happy I made the purchase.

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits As a child, Griffin (Jay Underwood) was sent to sleep by his parents who rested his troubled little mind and told him there was no such thing as 'the Sandman.' On that same night, a serial killer going by that very name breaks into their home and 'puts them to sleep.' Now, seventeen years later, he's executed on death row and Griffin, now a successful writer, is able to lay his past to rest. Or so he thinks-the 'Sandman' just made a pact with the devil to be resurrected and come back to finish the task and kill Griffin. But, as the story progresses, twists and turns occur that shed a different light on the whole topic...I've been in a horror kinda mood all of this week, and so, out of the many films I've had piled up to be watched, I selected this little horror piece.I can't say it succeeds in being really scary in any way, and the soundtrack is kinda irritating ('sleeeeeeeeeeep, baby, sleeeeeeeeeep'-I'd turn into a serial killer if I heard that all the time!) And some of the character motivations and dialogue shed a whole new light for me ('I've heard all the serial killer excuses in the world...ate too much fast food...', never heard that one before!!!) As for the performances, they're generally all pretty terrible with the exception perhaps of Michael Harris as the Sandman, even though he kept reminding me of Henry Silva out of Nico and Morty out of The Fear.But, there is a clever twist at the end of it, I suppose, and some okay effects in places. So generally not much to write home about, but not a completely wasted horror experience.'Ate too much fast food...' **

not that bad nothing special but watchable this had some decent acting and a very cool opening sequence but the plot gets too silly for it's own good and the ending is pretty rushed with some weak dialog but we do have a cool looking killer and a good background story to it and the premise is quite neat it also has excellent production values but this only merits a rental because there are quite a few flaws to be had like why did the kill Griffin before it ended they should have let him survive but still this has some witty moments to make this a decent rental so overall i had a decent amount of fun with this puppy but just remember to check your brain at the door **1/2 out of 5

This is a pretty routine late night TV movie. You wouldn't pay money to watch it, but it's better than anything else on the telly tonight. The lead protagonist is likeable enough. He's got a nice girlfriend. No tit shot, but that might just have been the dear old BBC cutting the shower scene.Scary baddy, scary back story about the baddy. If you've read this far, You should go ahead and watch the flick.While you're here - why, Oh why!, do horror films use logic to explain the denouement of the film? You know - Monster X has walked through lightning and bullets; but because he's made of marshmallow - fire is the answer! (Ghostbusters).But hang on, Zool is supernatural so why the F*** is that any more likely to work than a .45?