Oct 061992
 
three reels

Mary and Charles Brady (Alice Krige, Brian Krause) are a mother and son team of shape-changing sleepwalkers, vampiric creatures that feed on virgins. New to a small town, Mary is hungry and Charles has chosen Tanya (Mädchen Amick) as their meal.

Do you remember drive-in movies? Simple pictures that were fun, if silly, and just right for shouting at the screen from your convertible with your best girl by your side?  Me neither. But TV shows keep telling me that’s the way it was in the ’50s and ’60s. Well, if there was this golden age of drive-ins, then Sleepwalkers would have been a perfect film for it. There’s touches of violence, gore, and incest—none extreme enough to bother a ten year old, but all enough to titillate. It’s funny and fast paced with no wasted moments (I guess you better get your popcorn before it starts). For vacuous, B-movie fare, you couldn’t ask for much more. Well, maybe a latex monster suit that looks less ridiculous. Or some explanation of why cat scratches are fatal. Or maybe a bit of a reaction from the victim when his hand gets ripped off.  But in B-movie land, those are small flaws (ummm, that rat-cat suit does mar several scenes). The music more than makes up for the faults (Amick’s cleaning-dance to Do You Love Me would make anyone love her; Enya’s Boadicea gives the film a mythic feeling).  But this flawed but fun schlock wouldn’t rise above the average ’50s SF monster flick without Alice Krige. She gives the story depth the plot doesn’t deserve. She’s sexy and predatory and as believable as anyone could be in an unbelievable role. She cares about Charles, so I care about Charles. Of course that could be a problem as it puts me squarely on the monster’s side, cheering them on to suck that virgin dry.

There’s no scares to be had, but if you want a cheesy ninety minutes written by Stephen King and filled with cameos (John Landis, Joe Dante, Clive Barker, and Stephen King), give this a shot.