Sleepwalkers (1992) – Utterly ridiculous, occasionally creepy, and unintentionally hilarious.

Sleepwalkers is a 1992 American horror film written by Stephen King and directed by Mick Garris. The film stars Brian Krause, Mädchen Amick and Alice Krige. The film revolves around the last two survivors of a vampiric shapeshifting species that feed on the life force of human female virgins. It was the first time King wrote a screenplay intended for the screen first, rather than adapting one of his already-existing novels or stories.

Review by Ben Dover:

Sleepwalkers (1992) – 2 Mangy Shapeshifting Cats

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! Just when I thought I’d seen every half-baked horror flick Hollywood could churn out, along comes this feline fever dream from the twisted mind of Stephen King. “Sleepwalkers” is what you’d get if you threw “Twilight,” “Cat People,” and a truckload of catnip into a blender and hit puree.

The story follows Charles and Mary Brady, a mother-son duo of shape-shifting energy vampires who feed on virgin life force. Because apparently, in King’s world, that’s a thing. They’re also some kind of were-cats, allergic to actual cats, and can only breed with each other. It’s like King threw darts at a board of supernatural tropes and said, “Yeah, that’ll do.”

Our leading man, Brian Krause, plays Charles with all the charisma of a wet paper bag. He’s supposed to be this seductive monster, but he’s about as alluring as a hairball. His poor love interest, Tanya (Mädchen Amick), falls for his charms faster than you can say “catnip,” proving that even in the ’90s, small-town girls had questionable taste in men.

Alice Krige as Mary Brady, however, chews the scenery with such ferocious glee that you can’t help but be entertained. Her creepy, incestuous relationship with Charles is more disturbing than any of the so-called “horror” in this litter box of a movie.

The special effects are a mixed bag of early ’90s CGI and practical makeup. Sometimes it works, giving us genuinely creepy transformations. Other times, it looks like someone stapled cat fur to a human face and called it a day. The car chase scene, however, is so laughably bad it circles right back around to being entertaining.

King makes his obligatory cameo, presumably to remind us that yes, this train wreck has his stamp of approval. We also get treated to appearances by horror icons like Ron Perlman and Mark Hamill, though blink and you’ll miss them faster than a cat chasing a laser pointer.

Is “Sleepwalkers” a good movie? Hell no. Is it entertaining? Surprisingly, yes. It’s a perfect example of early ’90s horror schlock – utterly ridiculous, occasionally creepy, and unintentionally hilarious. Pour yourself a tall glass of milk, grab your favorite feline, and enjoy this furry fiasco for what it is – a cautionary tale about the dangers of bad screenwriting and excessive catnip consumption.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go apologize to my cat for subjecting her to this cinematic hairball. She’s been giving me the stink eye ever since the credits rolled.

Notes:

Both Mick Garris and Mädchen Amick are allergic to cats, as revealed in the recent Scream Factory Blu-ray release. Amick didn’t reveal this to anyone until right as the film went into production

This is the only film that has Stephen King and Clive Barker in the same scene.

Budget
$15 million (est.)

Gross worldwide
$30,524,763 million

Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes

Motion Picture Rating (MPA): Rated R for strong violence and sensuality, and for language.

Quotes:

Charles Brady: [stabs a policeman in the ear with a pencil] Cop-kebab!

Cameos:

Mark Hamill (uncredited) plays Sheriff Jenkins in the very first scene.

Stephen King: The graveyard caretaker.

Clive Barker: Forensic technician.

John Landis: Laboratory technician.