Sleepwalkers - Strangely watchable Stephen

Yes, it’s a book-to-film adaptation of another one of Stephen King’s horror novels.  And, if you know anything about how well his stories transfer across medium, you’ll know they have a history of not really working.  For every Pet Sematery and IT there’s a dozen ‘Sometimes They Come Backs’ and ‘The Dark Halfs.’ However, Sleepwalkers is oddly sit-throughable.

I use the word ‘sit-throughable’ over good, because I want to set you expectations at the right level.  You’ll be okay to walk in and out of the film to make a cup of tea and come back without really missing that much.

It’s about, er, things.  They’re like people during the day, but sometimes monsters.  And they have powers.  You don’t really get much back story concerning where they’re from, what they are and what they’re capable of, but never mind.  They’re a mother and son couple.  And, when I say ‘couple’ – I mean couple.  Yes, yuk!

They move from town to town sucking the life – literally – out of people – mainly teenage girls the son manages to seduce with apparent ease.  And did I mention they don’t like cats?  And it’s not a case of a mild allergy where they sniff a bit whenever Mr Tibbles walks into the room, they go a bit mental.  But then cats hate them, too.

Yeah, it’s all a bit of a mess.  They move to a town and the cycle starts all over again, but will they manage to suck the life out of Twin Peaks’ Madchen Amick?  Yes, this is probably her biggest role since leaving the cult TV show and she... well, she’s okay, but much capable of more.

Basically, if you don’t mind cheesy horror that could be so much better then you’ll be okay with this.  It’s short.  That’s a bonus.  It doesn’t drag.  But don’t expect anything to really make sense.  Things happen just to move the plot forward and that’s about it.  Your expectations need to be low.  In fact, in these days of remakes and prequels, this is one film I’d actually like to see a prequel to.  There’s so much left out of the history of the characters, a prequel might explain some of it.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights