... aka: Sleepstalker
... aka: Sleep Stalker
Directed by:
Turi Meyer
If you asked a sample group of dedicated
horror fans, "What has been the worst decade for the genre thus far?," chances
are the majority would tell you it was the 1990s. Not that all 90s horror films
were bad; there are actually many good ones from this time... Sleepstalker just doesn't happen to be one of them. In fact, this is the exact type of
gimmicky, one-idea film that ran rampant throughout the decade that gives the
90s horror haters their case in the first place. Slasher films in particular had
gone incredibly stale by this point. Jason, Freddy, Michael, Pinhead, Chucky and
Leatherface had literally bled the sub-genre dry throughout the 80s and early
90s. By the time the mid 90s hit, desperate filmmakers were coming up with some
of the dumbest and most absurd concepts imaginable to try to keep the ball
rolling. It wouldn't be until the following year that Scream (1996)
revitalized things. Only Scream ultimately ended up having an even more
disastrous effect on these kind of movies (crippling the second half of the decade) when everyone started annoyingly
trying to copy the smart-ass characters, constant "clever" film references and
self-aware humor. But that is another story for another day... Now back to Sleepstalker...
A serial killer known as The Sandman (Michael Harris) has already killed
five families. As he's busy slaying mom and pop from Family #6, young Griffin
manages to escape. The police, led by Detective Bronson Worth (William Lucking),
show up and finally apprehend the psycho. Seventeen years later, The Sandman is
on death row awaiting execution. Luckily for him, the man assigned to give him
his last rites is a Satanic, white- eyed preacher (Michael D. Roberts) who
offers him a chance at revenge. He's given an upside down cross, uses it to cut
his hand, bleeds into the sand and then - after his execution in the gas chamber
- returns to life. Now a monstrous-looking supernatural entity who has the
ability to transform into sand at will (to sneak under doorways, through
keyholes, etc.), The Sandman has three days to hunt down and kill a now-grown
Griffin (Jay Underwood), who's working in L.A. as a freelance journalist. If The
Sandman is able to track down and dispose of his target, he will also gain
immortality in the process.
After establishing its premise, we are then treated to... Well, not a
whole lot actually. The Sandman (who is given an utterly predictable childhood
trauma back story told in brief flashbacks) kills a few people in surprisingly tame
ways. Someone's thrown off a balcony. Another is drown in sand. A head is
knocked against a wall. There's nothing memorable or clever going on here
despite ample opportunity for both, and there's also a curious absence of blood
and gore; almost as if they were trying to avoid an R rating (which the film
got, anyway). Though the makeup design on the killer is actually really good,
the other fx; a mixture of simply reversing the film (for the sand fx) and
primitive and dated early CGI; are quite poor.
"Super Special Effects" indeed.
The absolute worst thing about this one though is its complete lack of
logic and how stupid the characters are. Our heroes learn early on that water is
an effective means of fighting off the reanimated killer (who is - of course -
made of sand and easily dissolved), so what do they do? They run from him,
attempt to shoot him, heave a Molotov cocktail at him and fight him in other
silly ways. If I were around to help, I'd be yelling something like, "Hey, go
stand in the shower!" or "Why not take a relaxing dip in a hot tub until this
guy's time runs out?" Speaking of time running out, the killer is given his
three days to kill our hero and has ample opportunity to do so throughout the
film. During one scene, Griffin is even behind bars when The Sandman pays him a
visit. Instead of just killing him then and there, the killer decides to taunt him and waits until the last minute
of the last day to really make his move.
I really do have to give some credit to the cast, though, for at least
trying. Despite being given some extremely corny dialogue, Harris gives an
effective performance as the killer, and Underwood and Kathryn Morris (playing
the obligatory love interest) are as appealing as possible under the
circumstances. Cult horror star Ken Foree (DAWN OF THE DEAD), looking atypically
dumpy here, gets a few scenes as one of the detectives, but it's a forgettable,
throwaway part.
★★