Sleepwalkers is a 1992 horror film based on an unpublished Stephen King novel, which is what attracted me to it. I love Stephen King, and you should too. So what’s this movie about? Well, here’s the trailer (which features the instrumental classic “Sleepwalk” by Santo and Johnny):

To answer your question, it’s about Cat people. Or Werecats, whatever you want to call them. They’re half human and half cat… and they want your… life energy. They are usually in human form, but they can morph. They seem to have a couple different forms, and this is what it looks like when they change:

So, basically like Teen Wolf, but a cat instead of a dog. That’s the main werecat. He’s pretty much a dream boat. He’s a common Stephen King character: a seemingly perfect lover that is actually kind of horrible. His name is Charles, and he lives with his mom (ALSO A WERECAT).

These “Sleepwalkers” are “psychic vampires”, which means they suck your life force instead of your blood. Charles and his mom need to do it to survive. And the victims need to be virgins, because everyone knows the life force of a whore tastes like shit. Charles and his mom moved to a small Indiana town after they killed some girl in California, so Charles needs to find a new virgin.

Said new virgin is the other reason that attracted me to this film. She’s played by the prettiest girl in the world (she’s on the left):

That little number is actress Mädchen Amick, who is probably most famous for playing Shelly the waitress on Twin Peaks, one of the greatest television programs ever produced.

This is the only other thing I’ve seen her in, so that was kind of nice. She’s apparently been on Gossip Girl a few times, so if you’re gay you will know that.

Like Twin Peaks, this movie is about horror happening in a small town, a common Stephen King motif. Usually all his stories take place in Maine, so he made a big leap by setting the story in Indiana. Part of that small town setting allows Stephen King to work in a lot of side characters that make up a local community, from small town sheriffs to small town deputies. In his novels, pretty much every single character has a pretty rich back story. For example: the mailman is probably going through a terrible divorce while the flower shop owner was abused by her dad as a young child. It’s hard to work all that stuff into a movie though, so none of the side characters make much of an impression. That is, except for this one black deputy who is always playing with his cat, but I couldn’t find a picture or clip of him .

Where was I? Right. Charles Brady is going to kill this virgin to feed his mother. He doesn’t manage to do it, because everyone knows that virgins always survive horror movies. The girl virgins, anyways. It’s a product of Reagan era morality, but you probably already knew that.

The movie’s ending is probably the best part, as the virgin squares off against the Werecat mom. She takes this crazy third form at the end and catches on fire, but I couldn’t find a clip of that either. I recommend seeking it out, if you like that kind of thing. It streams on Netflix. Also…also… if you saw the movie, please continue the discussion below. It would be nice to have someone to talk to.

I’ll leave you with the film’s theme song by Enya, which was sampled in the Fugee’s “Ready Or Not.” Yes, the Fugees at one point referenced this movie.

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