It has to be said that this one definitely qualifies as something of an oddity. I really hadn't even heard of it but having now seen it I have a better understanding of just why it is so obscure. For one thing, it clocks in with the odd run-time of 50 minutes which sort of puts it in a kind of no man's land between being a short and feature-length, i.e. it's too short to be a main movie but too long to work as a support feature. So I guess this fact was working against it right from the get go. Whatever the case, this one was long thought to be lost, with many people even questioning if it had even been made at all. Which makes its recent re-emergence a very good thing and having now seen it myself I would have to classify this as a definite interesting oddity which is certainly a strange one. The story is revolves around an awkward social gathering. Alex and Marion, a middle-aged brother and sister who live together, are paid a visit at their cottage in the country by a city couple, Richard and Angela. They all go out for dinner and tensions rise between the socialist idealist Alex and the capitalist realist Richard. Once back at the house things turn sinister in the night.
This one is not only marked out by its unusual run-time but also by its odd combination of cynical social commentary with straight-ahead horror material. The former is covered with the clash between the two couples, one representing two sides of Britain – the old traditional slightly complacent side and the other the upwardly mobile new Thatcherite strain which was dominant in the 80's. So it is a clash between old and new, left against right. While it paints Richard as being pretty abhorrent, it's also true that he is also shown to be honest in his selfishness, whereas Alex is shown to be weak, out-of-touch and not as principled as he thinks he is. In other words it's quite a nuanced and complex portrayal of these characters that avoids being too obvious. So there is a reasonable amount going on before we even get to the horror bit which kicks in near the end, when the film enters more-or-less slasher territory. It's certainly an unusual combination which works well largely because it's kind of unpredictable. It has an interesting script, some good acting and some effective atmosphere. In other words, it's quite a fascinating oddball film. Because of the limited run-time, it perhaps doesn't make as much of its set-up as it could have but, at the same time, unlike a lot of movies it hardly overstays its welcome either. Overall, Sleepwalker proves to be a worthwhile movie for those seeking 80's horror films on the more unusual side of the spectrum.
