Mick Garris & Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers was released 25 years ago today

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

“Sleepwalker. n(noun). Nomadic shape-shifting creatures with human and feline origins. Vulnerable to the deadly scratch of the cat, the sleepwalker feeds upon the life force of virginal human females. Probable source of the Vampire legend."

– Chillicoath Encyclopaedia of Arcane Knowledge 1st Edition 1884.

On this day in horror, back in 1992, Mick Garris & Stephen King's SLEEPWALKERS hit screens. Based on the first original screenplay from Stephen King, SLEEPWALKERS was produced on a budget of $15 million.

Personally, I love SLEEPWALKERS. Sure it is silly as hell in many parts, but the music is tops, I absolutely f*cking love the poster (one of my favorites of all time),  and the movie tries at any and all times to be as much fun as it possibly can. All while giving us a wholly new movie monster(s)!

Gotta love that.

While SLEEPWALKERS boasts an impressive cast including Brian Krause, Alice Krige, TWIN PEAKS' Mädchen Amick (see below), and Ron f*cking Perlman, the film is perhaps best known for featuring cameos by the likes of John Landis, Joe Dante, Clive Barker, Tobe Hooper, Mark Hamill, and Stephen King himself. 

Check out pics below of said cameos below, along with some choice screenshots, trivia, and art. 

Enjoy!

SLEEPWALKERS trivia (via IMDb):

The actors who played Tanya's parents, Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward, were also the parents in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). In real life, they were married to each other but they divorced in 1992.

The house of the Sleepwalkers is the same one used on the television series The Waltons (1971).

Based on an unpublished Stephen King story.

The Robertsons' neighborhood is the same neighborhood as the one in the comedy film The 'Burbs (1989) with Tom Hanks.

In the graveyard scene, one of the tombstones reads "Jenny Hicks". Jenny Hicks was the assistant to the director of the movie.

SLEEPWALKERS synopsis:

Charles Brady and his mother Mary move to a small Indiana town, having recently fled Bodega Bay, California after draining and killed a young girl there. They are sleepwalkers – they can change their appearance and they need the life-force from young women. Charles has picked out young Tanya Robertson, whom he meets at a local high school, as his next victim. He asks her out for a date and invites her home… however, she did not suspect his real interest in her. On their first date, a picnic at a nearby cemetery, Charles attempts to drain the lifeforce from Tanya for himself and his mother. 

SLEEPWALKERS is a film that deserves more love than it gets. Not TOO much more, mind you. But a bit more. If you're looking for something new to watch or want to give an older mini-lost-classic another go, then SLEEPWALKERS is for you.

BUY SLEEPWALKERS ON BLU-RAY HERE