Sleepwalker is a new movie I stumbled across and honestly this was one of those movies where I kept thinking, "Okay... where exactly is this going?"...
The movie follows Sarah, played by Hayden Panettiere, a mother who is already dealing with something horrible... Her daughter has died in a car accident, while her abusive husband survived and is left in a coma... Sarah is grieving, exhausted and clearly struggling to put her life back together... Then her sleepwalking starts getting worse and that's when things begin to become really strange...
I actually liked the basic idea..
Sleepwalking is already creepy when you think about it but Imagine going to sleep, losing control of your own body, and waking up somewhere without remembering how you got there... Now add grief, nightmares and the possibility that what you're seeing might actually be happening...
Yeah... that's a pretty good setup for a horror movie.
The early part of Sleepwalker actually had me interested. There are some creepy moments, strange visions and that uncomfortable feeling that Sarah can't completely trust what she's experiencing. The movie plays around with the difference between dreams and reality, which is probably the strongest idea it has but unfortunately, the movie doesn't always know what to do with that idea...
There were quite a few moments where I was sitting there trying to figure out whether I was supposed to be scared, confused or just waiting for the explanation and that's probably my biggest problem..
The story becomes messy...
Instead of slowly building the mystery and letting us figure things out alongside Sarah, the movie sometimes explains too much, while at other times it gives us something completely confusing and expects us to just go along with it...
I also think Hayden Panettiere does a decent job with Sarah as Her character is carrying a lot emotionally and there are moments where you can genuinely feel her exhaustion and grief but for me, Beverly D'Angelo was probably the standout...
She plays Sarah's mother, Gloria and whenever she came on screen, the movie somehow felt a little more alive... She brings some warmth and personality into a story that can get very dark and depressing...
I just wish the movie had given us stronger characters around Sarah because once the mystery starts becoming more complicated, I wanted to care more about the people involved but Instead, I mostly cared about finding out what was actually happening and when a horror movie makes you more curious than scared, that's usually a sign that something isn't quite working...
There are some genuinely creepy scenes, though...
The dream sequences can be unsettling, and the idea of Sarah wandering around while she's asleep creates some good tension... There were moments when I was thinking, "Please don't go in there."
Of course, she goes in there...
The atmosphere is also quite good... The movie has that dark, uncomfortable feeling you'd expect from a psychological horror film, although visually I wouldn't say it's anything particularly memorable...
Then we get to the ending and honestly... I'm still not sure how I feel about it...
Without spoiling anything, the movie takes a pretty big swing with its final act... I appreciate that it tries to do something different, but I don't think it completely works.... I just wish it had trusted its own idea more instead of becoming so complicated.
Rating: 60/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/movies.
