Stay Awake

..... I played the dead nurse at the beginning of this film LOL.

It was a long long time ago but it was fun to be involved in :) I never actually saw the full film until recently, so I don't think I will be recommending it to my kids!

"The acting is terrible; it's so bad that even the accent of the main actresses is horrible. The situations are slow and boring. There's little action in the movie but it's so cheesy that you can't tell if it's intended to be funny. The demon is laughable! those red eyes are pathetic. The serial killer ghost suddenly appears and tells things about darkness and it's power."

I agree with the rest of the reviews too - rubbish!

But it's nice to see yourself on film, even if it's just as a body half buried in the bushes LOL.

My review was written in August 1989 after watching the film on Orion/Nelson video cassette.

"The Stay Awake" doesn't live up to its title, South African-made horror pic imported to U. S. video stores is a snoozer.

Moniker refers to a Britishism for a slumber party. The young heroines at St. Mary's School for Girls stay up all night in the gym as a stunt to help raise money for the institution. They're terrorized by a demon, calling itself Angel of Darkness, summoned up by a vengeful guy executed in the gas chamber in 1969.

Cast is good-looking but weak in the acting department. (An actor named Ken Marshall is credited, but he's not the U. S. thesp from "Krull" and tv's "Marco Polo".) Picture is so tame that when the requisite shower room scene is presented, one girl is even shown showering with clothing still on.

Monster shows up looking like a green reptile man, mostly limited to closeups emphasizing its orange eyes. Minor special effects are used in the final reel, but disposal of the beastie is unimaginative.

I'm almost sure that this didn't get a theatrical release. It's so bad it's bad; not to laugh about or feel pity for it.

The acting is terrible; it's so bad that even the accent of the main actresses is horrible. The situations are slow and boring. There's little action in the movie but it's so cheesy that you can't tell if it's intended to be funny. The demon is laughable! those red eyes are pathetic. The serial killer ghost suddenly appears and tells things about darkness and it's power.

"The Stay Awake" is a prime example of how low budget horror movies shouldn't be made. Pathetic f/x, horrible acting, terrible direction and worst of all there's no connection between the events.

Please avoid this one at all costs. There's nothing good about it... There aren't even attractive women.

Horrible movie to boot to the trash can! You better rent a direct to video horror flick from the early 2000 rather than watch this. Any Full Moon Pictures movie is way superior.

There are so many things wrong with this film that it's difficult to know where to begin. It almost seems that the voices were dubbed because they seem out of sync almost always. I'm left wondering if this was a foreign film or what exactly! The beginning of this movie starts with the execution of a murderer/rapist, and it's horribly funny what he says right before they gas him in the chamber. The first hour of the movie is really slow and boring and doesn't do anything to advance the plot. It never even remotely answers why the guy was executed in "1969" and suddenly comes back to life as a "ghost killer" in "1988". What the hell kind of dinky story is that? Even for a super-low budget movie that's just inexcusable. The last half hour of the movie is mildly decent, but the monster is one of the most pathetic things I've yet to see in any low budget horror picture...can we say it looks like a cheap Halloween suit bought at Wal-Mart??? Because that's about what it looks like...it's so horrible that it's funny beyond words. Also, you'd think with a couple of the attractive actresses in the movie that they would have inserted some gratuitous nudity scenes to at least keep certain audiences entertained. What does it do though...a shower scene with very partial nudity?? I think this was most likely the film maker's first project (and hopefully their last). Unless you just have to see every bad horror film ever made take my advice and avoid this one. Although it might not be bad if you want to see a movie that literally fails in every area.

You definitely won't want to stay awake for The Stay Awake. While it looks and sounds like a real movie and there's clearly some sort of budget behind this movie (even if it is small), there's not a single interesting character or set piece in the entire film. I just saw this movie last night and I'm already having a hard time remembering anything about it. I believe there was some sort of monster surrounded by fog and glowing eyes (but usually represented via Evil Dead-esque swirly cam), I'm pretty sure there were a bunch of girls staying inside their school for the night, and I believe there's a female gym teacher thrown in there, too. Ask me anything else and I'll be at a loss.

Why anyone felt the need to greenlight this script is a mystery. This one is rough and not even in a fun "so bad, it's good" kind of way. Save your sanity and skip it.