Sleepwalker

This short film, largely set in a marvellous, rambling, yet crumbling country cottage begins brilliantly. There are ominous shadows and attractive shafts of light only partially illuminating the interior before a storm thunders above creating havoc. The film also concludes in great style with much blood curdling action more reminiscent of an Italian gallo than an English old dark house tale. Unfortunately the two siblings are visited by their sister and her husband. He is played by Nickolas Grace and regrettably his over acting is evident from his first appearance in the car as the couple try to find the cottage. Because of storm damage the four go to a local inn for dinner and for some reason director Saxon Logan has the dialogue become something of a diatribe for and against Thatcherism and with Grace allowed full reign, this is a rather embarrassing episode. As I say, back at the cottage the sinister and brilliantly conceived horror develops. Just a shame about that dinner break.

Obnoxious well-to-do businessman Richard (Nickolas Grace) and his wife Angela (Joanna David) are invited to dinner and to stay the night at the remote home of brother and sister Alex and Marion (Bill Douglas and Heather Page). When the storm raging overhead causes the meal to be ruined, the foursome go to a nearby inn, where personalities clash.

Arriving back at the hosts' home, Richard continues to be abrasive, and the evening comes to an abrupt end. During the night, one of the group turns to murder.

Someone at the British Film Institute deemed this obscure mid-'80s horror worthy of a DVD release, with all the bells and whistles. I don't understand it, myself: even though the film has a scant run-time of just over fifty minutes, I found the whole thing an insufferable bore, with loathesome characters, dull conversation, very little in the way of plot, and just one reasonable death scene (a meat cleaver in the chest).

I seem to be in the minority in disliking the film (IMDb currently has four positive reviews, although one appears to be written by the director), so it seems as though I may have missed something that others enjoyed. Or maybe I'm just being honest because I'm not connected with the making of the film or its release on DVD.

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.

Finally granted a release after too long in limbo,director Saxon Logan's sublime SLEEPWALKER hits DVD courtesy of the BFI in a dazzling,all-singing-and-dancing edition. Packed with extras,including two witty,earlier shorts from Saxon,as well as a great feature length interview with the man that is both enlightening and deeply moving,this gem of a movie,a 50 minute masterpiece,could best be described as "Mike Leigh meets a Nightmare on Thatcher St via Italian giallo's" (all will become clear when you watch it). I was fortunate enough a decade ago to meet with Saxon on a number of occasions and see this tremendous prize winner at the Berlin film festival play to appreciative audiences as it should have done back in the 80's - especially at the Festival of Fantastic Films in Manchester - and so it is a real treat that this much neglected film of it's era,stupidly denied a release in the UK,finally has it's day,and emerges blinking into the light,more relevant than ever! Funny,scary,politically charged,stylistically beautiful,please do yourself a favour and buy this DVD and tell all your friends, the wait is over.. Mike Wesley

Siblings Marion (Heather Page) and Alex (Comrades (1986) director Bill Douglas in a rare acting role) share a crumbling cottage in the countryside. With Alex seemingly under constant stress due to his writing job, their relationship is somewhat strained, and things get worse when they are visited out of the blue by city-dwelling husband and wife Richard (Nickolas Grace) and Angela (Joanna David). Richard in an appalling, outspoken yuppie with a fondness for homophobic slights, and tensions mount as they go out for a dinner and the alcohol starts to flow. Afterwards back at the house, things start to get weird when somebody starts to sleepwalk with murderous in mind.

Re-released recently as part of the BFI's 'Flipside' series, which celebrates anything British, obscure and bizarre, Sleepwalker is an extremely odd yet mostly absorbing experience. While the tone is certainly British, the style is distinctly Italian. The first two- thirds consists of amusing, well-scripted character building, as the foursome clash and size each other up, while the remaining portion set back at the house goes into full-blown horror mode, turning the relatively small house into a disorientating labyrinth. It's a giallo at heart, with the work of Dario Argento in particular no doubt an influence on director Saxon Logan (cool name). Running at just over 50 minutes, the movie passes by in a flash and will probably leave you scratching your head when the screen fades to black, but it's also a film that didn't leave my mind for days afterwards, and left me itching to experience it again.