Sleepwalker

Simple, yet effective Swedish horror/thriller-movie. Ulrik Hansson is 45 years old and lives a secure life in a Swedish residential district together with his wife Monika and their two children. He's got a well-paid job as an architect and builds a new detached house which the family will move to. Everything is just great. He thinks. One morning he wakes up and shockingly discovers that they're gone. The whole family...And he is covered with blood. Did he do it? And does his persistent sleepwalking got anything to do with it? Although the story has been touched some times before in movie-land, this idea feels refreshing and although it's not crafted in the best ways (mainly due to some poor acting), it still bids for an exciting ninety minutes. The ending is a bit cheezy, but hey, many movies are.

"Sleepwalker" was marketed in Sweden for almost a year with taglines like: "The year´s scariest film takes place in Sweden" and such. When the result finally arrived, "Sleepwalker" feels a bit disappointing and not as scary as promised. But look beneath the hype, and you will discover a surprisingly good Swedish horror movie.

The movie asks the interesting question: "Can we murder people in our sleep?" If the question is answered or not I will leave untold, but I promise that you will be surprised with the film´s content.

The story takes place in a common residential district when family man Ulrik Hansson goes to sleep with his family. When he wakes up, his wife and kids are gone. And the sheets in his bed are covered in blood. He contacts the police, but also tries to solve the case himself. He has had problems with sleepwalking earlier, and now he suspects that he might be responsible for the disappearances.

"Sleepwalker" contains many interesting scenes, especially those when Ulrik straps on a camcorder to his head, then goes to sleep. Later Ulrik watches the tape and sees what he actually does when he´s sleepwalking. This is definitely the film´s strongest moments, together with the suggestive environments, the editing and the scary music.

The movie has weaknesses, and the screenwriter should be held somewhat responsible. The script contains lots of illogical turns, and the film´s formula tends to be a bit repetitive. The acting is doubtful, but leading man Ralph Carlsson does a good job as Ulrik.

Many arguments after the film will definitely be about the ending. I thought it was excellent, and it actually lifted the whole movie. This is the best Swedish horror movie ever, after "Det Okända", which was released the same year.

3/5

Sleepwalker has ben advertised for over an year her in Norway, and of course the expectations rise. But the result is an ordinary film. No actors are impressive, none of them suck either. The story is often boring, but the end is the biggest goof. You understand the the point of watching this movie was to understand a mans dream, and that isn't fun to pay for...I'm glad i saw it on a preview, cause this could easily have been a great movie...if it had a bigger fright and better story.

The director succeeds at building a murky atmosphere ,probably influenced by David Lynch,particularly " lost highway" and the amateur side of "Blair witch project" .There are very few sleepwalkers in the fantastic cinema and focusing a story on such a character is original.The weakest link is the screenplay which falls apart at every nail ,which the final unexpected twist can hardly redeem ,even if it's repeated twice (the second time,an innovation,in the middle of the final cast and credits).Nothing more than a curio.

Swedish horror is one of those tragic genres that never seems to hit the target. Sometimes i even wonder why they even try anymore. But once in a while, a very LONG while, a movie comes out that actually has quality to it. This is one of those.

Ulrik Hansson (Ralph Carlsson) has trouble sleeping. One night he mixes his sleeping-pills with red wine. When he wakes up his family is gone without a trace, except a huge spot of blood on the sheets. Things point toward him being a sleepwalker and that this might have something to do with his family disappearing. Did he murder his family? The idea in this movie i felt was fairly original without being revolutionary. The technical quality of the movie is good and many scenes are well built up. The acting is also mostly OK. So is it scary? Well sometimes it comes close anyway. The general feeling of disarray is also pretty well built up. And the plot comes with a twist in the end which might not be THAT hard to guess, but that works pretty well.

All in all this is not bad. I wish more Swedish horror movies could be like this. Focusing more on psychology and plot than on trying to create poor and boring shock-effects. I rate this 6/10.