The Sleeper

The grainy atmosphere of some nicely shot locations is completely undone when the 'guys' turn up. Horny teens are one thing, it seems obligatory for films like this, but the two gate-crashing twenty-something adolescents arrive at a sorority party and the viewer - or this viewer at least - is aching for the film's antagonist to graphically wipe the smug grin off the faces of these cretins. The girls, by comparison, are more concerned with semesters and exams and that kind of thing - before mild sex is introduced to fill in more time before anything interesting happens.

One of the freedoms of low budget films like this is that they don't have to go down the same predictable routes as more mainstream horrors. Many exercise the freedom they have by producing something different and interesting - this one doesn't.

The kills are arbitrary, we know nothing about the murderer, and characters are tepid. Against that, it's nicely directed and the moments of gore are fairly convincing. My score is 4 out of 10.

this had all the elements to be a great homage to the 80's but it fails because the acting is god awful and the effects couldn't touch what they did in the 80's with movies like The Prowler and The Burning don't get me wrong i really wanted to love this movie and couldn't wait to see it especially the old school VHS/DVD packaging the movie came in but i was disappointed on so many levels i think it was trying to copy the same element as Slumber Party Massacre but at least those movies had semi decent acting as opposed to the horrible stiff acting in The Sleeper,i'm still very interested to see what the director will offer in the future he had a decent grindhouse homage with Deathstop Holocaust that wasn't bad at all

Slasher throwbacks are tricky. Very few people can get it right, but The Sleeper just about succeeds. In some ways, it really does feel a lot like an 80's slasher flick. The acting is a mixed bag, the cinematography isn't too bad, and the synth score is great.

The story is nothing special, but it's told fairly well and there's a few attempts at suspense. If I was going to compare it to the other classic horror films, I'd say it's a mix of Black Christmas, He Knows You're Alone, and Final Exam. If you liked those, you might like this one.

"The Sleeper" is a faux lost '80s slasher that wants to have an old school vibe. Unfortunately, the gimmick doesn't work. If the filmmakers wanted this to look like a horror movie from 1981, why not shoot on stock available at the time? The digital aspect is too polished and, aside from the opening credits, only adds to the sad fact that nothing looks like it's from the 1980s.

However, this movie will always be remembered for one reason. There's a disco/rap line dance that's so excruciating you'll have to see it to believe it. This scene is worse than the party fiascos in "The Howling: New Moon Rising" and "Birdemic: Shock and Terror." In the end, this movie will stay in the public conscious, but for all the wrong reasons.

There are certain movies that you instantly put on your wish list as soon as you discover their existence. In my case, shallow as it may sound, this reflex largely depends on the cover art illustration. I have a weakness for horror movies with vintage posters, kind of like how they all looked in the raunchy seventies and lurid eighties. When coincidentally stumbling upon the IMDb page of "The Sleeper" a few months ago, with its poster image that bears a lot of resemblance with such films as "Don't Go in the House", "Black Christmas" and "The Dorm that Dripped Blood", and simultaneously reading that writer/director Justin Russell intends to bring a throwback to the typically sorority-slash movies of that same era, the film immediately climbed up in my must-see list. I still love 80's horror, many of my friends still love 80's horror and apparently a lot of people across the globe still love 80's horror, as this glorious decade continues to inspire young filmmakers in the genre. After seeing the film I can safely say that Justin Russell knows the classics, the tricks and the do's and don'ts of 80's horror and, despite of many people (semi-righteously) complaining that "The Sleeper" looks overly polished and nearly not raw and sleazy enough, I feel that he hit the exact right tone in terms of atmosphere, photography and editing. The plot is rudimentary and straightforward, like it ought to be. The year is 1981 and the cute and lewd sisters of the Alpha Gamma Theta sorority are being harassed and brutally slain by a crazed stalker. This pervert sits around his lair, drivels and drools over the girls' photographs and petrifies them with obscene phone calls. As soon as they're dumb enough to separate themselves from the group, whether to shower or go to the gym, the "sleeper" (nicknamed this way because he puts the girls to sleep and marks their pictures with "ZZZ") sees his chance to sadistically massacre them with a hammer or various other garden tools. That's the plot! Isn't it lovely? Naturally there are some massive flaws to detect in the script as well. The pacing is overall too slow and irregular and several of the intentional "spoof" moments miss their effect, like the ridiculous musical/line dance sequence. The defaults are, however, widely compensated through the extremely gross (and deliciously campy) make-up effects, the raunchy atmosphere of long lost misogynic slashers and that irresistible 80's vibe that all the cast members so vividly translate to the screen. The clothes, the hairstyles, the teenage slang … It all makes perfect sense and catapults you straight back to the eighties. Personally, I even liked the bad aspects of "The Sleeper" because the vast majority of 80's slashers were, in fact, bad but tremendously enjoyable efforts. If you're still not convinced, then please give the movie the benefit of the doubt if it were only for the soundtrack provided by Gremlin. If this band, obviously inspired by the Italian cult band Goblin, doesn't spark your sense for 80's nostalgia, nothing ever will...