Review #1,031: 'Sleepwalker' (1984)

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.


Directed by: Saxon Logan
Starring: Heather Page, Bill Douglas, Nickolas Grace, Joanna David
Country: UK

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie