The actual idea of sleepwalking is in itself pretty damn frightening. Anything that leaves you out of control and then wakes you up in strange places is the definition of a real-life nightmare. This would then seem like fertile ground for Sleepwalker, a psychological thriller that, through sleepwalking, blurs the line between reality and one’s sanity.
The film lays some decent groundwork in this regard, but fails to consistently push the boundaries. It leaves you wanting more and sadly, getting far less.
The film follows Sarah (Hayden Panettiere) as she grapples with the reality of grieving the loss of her daughter, and sleepwalking that leaves her disoriented. She questions her sanity due to the visions. Her daughter died in a car crash, with the driver being her abusive husband, Michael (Justin Chatwin), who survived but is in a coma.
The real-life struggle of juggling this is understandable, and when it crosses over into her unconscious, she starts questioning everything. One can sympathize with her and what she is going through.
That, in a nutshell, is the core of the movie. Writer-director Brandon Auman is tasked with turning this idea into a compelling, creepy story, and he starts off well. There are genuine moments of uneasiness in Sarah’s visions and disorientation, especially when she begins to see her husband in various forms inside the house.
It is confusing but in a good way, making the characters and audience question even the most seemingly innocent things. Panettiere sells the confusion well, and as Sarah, we watch her try to work through things via mediation, therapy, and her painting.
However, the film stumbles in the second half, buckling under the weight of trying to ramp up the paranoia and dread. Storylines start to get jumbled, and the good work done in the first half of the film begins to fade amid clunky dialogue and overly long scenes.
Everything seems a little more forced and unnatural, and the story, still chugging towards the finish line, loses some luster and becomes much less interesting. This is disappointing, given that they had an interesting premise to work with.
Beverly D’Angelo plays Sarah’s mother, Gloria, and seems wasted here, with some bit lines here and there and a weird scene involving a spiritualist that seems terribly out of place. Sarah’s son Holden (Laird LaCoste) didn’t have much to do in the first half of the film, but was front and center at the back half. He tried desperately to create some real tension.
That leaves Panettiere to carry the film, and she does a solid job. However, even she begins to struggle as the film moves toward the finale, which was not entirely her fault, as she carried the weight of the film right to the end.
The film works well when it offers a subtle, creepy, and interesting look not only at sleepwalking but also at what was real and what was in Sarah’s mind. The abusive husband in a coma from the crash was a good tool to use in the story, but more often than not, horror cliches and poor special effects diminished any real tension the actors and movie built up.
That made the ending lose any impact it might have had. By that time, I was a little confused at just what kind of movie I was actually watching.
Sleepwalker is definitely one of those films that took an interesting idea and didn’t know how to construct it in a way that would keep the audience’s attention from beginning to end. Sleepwalking is a terrifying concept, being out of control of your mind and body, that anyone at any age would be frightened to confront.
Sadly, Sleepwalker’s attempt left me more frustrated than anything. The film’s solid start fizzled into a sea of old ideas and poor execution.
