Writer: Justin Russell
Notable Cast: Cameo from Joe Bob Briggs
Six degrees of A Nightmare on Elm Street: This film features Joe Bob Briggs, who was in Ghosts of Goldfield with Marnette Patterson, who played a little girl in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 (her line: "9, 10, he's back again!").
Though the film is available on DVD, I saw it this past weekend at the inaugural CineMayhem Film Festival in Thousand Oaks, CA. Released in 2012, the film is a loving throwback to the slasher films of the late 70's and early 80's.
And sure enough, anything negative comments I could give The Sleeper could also apply to that aforementioned group of films, e.g. Final Exam, The House on Sorority Row, Slumber Party Massacre, etc. Some of the acting is a little spotty, the characters make dumb decisions, the killer's motive and backstory are never sufficiently explained, the plot holes are enormous, and the practical gore effects have their limitations.
But that's what we love about those movies, and writer/director Justin Russell successfully tapped into that aesthetic. The bulk of the film takes place on a college campus in 1981, where an anonymous killer targets a group of sorority girls, one at a time, as well as a couple of their new pledges. All the conventions are there: the detective (a la John Saxon in Black Christmas), the doting house mother, the horny college boys, and an extremely large sorority house with only a few inhabitants.
The lead actress, Brittany Belland, seems very natural; she has an unconventional (but cute) look, and, to her credit, she comes across more like a real person than an actress. Ms. Belland plays one of the pledges, while the five sorority sisters, some better actresses than others, are differentiated enough that I was never confused about who was who. That you can tell them apart is pretty much the best thing I can say about the characters; we don't really delve beneath the surface of any of these girls: one is a party girl, one is a competitive swimmer... one, um, looks like Elisha Cuthbert... Surprisingly, there's no "bitch" character; they all seem pretty nice.
And you certainly get your money's worth in terms of stalking sequences and on-screen kills. For a low-budget film, there are a great many characters for the anonymous killer (Jason Jay Crabtree) to hack his way through. His weapon of choice is a hammer, but the writer/director tries to make each kill as interesting as possible; we get to see crushed skulls, slashed throats, a decapitation, and a ripped-off face. Some of the gore looks pretty great; some of it, not so much.
The pacing is a little off at times; despite the many characters and high body count, there are times when the story drags. In some cases, the lighting and choppy editing leads one to think that more time has passed in the story than actually has (several times, I thought it was the next day, when it was still the same evening). A couple characters simply disappear toward the end of the film, while other characters, especially the detective, make some non-sensical, asinine decisions.
For the most part, this does feel like a film that could have been made in 1981. Some of the forced retro dialogue is cringe-worthy ("You ruined my shoes! How am I gonna do the Running Man?"), but there is an AMAZING choreographed disco dance sequence, led by the "party girl" character who looks like Claire Daines.
And, finally, let's talk about the Joe Bob Briggs cameo. He makes a brief appearance as a doctor towards the end of the film, and his acting is fine, but he wears his ridiculous bolo tie under his white coat, which looks absolutely ridiculous. Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but that stupid tie was the only thing that took me out of the world of the movie.
In short, I would recommend this film, but ONLY to someone who loves the late 70's and early 80's slasher movies. While The Sleeper is a great addition to that specific subgenre, anyone who watches it as a straight horror film may end up disappointed.
