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Welcome to another daily horror digest! Today’s movie is pretty good despite some pacing issues. So let’s pic up the pace and get right to it!
Movie of the Day
Last night I watched the newly-released Sleep Stalker. This is a found footage movie with many familiar parts, but a pretty good execution.
The story follows Shane and Abby, a couple who make their living by creating home improvement videos. They buy a house sight unseen with the intention of fixing it up to make content for their channel. After a short while living and working inside the house, Shane begins to sleepwalk. His nightly walks seem amusing at first, but his actions become more sinister as the days and nights go by. They both search for answers as the sleepwalking gets more dangerous and threatening, but their differences in opinion about what is happening to Shane start to open a rift in their relationship.
In many ways (some I can’t explain without spoilers), Sleep Stalker reminded me of Paranormal Activity (2007). Though Shane’s sleepwalking is the main focus, there’s also a haunted house aspect to the story that would occasionally bring back memories of certain scenes in the first Paranormal Activity movie. That’s a compliment, really. Sleep Stalker might feel familiar in many ways, but that’s because it’s a well-made movie that treads on familiar ground.
One of the issues I have though, is that the pacing in Sleep Stalker is a little wonky. It’s slow to start, with the first part of the movie feeling repetitive. Interesting character moments start happening around thirty minutes in, but the drama between Shane and Abby never feels as intense as it probably should be. The story really starts moving around halfway through the movie, but even then the pace stutters. The finale is very good though, so the uneven journey to get there is worth it.
Star Rating: 2.5 out of 5 (average)
I recommend Sleep Stalker to fans of slow-burn found footage that isn’t too scary. The spooky stuff in the movie is very mild, but it’s often nicely eerie. If you want to read a deeper explanation of my thoughts on Sleep Stalker, check out my full review. And if you want to watch it, Sleep Stalker is streaming as a digital rental on platforms including Amazon Prime Video.
In the News
- A trailer for Cold Storage was released yesterday. The thriller is about a brain-controlling, body-exploding fungus that escapes from an old military facility. There is no release date yet, but it is expected in 2026.
- Neon has picked up the rights to Exit 8, the upcoming horror movie based on the popular 2023 anomaly video game of the same title. Release is expected in 2026. (Variety)
- Revenge thriller Death Cycle has been picked up by Uncork’d Entertainment for US release. The film will premiere at FrightFest UK on August 24th. No general release date available. (Deadline)
Birthdays
Tobin Bell was born on August 7th, 1942. Tobin is, of course, best known to horror fans for playing John Kramer aka Jigsaw in the Saw franchise. His film career began in the late seventies, but Saw (2004) was easily his biggest role up to that point. He’s now firmly associated with horror, having appeared in every Saw film except for Spiral (only a photograph of him appeared in that film), and being featured in a fair amount of lower-budget horror movies over the past two decades.
Alexandre Aja was also born on this day, in 1978. His breakthrough movie (for horror fans, at least) was his second feature film as a director, High Tension (aka Haute Tension), which was released in France in 2003 and in the United States in 2005. He followed that up with a remake of Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes in 2006. The highlights of Alexandre’s directing career since then include Mirrors (2008), Horns (2013), and Crawl (2019). His next film will reportedly be Crawl 2.
Events on This Day
The Wicker Man was released in the United States on August 7th, 1974. The movie stars Edward Woodward as a police officer searching for a missing girl on an isolated island off the west coast of Scotland. There he finds a community overseen by a man (Christopher Lee) leads through the use of Celtic paganism. If you’re into folk horror, The Wicker Man is essential viewing.
The slasher comedy Student Bodies was also released on this day, in 1981. This exceedingly silly film was the first slasher spoof movie of the golden age of slashers.
Thank you as always for reading. Early previews for Weapons start today. I really hopes it’s as good as I’ve built it up to be in my head!
