Happy October!!! It is Finally #spookyseason and if you're anything like me, the entire month is dedicated to nothing but horror movies galore.
What's Good Ya'll! My name is MissJLH and I am a Baltimorean who loves crabs, horror and music, so I would love to dedicate my writing debut to Lipsicknlyricsz with a movie review but with a musical twist.
Let's take it back to the classic 1992 Stephen King film: Sleepwalkers
Now I know this is an old film but it's so nice to go back and rewatch things now that we are older, especially films that we have only watched maybe once or twice ( I have a really bad habit of that lol). When you think of Stephen King, movies like "IT" and "The Shinning" instantly come to mind, however, "Sleepwalkers" is truly an underrated King classic for a multitude of reasons but I'll just name a few lol.
Let's start with the plot. Sleepwalkers is about two newcomers in town, Charles (played by Brian Krause, and if you ever watched the original Charmed, he's Leo!) and his mother Mary (played by Alice Krige). They settle into town as if they are normal but as the story develops you realize Mary and Charles are not of this world. Their survival heavily relies on the essence of a virgin Highschool girl (played by Mädchen Amick) in order to maintain their shapeshifting, telekinesis abilities. As time is running out for mother and son the town is quickly put on to their new shapeshifting neighbors.
The ratings for this film are absolutely terrible and I get it, in essence you don't really get an origin story of where these shapeshifters come from. The introduction to the odd family duo is one of incest which totally freaks you out but being that they aren't human you're like "ok...I guess.." lol secondly you don't get a reason as to why they need the essence of a virgin in order to live. I mean those are really all my guesses as to why the ratings would be so bad but after watching the film again I didn't feel the need for a background story or a reason for terror upon a small town. Sleepwalkers, like so many of King's films, tend to jump right into the plot and the plot just thickens from there. Perhaps that is one of my favorite things about Stephen King, the mystery around the horror, why is this happening, where did this come from and how can they fix it? Sometimes those questions are answered and in many cases you are just left in suspense and holding your breath for a resolution.
There's also the historical, mythological aspect to this film that many tend to overlook.There a ton of folklore about shapeshifting within every culture, From Native American mythology telling the tale of the shapeshifting Yoinis who have the ability to shape-shift into female animals. Or how about the South African folklore of the IKaggen, a Demi-urge and folk hero of the IXam people in southern South Africa. He is said to be a trickster god who can shape shift, usually taking the form of a praying mantis but also a bull eland, a louse, a snake, and a caterpillar. And those are really just to name a few, in just about every culture you have stories mimicking one another about shapeshifters, different names and some with different abilities but the tales will leave you wondering just how real shapeshifters may be and if they are real, what would they look like? how would they act? Sleepwalkers takes you there with a new twist to an old folklore.
Now to make this about music like I said I would, the SCORE! A films score is so important. It can honestly make or break the movie. Now as a kid I wasn't checking for all that but as an adult, I get it! You are instantly drawn into Sleepwalkers thanks to the genius use of Enya's 'Boadicea' as the background music.
Now for those of you who may not know, Enya is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. Best known for her modern Celtic music, till this day she is the best selling Irish solo artist and the second best selling Irish musical act overall all behind the band U2.
Fun Fact: her song,'Boadicea', which means "victorious", is a reference to the queen Boudica of the British-CelticIceni tribe in East Anglia who led a resistance against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire in 60 A.D., but was defeated and subsequently poisoned herself.
And don't trip if you aren't familiar with Enya's music, she was really big in the late 80's/early 90's however, her music has been sampled by some of your favorite artists time and time again, especially 'Boadicea'. Two of the most notable tracks that sampled 'Boadicea' are:
Fun Facts: Did you know that 'Boadicea' is not the only sample that for the 'Ready or Not' Fugees classic. The main vocal hook interpolates The Delfonics 1968 song 'Ready or Not Here I Come'. Despite the Fugees landing a number one track, introducing Enya to a new generation, they did not clear the sample or give credit so Enya and her team understandably sued and and receieved a large portion of the tracks revenue. Now in 2004, P.Diddy learned from the Fugees mistake and cleared the sample with Enya and her team who green-lit the sample and received a 60% cut from the royalties.
When you first hear 'Boadicea' you are instantly drawn in by the mysterious but yet dreamy ambient/electronic jazz sound only making it more understandable as to why Stephen King would use this as the main background music within Sleepwalkers.
Listen, I could talk about how dope this movie is all day, honestly; or, you could just log off and check it out/run it back, whichever it is just make sure you enjoy and come back to tell me what you think!
Comments