The Sleeper (2012)

Masterful Movie

good back-story, and good acting

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The movie is about a unknown man who starts stalking and killing off a group of sorority girls one-by-one. He calls the sorority house and whispers the name of the girl he will kill next. I only got about half way through the movie skipping a few parts because it was extremely bad.For a film that is supposed to be stylized as an 80's film, it loses it's audience to the mistakes it makes throughout the film.First of all, the 80's-esque special effects don't have the same effect in HD as it does with film tape that was used in the 80's. Although the story line is somewhat solid, the acting makes this movie so much worse.

First, I will give the director credit for making this film genuinely look and feel like it was from 1981. I actually found it hard to believe its a 2012 movie. So, kudos to him for that. However, I am sorry to say that this movie was NOT at all scary. It was actually pretty dull and nothing original. No character building, no explanation for anything that was happening. I can forgive low budget movies if there is actual suspense and scary scenes, but there was none to be found here. I think if this really was 1981, I may have enjoyed this film immensely, but having seen thousands of horror movies over the years, I guess I have really raised my standards.

OK, I get it, this director likes 80's slasher flicks. So do I, to some extent. But that's not enough to keep an audience watching. This movie is a carbon copy of every late 70's/early 80's slasher film, so from the get go you know exactly what you're in for. That could have been a good thing. But here, it is not thanks in large part to inconsistent period details, really sub par acting and super amateur sound editing. The movie reminds you of its budget limitations every few minutes. Can I forgive some things? Sure, but I've seen movies made in the same budget range that keep quality and acting talent a priority, so it's tough. For one thing, not once did I feel transported back to my youth, the 1980s, the only prop they had was a rotary phone and they thought that was enough I guess. The clothing and hair styles were all wrong. The dialog was all wrong (for the time period, the delivery of said dialog was all wrong, too). This director's vision far outweighed the film's budget and it shows. Kind of like a recent flick out of Rhode Island that attempted to do the "80's" thing, Murder University. But at least MU had actors who could act, a director that could direct and fairly consistent sound throughout. I'm not going to get in depth on the story since it is intentionally bad in The Sleeper, I guess that was supposed to be cool because the old movies have bad stories, too... I just call that a lame excuse for lazy screen writing. It's not as if The Sleeper was going to come out and make a big profit like the in the 80's, the least they could so is assemble a decent screenplay. I say PASS on The Sleeper, just gather together all your favorite 80's slashers and have a blast from the past instead, you'll enjoy the experience a lot more.

this had all the elements to be a great homage to the 80's but it fails because the acting is god awful and the effects couldn't touch what they did in the 80's with movies like The Prowler and The Burning don't get me wrong i really wanted to love this movie and couldn't wait to see it especially the old school VHS/DVD packaging the movie came in but i was disappointed on so many levels i think it was trying to copy the same element as Slumber Party Massacre but at least those movies had semi decent acting as opposed to the horrible stiff acting in The Sleeper,i'm still very interested to see what the director will offer in the future he had a decent grindhouse homage with Deathstop Holocaust that wasn't bad at all