Horror Movie Review: Sleep. Walk. Kill. (2022)

A horror comedy from writer and director Justin Miller, Sleep. Walk. Kill. is almost a good film. One that rises above its ‘no-budget’ look and feel to deliver something fresh and interesting, but fails to land enough laughs and goes on for far too long.

The story surrounds an unknown event that occurs across the East Coast of America. A high-pitched sound is heard, and nobody knows what it is or where it came from. It passes as quickly as it arrived, and everything seems to be normal. Or as normal as it gets for Edgar (Bill Reick). That is until his neighbour arrives covered in blood and tries to stab him.

Knocking her out, when she comes to, she has no memory of what she did or why she is covered in blood. It doesn’t take them long to realise that she killed her partner, and she seems to have done it in her sleep.

Fall asleep and become a killer. It’s as simple as that. How? Why? What? None of this matters and the film’s ‘explanation’ at the end is very flimsy. No, the focus is on Edgar and his survival. An existence that is threatened by the worst people in his life coming to stay with him. His ex-wife, his parents and weird uncle, his obnoxious neighbours… sleep killing might be preferable for Edgar.

All of this is where a lot of the comedy comes from, and there are laughs to be had, but Sleep. Walk. Kill. also has a habit of making you laugh unintentionally. Mainly, it’s the fault of the actors, as many are subpar and seem to really struggle to not even look directly into the camera. A lot of line delivery will make you laugh, even when it was clearly supposed to be a more serious moment.

Which is where Sleep. Walk. Kill. really fails as a film. The middle portion, with all the characters hiding in the basement, is quite dull and goes on for ages. There is so much blasé padding here, it begins to offend. The goodwill that comes from the first part starts to dissipate, but thankfully, the latter part of the film pulls it back.

Alongside all of this is a ton of gore, a surprising amount of gore, and that is always welcome. There might not have been much money to spend on effects, but it was spent well. It’s also nice that no-one is safe from death in this film, and characters you might expect to survive, don’t. It’s stuff like this that helps makes Sleep. Walk. Kill. a more memorable watch.

There’s nothing game-changing here, but it does entertain and the idea is fresh enough to make you want to see where it goes. It’s not a laugh-riot, but it does nail a lot of the comedy aspects it is going for. It’s definitely worth a watch.