Reviews

The Sleeper wanted to strongly look and feel like an early 80's film and in my view failed to achieve this for the reasons below:

The opening shot/credit scene was actually well done and had some added visual noise effects and this in turn DID give the film the look and feel of something I would have seen on VHS back in those early days of the 80's. However, after the main credits are over it changes and not for the better. One reviewer summed it up in saying the film quality looks too "polished". It clearly was shot on some sort of digital film and no further noise or "grindhouse" look was added. In turn what this did is present the film in the era and style that this strongly gives the impression of—an early 1990s indie feature. Everything from the shot setups and angles to the acting screamed of 1990s indie. This is not entirely a bad thing mind you, but clearly a long shot from the 80's feel this wanted to be. In fact had the opening cue card read "1991" instead of "1981" it would have worked better.

The director/writers also blatantly have a strong love for the 1970's film Black Christmas (as do I), as many similar shots, scenery and score music are almost copied from that film

In the end I cannot say this is the worst thing I have seen, but definitely far from the best and far from what I was hoping it would be. The film is screaming for a fan edit as some of the subtle changes that you could do would fix the film immensely (such as never showing the killer's face, it would have been much better had his face been hiding in the shadows or even wearing a mask), etc and so on.

I think what is actually working for the film is the nice DVD and VHS combo package they offer. The cover art is great and just for that fact alone might be worth the purchase for those VHS collectors still out there

UPDATE::::A short time back I had written a review for this film (which you just read above). I also bought the DVD/VHS combo box for it. At that time I had not watched the VHS version and I just want to say now I wish I did.

Most of the issues aside from the script and such revolved around the film looking too polished and clean. It was obvious that going by the DVD/VHS combo box art work as well as the opening credits for the film that they wanted the viewer to have that "old film on VHS look". This is where that tape comes in. The VHS tape version that comes with this is BEAUITFULLY rendered and amazingly emulates an old VHS tape. This is not grindhouse type of effects, but rather actual old analog tape noise and wear that you would normally see on older/highly rented VHS tape. From the slight color bleeding to the white lines that go across the screen, as well as the pan/scan picture that you could tell came from a widescreen print. THIS IS HOW the intent of what they were trying to do really came across and it did not detract from the film, but rather added to it. I enjoyed the film much more than before. In fact it was done so well that you could no longer tell the movie was shot on digital, but more so resembles actual film. That format view works very well for the overall presentation. Also (and ironically) switching the sound from hi-fi stereo to mono really made the levels jump (usually it is the opposite) and it blended in everything perfectly.

WHY OH WHY the makers of the film did not choose to release this as the final version for the DVD is beyond me. The perfect looking clean cut that is used for the DVD really does no justice for the film at all. It was more so like a pre-final release and the VHS version being what the film should have been. So if you did not like the film, but do have access to the VHS version, I would say give the film another chance and watch that edition instead. It really makes a wonderful jump in the end and for the better

Despite what some other reviewers might say, I found this well made indie film to be creepy and very atmospheric. I thought the shots of the woods and snow were well done. The acting was fine and to correct a previous poster. Yes the car was stuck in the snow and yes he could have asked the rednecks to help him out but instead chose to tell him to get away from the car. It was appropriately done, you are forgetting firstly he's holding a high powered rifle; he gave the New Yorker an attitude about hitting the deer beforehand and in general came across as a pretty sketchy character. I'm sure with that in mind you would not then say "oh by the way help me move my car" you would be cautious of your family inside it, and may not want anything to do with that character, little less be by your family. With that out of the way here is my mini review The film concerns a New Yorker city family going up to the hills for some rest and family time. Along the way they hit a deer and then run into some rednecks, this establishes some characters. The NY'ers have a young son who like to do a lot of reading and sees things at times in his head. The son gets a small wooden statue of the Wendigo given to him by an Indian in a shop in the town. The Indian tells him the story of the Wendigo. It turns out the Indian may have been a spirit himself as he disappears.

We are shown how the characters relate to each other and lots of creepy scenes and music. it also appears that the deer hit by the car may have been inhabited by the wendigo spirit.

SPOILER ALERT: Later on (and skipping a lot) the father gets shot and is taken to the hospital, he was shot by the one redneck named Otis, who gave him the trouble to being with when the father hit the deer. However the young son sees the spirit of the Wendigo in his father and in the woods. He holds the statue tight. Later the Police go to arrest Otis, but Otis kills the sheriff and is on the run when the Wendigo catches up with him and returns the favor. it appears since the boy believes in the Wendigo and holds the statue, the Wendigo kills the man that (as we find out later) kills his dad(he did not survive the shooting when he was brought to the hospital). the film somewhat abruptly ends and that is the only complaint i have, I wish the ending was a bit more expanded, but it does cover everything.

The film was well acted, well written, realistic in the actions of the people in it and worth your time to see