CBB Presents The Bear Cave of Terror - Ep. 24 - Stephen King's Sleepwalkers (1992)

In this week's episode of the BCoT, Steve is joined by Stephen King superfan Ken Creamer to talk about the underrated 90s vampire-adjacent film, Sleepwalkers, directed by Mick Garris. Often overlooked when it comes to the King filmography, he wrote the script to this 1992 horror about incestuous mother and son feline shapeshifters who sustain themselves on the lifeforce of young virgin girls! The son sets his sights on a new victim, but neighborhood kitties, a curious sheriff's department, and super cop cat Clovis won't stand for it. This film was made by a horror fan, and it comes through with cameos from famous directors and King himself, with an eclectic cast, tongue-in-cheek dialogue, and what was then cutting-edge special effects, making it a moderate success on initial release. Terrible movie critic reviews and unfortunate timing close to another King-"inspired" flop, it's only now starting to build a cult fanbase who appreciate the quirky uniqueness of this little 90s horror time capsule.

Additional Resources for this episode:

In Search of Darkness 1990-94: A Journey into Iconic 90s Horror (2025), directed by David A. Weiner, produced by CreatorVC

Post-Morten with Mick Garris (podcast) ep 82 "Ask Mick Anything", 4/1/2020, distributed by the Dread Podcast Network

"Sleepwalkers" by Variety Staff, Variety 12/31/91

"Stephen King's Sleepwalkers" by Lawrence French, Cinefantastique April 1992, vol 22 no. 5, pp 20-22