However it is looked at, Sleepwalker is one of British cinema’s strangest films. What initially seems to be a Mike Leigh-style, Abigail’s Party-ish hyper-real take on middle class mores quickly becomes an intense journey into dystopian horror which nods to both Italian gialli and films which deconstruct the nuts and bolts of British social attitudes. If late-period Mario Bava and Lindsay Anderson had collaborated to direct an episode of The Good Life, this might have been the result.
Sleepwalker begins simply enough. Angela and Richard Paradise (Joanna David and Nicholas Grace) are urban, urbane and wealthy. They are visiting the equally meaningfully named down-at-heel couple Alex and Marion Britain (Bill Douglas and Heather Page) in their run-down country home. The house is called “Albion”. Tensions are in the air from the off: the quartet goes out for dinner and it is awful. Soon, they are at each other’s throats and the killings begin.
Saxon Logan’s 1984 film runs to only 50 minutes but packs more ideas in than most features twice its length. It is also as impactful and harrowing as any full-length film. Although a satire on the changes in and fragmentation of British society as it became more "us and them" after the arrival of the Thatcher government, it works as a horror film. It can also be taken as a very weird, super-extreme counterpart to the contemporaneous TV series Tales of the Unexpected. Its notable cast includes a very rare acting role for Douglas, who is wonderful as the mordant Alex Britain.
As expected for a BFI release, the main feature is supplemented by a raft of great extras including Rodney Giesler’s bizarre and similarly arty 1971 short sexual horror film The Insomniac, and Logan’s off-balance, 10-minute 1977 film Stepping Out. Sleepwalker was first released two years ago. This new reissue comes in fresh packaging, without the booklet but includes the same extras as the 2013 edition. The lower price means there is no excuse not to get this. Bad dreams are guaranteed.
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