11/8/2023 0 Comments Dont go to sleep dvd![]() ![]() You’ll see.) So essentially this plays out as an extended EC Comic where the sins of the past come back to haunt, but layered with honest feelings of betrayal and loss. Their guilt over her death is literally tearing them apart – but what pushes it into horror is they deserve it. They have no idea.īut no one here is dealing with Jennifer’s death very well, which adds a layer of inevitability and pathos to the project. ![]() Robert Webber ( S.O.B.) gives a nice turn as Mary’s psychologist, sent to him by her parents because they think Mary is not dealing very well with her sister’s death. Oh, and to show how savvy Spelling was, he even brought on a Poltergeister for the younger brother (Oliver Robins). The kids’ performances are a little more uneven while they’re solid in the big emotional moments, they tend to go a bit broad with the smaller gestures. Gordon ( Harold and Maude) is always great at playing Gordon, which she does here as Harper’s live-in mother, and a definite catalyst for the family’s implosion. Weaver ( Duel) and Harper ( Rhoda) are as reliable as expected, each getting to play notes of anguish and hatred that ring true. Either way, people die – remember, this is about the destruction of a family – and Wynn throws enough curveballs to keep us guessing. As Mary is the only one who can see and hear Jennifer, we are forced to buy one of two scenarios: Mary’s grip on reality is slipping to dangerously low proportions, or Jennifer’s ghost really is trying to make Mary complicit in her horrific scheme to wipe out the family. Until the ghost of Jennifer starts talking to her younger sister Mary (Robin Ignico), the family is just trying to cope with their misfortune by forgetting it. Ned Wynn’s ( California Dreaming) teleplay slowly (and wisely) doles out information about the crash as the story moves along by the end we know what part (if any) each family member played. It all stems from Jennifer’s (Kristin Cumming) death in the car accident the previous year. This thing is a downer, man.Īnd yet it’s fascinating partly for this very reason. Not exactly popcorn fare, and if people tuned out after the first hour to watch Falcon Crest or Remington Steele on the rival networks, they really couldn’t be blamed. Nihilism runs rampant here – our main themes include alcoholism, mental illness, and above all else, guilt. So many horror films that deal with the family unit display them from a point of strength and unity, or ultimately end up there DGTS starts off with a family in ruins and only gets worse. If anything, DGTS is the inverse of Poltergeist. Now, this was made and broadcast several months (December 10 th, to be precise) after the megahit Poltergeist, and I’m sure that’s what ubiquitous TV megaproducer Aaron Spelling ( Fantasy Island, Charlie’s Angels) thought he was getting. I would have been circling this so hard in the Guide my pen would have ripped clean through the paper. When they move to a new town, their younger daughter has visions of her dead sister – who convinces her to help extract revenge against the rest of the family. Valerie Harper and Dennis Weaver star as a couple still reeling from the accidental death of their oldest daughter. Let’s grab our faux TV Guide and see what’s on: Okay, we’ve turned on the tube and let it warm up. Well, having finally seen it for the first time, I can say that Don’t Go To Sleep (1982) fits the bill, offering up a few for real scares, a sense of unease, a clever teleplay, and an ending that’s still sticking to me like unwanted psychic residue. And when they say genuine, they mean that it still casts a spell today, unvarnished by time. ![]() And every once in awhile, someone will come strutting along and boast of a TV movie from their youth that they insist is genuinely scary. The bottom line is a lot of things scare us as children, including real life. Let’s face it: Most horror made for TV isn’t really scary, is it? I mean, we talk about these shows or movies frightening us as kids, but we could say the same about watching a PG rated flick that contains a few good jolts or disturbing themes. ![]()
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