In the era of legacy sequels, could the vampire movie Sleepwalkers be given a follow-up film? More than three decades after the release of the original film, that remains to be seen. But should Sleepwalkers 2 end up happening anytime soon, then Stephen King and Co. may want to give lead star Brian Krause a call, as he believes his return would be necessary — even if that means resurrecting his character.
Krause spoke about his work on Sleepwalkers in a new interview with Horror Geek Life. Reflecting on 31 years of Sleepwalkers, Krause spoke about the film’s enduring popularity with horror movie fans. He says that at the time of production, he knew Sleepwalkers had the benefit of having horror mastermind Stephen King attached, though he admits that he didn’t imagine the film would still have such a strong cult following in 2023. Looking back, Krause also feels lucky to have been involved with the film because of its solid cast and crew.
As Krause explains in the interview:
“Growing up, I wasn’t a big horror fan. It scares me easily, but we all knew Stephen King growing up, and that’s going to stick around. But it’s crazy to even think that we’re still watching it. It’s owed to Stephen King and Mick Garris, who’s gone on to become such a master in the last 30 years, and the countless, endless projects his creativity has touched. So it’s no wonder that one of his first visions is still resonating with people. Jim Haynie, Mädchen Amick, Ron Perlman, Tobe Hooper, Ernie Lively, and everybody that was a part of it is, they were solid, solid people. Me being such a rookie at the time, how lucky am I to be mentioned in the same space as all those people?”
The HGL interview touched on comments previously made by Sleepwalkers director Mick Garris about a potential sequel. While there’s nothing officially in the works, Krause says he needs to return if any follow-up to Sleepwalkers ever happens.
“If [Sleepwalkers 2 happens], they’d have to bring me back to life somehow. Maybe I’m not really dead. There has to be a way.”
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Columbia Pictures
Sleepwalkers was scripted by Stephen King, and the movie has the distinction of being the first movie written by the acclaimed author that wasn’t based on one of his novels. The movie tells the story of the last two survivors of a species of shapeshifting vampires who must feed on the life force of virgin women in order to stay alive. Along with the aforementioned names, the movie also includes cameos from Joe Dante, Clive Barker, and Mark Hamill.
In 2020, Mick Garris said on his Post Mortem podcast with Joe Russo that there had actually been talk of doing a Sleepwalkers sequel. Tabitha King, Stephen King’s wife, had actually written a treatment for a sequel that “involved a women’s basketball team somehow,” though not much else was revealed about the potetial plot. Garris said he didn’t personally get to read the treatment as the project failed to get the necessary studio attention to move forward. As Garris explained:
“I never read it, but King was very excited that Tabby came up with this. But it was a sequel that nobody at the studio gave a sh-t about. You know, they liked the money that Sleepwalkers made, but it was not a prestige release by any means, so they never even thought about Sleepwalkers after.”
If you want to revisit Sleepwalkers, you can currently find the movie streaming for free on Pluto TV. Meanwhile, you can also catch Brian Krause in his latest movie, the Western film Homestead, which is also streaming for free over on Tubi.
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