As the ghosts and hobgoblins
of the Halloween season draw ever closer, one might find it harder to bed down
for the night. This could be out of superstitious fright or it could be because
the wee small hours are the best occasion for watching scary movies. Likely,
for most folks, the sleepless nights aren't caused by the specter of a deceased
sibling who may have returned for diabolical purposes. However, that's just the
issue in today's film, the 1982, star studded, made for TV creepfest, Don't Go
to Sleep. I don't know what was in the water at the TV studios in the 70s and
80s, but, while today's TV films are either laughably bad (Lifetime, I'm
looking at you.) or bloated messes ballooned out to a mini-series format, there
was a magic to many of the old TV gems. In the case of Don't Go to Sleep, it
was definitely a dark magic indeed.
Phillip
(Dennis Weaver), having lost his job in the aerospace industry, and his wife
Laura (Valerie Harper) are forced to move in with her mother Bernice (Ruth
Gordon), a stubborn smoker who has never liked Phillip. The family is still
reeling from the loss of their daughter Jennifer (Kristen Cumming) in a car
crash a year prior and they hope that the move will bring some normalcy to
their two remaining children Mary (Robin Ignico) and Kevin (Oliver Robbins).
Unfortunately, it does just the inverse. Mary becomes convinced that she is
seeing and hearing Jennifer, a fact which is most distressing to her parents.
These appearances also coincide with misfortune landing time and time on the
family. Mary's bed is set on fire, Bernice is scared to death by an iguana on
the loose, Kevin falls off the roof while trying to retrieve a Frisbee, and
Phillip learns the hard way why you don't keep a radio on the side of your
bathtub. As these events continue to unfold, Laura doesn’t know if she should
place the blame on her living daughter or if it is skullduggery from beyond the
grave. 
The
reason Don't Go to Sleep, a relatively unknown film, ranks at the middle of
this list is the creep factor. The visions of the deceased Jennifer appearing
to her younger sister are chilling. Sure, blood and guts don't abound. In fact,
I don't recall even one or two drops from this TV film, but when a film is well
paced and the timing works, then viscera is not something that has to be on the
menu to give me the willies. Don't Go to Sleep exploits the childhood fear of something
lurking under the bed (though I don't know if it being your dead sibling is any
better or worse than it being the boogie man) while also playing around with
the idea of sibling rivalry gone incredibly wrong. I won't say much more as it
would ruin the film's central conceit, but there was more to Jennifer's death
than a mere car accident. As if the visions of a ghost who is clearly out to do
no good weren't enough, this added layer of human cruelty adds an extra and
profoundly disturbing level to the horrors within the film.
Don't
Go to Sleep also reaps the benefits of having a solid cast anchored by a trio
of poised child actors. Dennis Weaver, best known on for his role on Gunsmoke
and seasons on the cop drama McCloud, and Valerie Harper, TV's Rhoda
Morgenstern, were both experienced actors, and their talents even carry scenes
where they discuss Phillip's job dilemma, an unneeded plot point if there ever
was one. The real stars of the films are the kids. Oliver Robbins had a big
year for horror in 1982. While it saw him nail the part of Kevin, described by
Mary as a jerk because "he's nine years old and a boy", it also saw
him appear as the brother in a more prominent feature film when he appeared as
Robbie, the kid who gets menaced by a tree, in the film Poltergeist. Lead
actress Robin Ignico had a big year in ’82 as well narrowly missing the part of
Annie in the big screen adaptation and instead appearing as Annie's pal Duffy.
Ignico brought an otherworldly maturity to the role of Mary which keeps the
audience off balance even more than the plot. Lastly, something must be said
for the angelically creepy performance turned in by Kristen Cumming as the
ghost of Jennifer. Cumming, who made appearances on Silver Spoons and The Facts
of Life, seems to know something about the facts of unlife as she turns in a
startling turn as the spirit with spurious intentions. 
Bugg Rating
Another I never saw, but this one I want to! Love that it is available online, woohoo!
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