I was one of the lucky hundred or so people to attend the world premiere of SLEEP EATERS from Cemetery Theater in Orono, Maine on November 17th.
I had heard about the film on the local news and radio an quickly looked up the team of filmmakers and actors on youtube. I watched some of the short films, both comedy and horror and absolutely loved their style.
The film is a followup to a short they made a few years ago called SLEEP EATER. It was free on youtube leading up to the event so I got to find out exactly who these characters were, but I don't think you have to see the first film to be entertained by this one.
My immediate thought was how impressive the film looked considering the budget. We are talking shoe-string budget and the actors were all great. I was surprised how big the cast was for such a small film. They all did really good jobs. I especially liked the guy who played Reggie and Kelly. Their scenes were my favorite.
The winks and nods to the first film are through out the sequel and I caught most of them I think. Everything from the pie, to the hypnotherapist missing his fingers and one of the main characters best friends dirty joke. It was all great.
The fx were really top notch. I don't know how they pulled off all that blood and gore on a small budget and got some of those people to do the things they did on camera. I am kind of jealous I missed the extras casting call on this one.
The director Shane Grant was on hand with some of the cast & crew and he seemed like a real fun person to be around. All of them seemed like they had a lot of great times making this film and their smiles on their faces showed that. Some great stories and anecdotes were shared after the screening. There was an after party and I wish I could have came to party with some of the sleep eaters cast.
So overall, the film was so much better then what I expected. of course it had some sound problems here and there, but I was informed it was a rough version of the film and still needed some additional work. I cant wait for it to come out on blu-ray so I can show it to some of my horror fan friends.
long live sleep eaters !!!
