Instant Favorite.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

A Major Disappointment

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

I remember watching "Don't Go to Sleep" on television when it first came out in 1982. At the time, I was in my teens, able to remember much of the movie, for this is one of those that stays with you over the years, even if you cannot remember the title of it.A young girl dies in a car accident and seeks revenge on her family by using her sister as a medium for the ghostly activity. One by one, the family members get knocked off through mysterious circumstances.Dennis Weaver (Duel) and Valerie Harper star as the parents who are having marital troubles, as well as troubled relationships with their surviving children, Mary (Robin Ignico) and Kevin (Oliver Robins). The young siblings always seem to be fighting, yet there is one seeming comfort for Mary: the ghost of her dead sister, Jennifer (Kristin Cumming). The story is tightly written, unwinds nicely over the stretch of 93 minutes that keeps the viewer sitting on the edge of the seat. As a psychological study, it is brilliant; as a horror story, it is genius with a subtle touch. A must see for any fan of ghost stories.

Aaron Spelling, wanting to cash in on the slasher craze of the 80s, developed this passable little thriller concerning a family moving into a new home following the death of their eldest daughter. The surviving younger sister begins experiencing visitations from the dead one, and various tragedies occur around the house. Is it a creepy entity at work, or someone else?Most of the people that know this film (myself included) are going on their memories of it as children. Unfortunately, this muddles a modern day reception of it, as for the first time in 20 years, I viewed it last night. After a frustratingly redundant opening (girl screams in the night, annoyed dad comes running in), it finally drags into the plot. You really realize how underdeveloped the story is and how much more effective it could've been if put into better hands.OK, SPOILER TIME...More pressing issues arise, such as: is it really the dead sister, or a hallucination causing the younger sister to act out? If not, why is the dead sister --- who is seen in flashback teasing the living one --- so hell-bent on being "together" with her? What is her motivation for killing off the whole family? What's with the foreboding house address including "666" when it's never fully utilized? Is the final shot really the dead kid, or another delusion of the schizo daughter's imagination? The unanswered questions make for a great deal of aggrevation.The cast works well, but what would you expect from Weaver and Harper? Though Weaver's mixture of the boozin'/grieving/giggling father is a bit uneven, and Harper pretty much takes a backseat to the kids. Especially Ignico, who basically has to carry the whole thing. Her scenes with the pyschologist have a pleasant humor, as she smart-mouths her way through them.In the end, this is nothing more than a batch of bizarre, bloodless scenes trying to carry a ghostly throwback-type spook show. Pieces of it work at times, but on the whole, it's lacking. And the shock ending (complete with freeze frame on "Executive Producer Aaron Spelling") was a little too easy, though the back lighting made for a good final jolt.

During the early 80s, I stumbled on this movie purely by accident. (I'm glad I did) I don't usually find many movies that "scare" me, but there are exceptions "In Possession", "The Grudge" (Japanese version), "Ghostwatch" and finally "Don't go to sleep".The story centres on a family who a year before has a car accident as the father has had one too many drinks and their eldest daughter gets killed due to a prank done on her by her younger siblings. The family move in with their grandmother so they can look after her. (Played by Ruth Gordon)She then later comes back as a ghost and haunts the younger sister who after a while becomes friends when Jennifer the older sister reveals herself to her, but this friendship becomes sinister when the sisters (mostly Jennifer who is out for revenge) decides to kill off other members of their family. The grandmother gets killed when the brother puts his pet Lizard under her sheets, scaring her to death. The second member is the brother (played by Oliver Robins from Poltergeist), he gets killed when he is trying to retrieve a Frisbee which gets stuck on the roof of the house, while he is climbing on the roof gets knocked off when an invisible force opens the window. The third member who gets killed is the father, (played by Dennis Weaver) while he is taking a bath and a radio falls into it.Later on, because the younger sister is labelled mentally unstable, she is sent to a lunatic asylum and Jennifer leaves her behind. Later on while her mother is sleeping, (played by Valerie Harper) Jennifer appears in front with a very evil grin on her face. When her mother screams, the movie ends.Although this was a very low budget TV movie, the storyline is the main theme which makes this film creepy and very scary. Don't underestimate it, although very similar to "The Grudge". "The Grudge" concentrated more on special effects in order to make it scary. Don't go to sleep concentrated more on the story. This is a brilliant ghost story and I recommend you see it.I must congratulate the entire cast and the director and I wish ABC would release it because it is very rare movie to find and if you do find a copy, you're extremely lucky.

For those who are critical of this movie, I want to REMIND them that this movie was extreme and excellent for its TIME. I'm so happy I found the title and just like so many of you, I saw it as a kid, my eyes bugged out at the under the bed scene and when she wielded the pizza cutter AT HER MOTHER (OMG!) haha! and for months, couldn't get it out of my head, so I clicked "old horror pizza cutter" into my search engine until I found the title!! YAY! It cracks me up on how many of us were kids when we saw it and how most of us probably didn't sleep right for a few nights- too funny!I would LOVE to see a remake in today's special effects!! The plot was excellent, effects..well it was the 80's and the best thing we ever had was E.T. and pac man. Other stuff that made its impression on me, was the mini-series V (sadly it looks too fake now to be pulled in) that series with that family who traveled thru out the galaxy- have to still look that title up, oh and there's others. The Twilight Zone and Outer limits were always good for freaking me out. Good stuff!