[Mother of Fears] Mother Gets Hangry in Sleepwalkers (1992)

Welcome to Mother of Fears – a monthly column that will explore the various roles that mothers play within the horror genre. Mothers are a staple feature in horror movies, and yet, their stories, motivations, representations, and relationships with their children are so varied and complex that we never feel like we’re watching the same story twice. Every month I will take a look at a different mother from the world of horror, explore their story, and look at how they fit into the broader representation of women in horror.

To celebrate my beloved Mother of Fears column’s new home at Ghouls Magazine, I knew I had to pick a movie that was something special, and pouring over my list of potential films to talk about, I knew it had to be Sleepwalkers (1992). I grew up as a massive Stephen King fan thanks to my mum’s extensive novel collection, and the sheer amount of movie adaptations there were in the horror world for me to absorb and enjoy. For some reason, Sleepwalkers was on the TV a lot when I was growing up, and with access to only four or five channels until I was well into my teenage years, I watched it pretty much every time it was on so I could get my horror fix.

Sleepwalkers marks the first time that Stephen King wrote an original screenplay for a movie rather than adapting an already existing work for the big screen. Stephen King’s stories range from the familiar to the incredible, and Sleepwalkers definitely lives on the latter side of the scale. The story follows mother and son, Mary and Charles, starting life over in a new place after fleeing their old town. Mary and Charles are shapeshifting vampire creatures who need to suck the life force out of virgins in order to stay alive. Their true forms are sort of hairless werecats, and yet, their one invulnerability is the domestic cat, who can sense their monstrous hidden identity the minute they arrive in town.

There’s no denying that Charles and Mary’s relationship is a little complicated. Charles believes they are the last Sleepwalkers left alive, and while Mary argues this point, it’s clear that the pair only have each other, and need to work well together in order to ensure their survival. However, there’s an incestual layer to their relationship as well, which could be for several reasons, the main one being sustenance.

Charles is the main provider for the family, probably because he’s the one most likely to have access to virgin women as he can blend in at the local high school, win the trust of his intended victim, and feed on her before anyone in town notices that anything is amiss. However, Mary seems to need to be fed more often in order to survive, with her constantly complaining that she is starving. While it seems at the start of the film that Charles is more powerful, and Mary merely waits around to be fed by him, though the end of the film suggests that Mary is incredibly strong, and perhaps requires more feeding to maintain this high level of power. 

Because Charles is responsible for draining the victims and then passing the ‘food’ onto his mother, it seems that bodily contact is the best way for them to do this. When the pair retire to the bedroom in the opening minutes of the film, we see bright lights shining from inside the bedroom window, suggesting an energy transfer is taking place between the two. 

However, there’s no denying that Mary has some complicated feelings about Charles. There are scenes where she comes across as nothing but a mother, such as when she talks of preparing his dinner when he returns from school. But there is a definite underlying tone of jealousy whenever Charles talks about Tanya, the girl he is planning on draining. 

Mary knows that in order to ensure their survival, Charles has to find a new victim to drain. And yet, Charles spending this amount of time pursuing other women is clearly taking an emotional toll on her. While we see Charles at school, having fun with Tanya, and driving his cool car all over town, we only ever see Mary at the window, staring anxiously as she waits for Charles to return to her. Mary’s life seems to have no purpose when Charles isn’t around.

She needs constant reassurance from her son, asking him if she is beautiful, and telling him he cannot fall in love with Tanya as it would spell disaster for them. Charles leans into this, asking his mother if she is jealous when he talks about Tanya. It’s almost as if he likes to make her feel insecure to hear her reiterate how much she needs him and make him feel wanted.

On the other hand, Mary could be allowing Charles to take care of her in order to make him feel important. It’s not clear how old Mary is, or what the true age difference is between her and Charles, but it’s obvious that Mary is more knowledgeable about being a Sleepwalker than Charles is, and that she’s been doing it for longer than him. 

Mary is warier of the cats that seem to follow them wherever they go, while Charles brushes them off as an inconvenience. However, this will prove to be Charles’ downfall, as it’s a cat that inflicts the wounds that almost kill him. His overconfidence is in complete contrast to Mary’s wariness, but Charles likes to take care of Mary and feel that she is relying on him. He fails to listen to her motherly warnings because he’s too busy trying to look after her himself, and this is where their over-reliance on each other starts to affect their relationship. 

Charles makes a point in saying, “What if something happens to me? You’ll starve.” He likes the idea that he is the most important member of the household, and Mary clearly enjoys the way he dotes on her and feels the need to take care of her. However, when Charles gets injured and it’s up to Mary to try to save him and keep herself alive, she proves that she is more than capable of snatching Tanya herself, as well as taking down most of the town’s police department in the process. Even if Mary is as starving as she claims to be, she shows that she is far more powerful than Charles. 

Mary could also have chosen to rely on Charles because she knows how difficult his job is, and wants to distance herself from the hands-on side of feedings, perhaps after years of having to do it herself to provide for her family. Their need to feed seems to be almost constant, which means a lot of moving around, finding new targets, feeding on them, and fleeing town again before anyone can connect the dots. It may be easier for Mary to let Charles handle this side of things while she stays safely at home. She likes to view the threat of the cats from a distance, never leaving the house to tackle the threat herself, and this could be how she approaches the feeding situation too.

While their relationship crosses a number of boundaries, when Charles returns home injured and on the brink of death, Mary reverts into full mother mode. With the onus on her to save them, she proves that she is more than capable of handling herself. She also shows that her powers are stronger than Charles’ by dimming herself, Charles, and their car, making them invisible to the arriving police. 

She then sets off to get Tanya and the life essence they need. At this point, it may have been easier for Mary to find another victim to take, but she has a personal grudge against Tayna and wants to make sure she gets her revenge. It’s here where we get to see Mary at her best. We already know Charles is strong, and we’ve seen him twist a man’s hand off with ease. At Tanya’s house, Mary switches off the weak mother act and fully embraces her monstrous side. 

Even faced with Tanya’s parents and a police officer, Mary manages to capture Tanya easily. When the police reinforcements show up, Mary is dragging Tanya away by the hair and bites off an officer’s fingers before blowing up the remaining squad cars with her expert shot. Even when she returns to find hundreds of cats waiting for her, Mary only hesitates for a second before driving the car into the house so she can safely reach Charles. 

From this moment on, her only thoughts are for Charles. The rage she feels at losing her son is palpable, and at this point, she’s snapping cats in half left, right and centre. Her old wariness is all gone, and she is acting on instinct. Even when Tanya and the army of cats finally overpower Mary, causing her to burst into flames, her thoughts are still only for Charles and how much she hates Tanya for killing her only son. 

Mary is definitely one of the strangest mothers I have studied in this column. She’s the first clear cut villain I’ve looked at and she’s incredibly fascinating. It’s a shame that we only ever got one entry into the Sleepwalkers universe because I think it would have been amazing to explore the long lives of Mary and Charles and see what happened to them before they arrived in Indiana.

It’s interesting to watch Mary juggle the roles she plays in Charles’ life, as a mother, a lover, and a dependent. She clearly wants to look after Charles and be a nurturing caregiver for him, and yet she needs him to prove that he loves her more than the women he drains. She can’t ask him to stop otherwise they will both die, but continuing is putting a strain on their relationship, which is the last thing they need when they are potentially the last of their kind. 

There’s no happy ending for Mary here, but she at least dies knowing that there was nothing more she could have done to try and save her son. After spending most of the movie hiding at home, the final act showdown is all Mary, and chances are she would have won had she not been outnumbered by a ridiculous amount of cats. As the only remaining matriarch of the Sleepwalkers, she managed to keep their race alive long after it seemed like she and Charles were the only ones left, which is impressive in itself. Mary does teach us about the importance of listening to your mother, why it might be a good idea to avoid introducing her to dates, and how even corn on the cob can be used as a murder weapon when you’re angry enough.

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