This one isn't too bad. About the first half of the film felt more like a film that is directed a little more for younger audiences than the last half of the film where it seems a bit more geared for adult audiences. It starts out kinda creepy but cutesy and ends up on the frightful side.My question is: If the older daughter can come back as a ghost for revenge then why not the other dead family members? They had very good reasons to come back for revenge too on _______ (I can't give it away can I?!) I'll confess that parts of the beginning of the film had me scrolling through it (fast-forwarding at times) because it was the "family stuff" going on the screen that was a bit boring to watch for me. Maybe it's just my current mood that had me bored with those scenes. BUT I did watch the last half of the film more intently because that's when it became more interesting to me.I for one can sleep easily after this film - but it might give others a terrible scare with that ending.6.5/10

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.

What we have here is a made for TV horror movie from the eighties. There was some pretty good stuff made for the box during the 1970's, and it would seem that tradition was carried on, at least until the early part of the eighties, as Don't Go to Sleep is one of the best made for television horror films that I've seen. Naturally, given the fact that this film was made for television, it's not as graphic as most of the horror output in the eighties, and the obvious budget limitations mean that this can sometimes feel like a TV serial rather than a proper film, but still Richard Lang's film gets it's point across and manages to be entertaining for it's duration. The plot follows a family that move into a new home in the country after a terrible car accident that left one of the daughters dead. However, the remaining daughter soon begins hearing things at the new house, and it's not long before she's 'in league' with her dead sister and carrying out her revenge - by picking off members of her own family one by one! The film's main influences would appear to be the classic films, The Bad Seed and Psycho. Both of these films are massive favourites of mine, and while this one is nowhere near as good as either, the way that the plot takes influence from both is good in that it uses the influence well to come up with a somewhat 'new' story. The characters aren't too badly drawn considering that this is a TV movie, and the director ensures that the family members do somewhat reflect real life, although it could be said that the characters are clichéd. The film features some decent performances from the central cast. Robin Ignico is the standout in her role as the demented daughter, and receives good support from Dennis Weaver in the role of her father; although for me, Ruth Gordon was ineffective as the mother. The film succeeds overall due to the fact that it's always a lot of fun to watch, and thankfully it all boils down to a satisfying conclusion that justifies watching the film. Overall, compared to other horror films; this one isn't brilliant, but it's a cut above a lot of direct to TV stuff.