The Stay Awake (1988) User Reviews

Embarrassed to admit this but ......

[shazbat69 · 3/10 · 20 September 2011]

..... I played the dead nurse at the beginning of this film LOL.

It was a long long time ago but it was fun to be involved in :) I never actually saw the full film until recently, so I don't think I will be recommending it to my kids!

"The acting is terrible; it's so bad that even the accent of the main actresses is horrible. The situations are slow and boring. There's little action in the movie but it's so cheesy that you can't tell if it's intended to be funny. The demon is laughable! those red eyes are pathetic. The serial killer ghost suddenly appears and tells things about darkness and it's power."

I agree with the rest of the reviews too - rubbish!

But it's nice to see yourself on film, even if it's just as a body half buried in the bushes LOL.

Should be called "The Fall Asleep."

[bfan83 · 2/10 · 4 March 2009]

An executed murderer is reincarnated as a satanic demon. This "demon of darkness" invades a secluded all girls' school during a "stay awake" party. Soon they all start to die one by one as the hands of the demon. It's up to their brave teacher to face off with this demon and save what girls that are remaining.

This little, low budget 80s horror film, lensed in South Africa is pretty lame. It takes up to 30 or 40 mins for someone to die. There is very little (to zero) gore. Most of the film is comprised of these teenage girls watching horror movies and talking...lots and lots of talking. When the deaths finally occur, they are so poorly done that even the deaths become boring. The only reason I even gave this two stars is for the hilariously awful demon costume, lol. That was about the only entertaining (and interesting) thing in the entire movie.

THE STAY AWAKE is meant only for hardcore, non-discriminating horror fans. Seek it out only for that reason, otherwise you will want to kill yourself for the self-inflicted abuse caused by watching it.

'Stay Awake'........You will not!

[kclipper · 3/10 · 21 June 2011]

Here is what is probably one of the worst of the direct-to-video films of the 1980's. It starts off with the execution of a maniacal serial killer who supposedly raped and murdered eleven young girls. The first six minutes or so of this movie is quite effective in creating the false illusion that this might be a good flick, but ultimately what's to follow is an irredeemable and hopelessly dull, heaping pile of trash. The executed man from the beginning is somehow transformed into a demonic spirit that calls itself "Angel of Darkness", and wrecks terror on a group of annoying girls that are spending the night at a school for girls. Take "The Slumber Party Massacre", omit all of the nudity and gore, and you will have something close to this wannabe slasher film that miserably fails to exploit all of the usual 'Nightmare On Elm Street' clichés. The performances fail to be even slightly convincing, especially when they're supposed to be responding to any frightening confrontations, and the ghost eventually materializes into some green-skinned demon monster with red eyes that doesn't even stir up any laughs let alone scares. If you can make it through to the ending of this nonsense, then you are either on speed, or you have a serious case of insomnia.

A poor horror film that's easy to sleep through.

[RishOut · 16 September 1999]

This movie had definite potential: a large group of nubile young girls are stalked in a locked-up Catholic School by an evil, unstoppable force. I'll bet there's even a good movie in that premise. But "The Stay Awake" was not it. Overly European, some of the poorly-dubbed dialogue didn't even sound the right gender. It moved slowly at first, then ground to a screeching halt that continued almost until the end. Who really needs ten minutes of Camera-As-Killer roaming the halls, looking for victims, yet finding nothing? Time after time, the unseen killer would lurk, follow, and approach one of the girls, only to be gone when genuine tension was right around the corner. And when he finally started to kill, it made less sense than "Basic Instinct" on the Superstation. When at last we saw the killer's face, it was some poorly-made body suit with a plastic rat's head with bulbous red eyes. Why? That's not scary. There was never any explanation as to the killer's motives, or why he came back, or why he would be attacking people in Europe (though the supposedly-American prologue took place in no America I've ever seen--obviously the same un-named and nondescript European locale the rest of the film took place in). The only highpoint was how genuinely attractive some of these girls were, sparking hope that we'd get some cool interaction, real character development, or at least a good shower scene. Well, when they hit the showers, the scene immediately cut to what was going on elsewhere, as if this were a made-for-television movie somewhere and nobody told us. Lack of nudity aside, none of these girls (except the one dubbed by a man) ever seemed to be an individual (just "Girl 1," "Girl 3," "Supposedly Fat Girl But Isn't", etc.) and I cared about none of them. All for the best, since the film ended abruptly and unexpectedly, with (SPOILER?) the 'all-powerful' killer easily defeated. I feel I've wasted a lot of words and time describing this dull, not-entertaining failure of a movie. Don't waste yours.

weak killer-back-from-the-dead movie, with goofy demon costume

[FieCrier · 3/10 · 10 February 2005]

I didn't find this to be nearly as bad as others have, but it isn't very good either, and certainly needn't be sought out to be watched.

It starts well. Somewhere in America, a killer is being walked down a very white hallway, down a red carpet, to an execution chamber. This is intercut with the crime scenes of the various women he has killed. This prologue was nicely done, I thought. The killer makes threats to return to kill more women, to kill these people's children, and he claims to be the angel of darkness and speaks in a demonic voice.

Nineteen years later, inexplicably somewhere in Europe, a group of young women are staying overnight at a girl's school doing a "stay awake" to raise funds. The killer shows up, first apparently as a poltergeist. We see shots from his POV, drifting into the school, through the hallways, as chairs move around, a picture falls from a wall, etc. This is intercut with the women doing aerobics in the gym. This scene goes on for some time. Some young men show up at the school to try to scare the women, and to hook up with them.

It's quite a while before the killer strikes, about fifty minutes, I think. He appears both as a sort of cross between Gozilla and a giant rat with glowing red eyes and a whip-like tongue, and as himself with glowing red eyes. As the former, it's pretty silly-looking; as the latter, he's fairly creepy looking.

There were some scenes I liked. One I recall: the women are scared by a gorilla mask which is thrown in front of them. They laugh at their fears, but when one of them picks it up she finds it to be heavier than it should be....

The voices do seem to be strangely dubbed. As far as I could tell, the actresses were speaking English, but at least a few of the voices don't seem like they would belong to the actresses. The young women's characters aren't well differentiated from each other, nor are the young men. Frankly, it's hard to tell most of them apart even visually.

Not even an ultra low budget horror movie to laugh about...

[insomniac_rod · 1/10 · 11 March 2005]

I'm almost sure that this didn't get a theatrical release. It's so bad it's bad; not to laugh about or feel pity for it.

The acting is terrible; it's so bad that even the accent of the main actresses is horrible. The situations are slow and boring. There's little action in the movie but it's so cheesy that you can't tell if it's intended to be funny. The demon is laughable! those red eyes are pathetic. The serial killer ghost suddenly appears and tells things about darkness and it's power.

"The Stay Awake" is a prime example of how low budget horror movies shouldn't be made. Pathetic f/x, horrible acting, terrible direction and worst of all there's no connection between the events.

Please avoid this one at all costs. There's nothing good about it... There aren't even attractive women.

Horrible movie to boot to the trash can! You better rent a direct to video horror flick from the early 2000 rather than watch this. Any Full Moon Pictures movie is way superior.

Birthdate incorrect

[abrltw · 1/10 · 13 December 2018]

Michele Lee Henson aka Michele Carey was born in 1942.

Also, one screen credit is missing, a comedy from May 15th, 1974. It was a three part comedy show on NBC. She played Lisa Sprague opposite of Richard Mulligan. Lisa was a ghost who comes back to haunt her cheating husband. The series was short called NBC Wednesday Night at the Movies.

Lastly, Michele was not in the film The Stay Awake. Michelle Carey is an English actress.

Like A Bad Dream

[benjaminryder-45940 · 2/10 · 22 April 2019]

You definitely won't want to stay awake for The Stay Awake. While it looks and sounds like a real movie and there's clearly some sort of budget behind this movie (even if it is small), there's not a single interesting character or set piece in the entire film. I just saw this movie last night and I'm already having a hard time remembering anything about it. I believe there was some sort of monster surrounded by fog and glowing eyes (but usually represented via Evil Dead-esque swirly cam), I'm pretty sure there were a bunch of girls staying inside their school for the night, and I believe there's a female gym teacher thrown in there, too. Ask me anything else and I'll be at a loss.

Why anyone felt the need to greenlight this script is a mystery. This one is rough and not even in a fun "so bad, it's good" kind of way. Save your sanity and skip it.

Should Be Put to Sleep!

[BaronBl00d · 1/10 · 3 August 2005]

Nauseatingly awful film that begins with a serial girl killer being executed in 1969 somewhere in America. As he is being primed for the gas chamber, he rants over and over again that he is the prince of darkness and cannot die. The film then forwards to 19 years later somewhere in Europe at an all girl's school. From here we see a bunch of pretty yet untalented girls and their teacher do aerobics, watch a movie and eat potato crisps, smoke cigarettes, and play scary games on each other. All the while the spirit of the killer seen in the exposition piece comes to this place 19 years later and for some weird, inexplicable reason to Europe of all places. This movie sucks bad and in a big way. Why does this spirit come here and 19 years later? Why is he back as a real cheap looking demon costume - like he just lost the lead for a baby Godzilla commercial or something? And perhaps my biggest question: how do you make money holding a stay awake? Anyway, you can guess....well, not really but you get the general idea, what happens. People die and there is a fight of the teacher(wearing a crucifix) against the rubber menace. In one scene, knowing she is only being protected by the crucifix, she lays it on a table. Why would she do that? Nothing later shows it to be a good move. Ultimately, The Stay Awake is a very tiring, boring movie with almost no merit at all. Nothing exciting happens. The script is riddled with question marks and bad scenes. The direction is trite. The acting very poor. The setting of the school is impressive at the very...and I mean very...least. All the girls are quite fetching, but you don't get to see anything so the movie doesn't deliver at any level. there is absolutely no way I can believe this had any theatrical release of any kind. It must be one of those direct-to-video movies so popular in the 1980s.

Easier said than done with such a dud of a film

[Coventry · 1/10 · 1 December 2008]

An executed serial killer returns from the dead to continue his murder spree as an indestructible spiritual entity. Hmm, where have we seen that highly imaginative concept before? Oh yeah, I remember now, in about a dozen of other contemporary horror movies like "Shocker", "The Chair", "Prison" and "House 3". All these movies may be slightly more famous, but "The Stay Awake" got released a little bit sooner so I can't really claim it's a rip-off or something. What I can righteously claim, however, is that this is a dull and utterly senseless turkey that deserves to be unknown and remain that way. The killer, John Brown, died in an American gas chamber in 1967 but inexplicably returns in 1987 and takes possession of a European girls' school during a night when a teacher organizes a stay-awake (some kind of charity pajamas-party in the gym) with eight of her students. That sick bastard chose his time and location to reincarnate suspiciously well, it seems… Early in the film there's a scene where the girls play a prank on their teacher and all pretend to be dead. I wish that were true and the film would then be over and done with, specifically since only sheer boredom, ineptitude and horrible acting performances ensue further after that. The presence of the supernatural killer is indicated through unsteady camera movements and cheesy wannabe ominous music, but nothing really interesting happens for a very, very long time. In fact, this might easily be the tamest and most frustratingly uneventful of ALL 80's slashers. The obligatory group shower sequence doesn't show any of the good stuff and the whole damn thing is virtually gore-free. Seriously, how is it possible that, by the year 1987, filmmakers still hadn't figured out that making a stalk & slash movie without gore and/or nudity is completely pointless? Nobody likes movies with invisible killers and it's even more irritating when the culprit eventually turns out to be a tacky demon-like monster with flashy red eyeballs and laughable horns. What the hell were they thinking?!?

The Worst of the Worst

[Shadow_Destiny · 1/10 · 8 July 2002]

I rented this one in one of my many B movie hunts. And now I wish I never saw it! This movie is easily summed up in one word... Boring! The first hour or so of the movie is just a bunch of girls talking and goofing around. And I won't even go into what the killer turns out to be. No Nudity, No Gore, No horror, just flat out boredom. I highly advise for the sake of your entertainment. Stay away! Far far away! But should you not heed this warning... At least Fast Forward to the end of the movie... It is the only time some real action takes place.

It's like Nightmare on Elm Street

[aaronmocksing1987 · 1/10 · 16 April 2010]

In fact, you might as well say it's the exact same film done in about one or two days and on maybe a couple dollars budget at best. I don't like any of the women in this film and most of them probably did it for a good laugh, rather than the art film it was probably intended to try and become. The villain is hardly menacing, even with that big booming voice of his, and even if there should be a crossover film for no apparent reason between him, Freddy, or Jason, he'd be eaten alive in the first couple of minutes. I'm gonna be completely honest with you, that's what needs to be done these days... crossover battles between all forms and kinds of Z-grade (on up) horror villains like this one, to see if any of them even can live to see the light of day.

Granted, I think the only interesting thing about this thing was the demonic costume. I could have sworn I was looking at a rejected Barney outfit that had been turned down, and modified just a tinge for purposes of this story. At any rate--- here's what I suggest you do to enjoy this film.

Get really, really drunk.

Then you'll love this movie.

What an awful movie!

[ehoshaw · 22 November 2000]

I hated this movie...it was boring, pointless, and stupid. There is no gore, no nudity, nothing fun...just lots of pointless footage of this messed up "demon killer" or something roaming the halls of a girls school in Europe. The girls are a bunch of annoying chicks with big hair and badly dubbed voices. One of them even sounds like she's a she-male her voice sounds so manly. I hated sitting through this film! Yuck! Do not even waste your money on it. I found it for like two dollars at an old flea market up in Northern Michigan. Good thing I didn't spend for than that. Yes, folks, it is that bad!! Avoid this piece of lard at all costs!

Eh slasher

[BandSAboutMovies · 2/10 · 31 October 2021]

A South African slasher set in a Catholic girl's school. The Stay Awake has a killer that is either a cat or a rat headed human being and you know, that's the first time I've seen that in a movie, much less one where the slasher is felled by a thrown javelin. So, you know, despite the ineptitude of the film, the bad acting and the goofiness of having a title that invites headlines for negative reviews, I soldiered through this and finished my tour of duty.

Also: the rat/cat/lizard thing is the ghost of serial killer William John Brown, who is killed in America in 1969 but for some reason goes to Europe for these murders, despite making Elm Street claims of tracking down the children of the people who put him in the gas chamber.

Also also: a stay awake is like a lock in and you raise money by working out all night.

Perhaps the worst movie I have ever seen

[Shadow_Destiny · 1/10 · 9 July 2002]

Boring boring BORING! This sludge was just sad. The First 10 mins of the movie is some nasty British girls doing aerobics... yea... And I won't even go into what the killer turns out to be. This flick was bad even as I was fast forwarding it. The only reason I would recommend this movie is if you are suffering from insomnia... because this movie WON"T make you stay awake! ;o)

Really terrible horror film

[Katatonia · 10 October 2002]

There are so many things wrong with this film that it's difficult to know where to begin. It almost seems that the voices were dubbed because they seem out of sync almost always. I'm left wondering if this was a foreign film or what exactly! The beginning of this movie starts with the execution of a murderer/rapist, and it's horribly funny what he says right before they gas him in the chamber. The first hour of the movie is really slow and boring and doesn't do anything to advance the plot. It never even remotely answers why the guy was executed in "1969" and suddenly comes back to life as a "ghost killer" in "1988". What the hell kind of dinky story is that? Even for a super-low budget movie that's just inexcusable. The last half hour of the movie is mildly decent, but the monster is one of the most pathetic things I've yet to see in any low budget horror picture...can we say it looks like a cheap Halloween suit bought at Wal-Mart??? Because that's about what it looks like...it's so horrible that it's funny beyond words. Also, you'd think with a couple of the attractive actresses in the movie that they would have inserted some gratuitous nudity scenes to at least keep certain audiences entertained. What does it do though...a shower scene with very partial nudity?? I think this was most likely the film maker's first project (and hopefully their last). Unless you just have to see every bad horror film ever made take my advice and avoid this one. Although it might not be bad if you want to see a movie that literally fails in every area.

Stay awake? You won't

[Wizard-8 · 19 May 2010]

Before Nu Image made a name for itself by making and distributing high-quality straight-to-video movies, they were known for making and distributing junk like this. "Stay Awake" may not be the worst horror movie, but it would probably be high on a list of the most BORING movies. After the execution scene at the beginning of the movie (supposedly taking place in America, though you see South African license plates), just about nothing of real consequence happens for the next forty or so minutes! And what does eventually happen is not worth the wait, with slaughter sequences that are tame in gore and blood, and directed with as little passion as you can imagine. There isn't even any gratuitous nudity! The characters are thin and all alike in nature, and there are a bunch of unanswered questions like how the spirit of an executed serial killer could cross an ocean - and WHY he would do this. There is no possible reason to seek out and watch this movie.

* out of 4.

[brandonsites1981 · 12 August 2002]

Excuated killer comes back from beyond the grave to murder off the student body at an all girl's Catholic school, which also happened to be the scene of the crimes he committed back when he was alive. Really terrible film with some of the worst special effects to ever grace a screen. Too slow moving and dull to boot! Aburpt ending also.

Rated R; Violence, Nudity, and Profanity.

It's a snoozer

[lor_ · 13 April 2023]

My review was written in August 1989 after watching the film on Orion/Nelson video cassette.

"The Stay Awake" doesn't live up to its title, South African-made horror pic imported to U. S. video stores is a snoozer.

Moniker refers to a Britishism for a slumber party. The young heroines at St. Mary's School for Girls stay up all night in the gym as a stunt to help raise money for the institution. They're terrorized by a demon, calling itself Angel of Darkness, summoned up by a vengeful guy executed in the gas chamber in 1969.

Cast is good-looking but weak in the acting department. (An actor named Ken Marshall is credited, but he's not the U. S. thesp from "Krull" and tv's "Marco Polo".) Picture is so tame that when the requisite shower room scene is presented, one girl is even shown showering with clothing still on.

Monster shows up looking like a green reptile man, mostly limited to closeups emphasizing its orange eyes. Minor special effects are used in the final reel, but disposal of the beastie is unimaginative.