See if you can follow the plot of 1987’s The Stay Awake.
The film opens in 1969. A title card assures us that we’re in America. A serial killer has been tried, convicted, and condemned to die. Normally, this would lead to 30 years of appeals and moratoriums from bleeding-heart politicians. However, this guy is such a dastardly figure that he’s led to the execution chamber almost immediately after being convicted. Before he’s executed, he shouts that he’ll be back for revenge. Wow, scary!
We jump forward 25 years. A title card now tells us that we’re in “Europe.” It doesn’t specifically say where in Europe, but everyone that we see is speaking English. In all probability, we are meant to be in the United Kingdom. However, everyone also speaks with a South African accent. We’re introduced to a small group of students who are going to be doing a “stay awake” at their private school. Apparently, a stay awake is a type of slumber party where you don’t actually sleep. Instead, you stay awake and you watch movies and you play volleyball and, once morning comes around, you’ve somehow raised money for charity. It’s never really explained how they’re raising money by staying awake, but then again, in the UK, apparently you can raise money just by wearing a red nose. It’s a strange country.
Something is very slowly moving through the hallways of the school. Eventually, it kills the school’s security guard and then it proceeds to follow the students around. I’m going to assume that they’re being stalked by the spirit of the killer because otherwise, there’s no reason for the film to feature that scene in America. However, why would an executed American serial killer seek revenge by spirit-stalking a bunch of South African girls in Europe? I mean, they had nothing to do with his execution. The people who were responsible for his execution are probably never even going to hear about anything that the dead killer does in Europe. It’s a thoroughly incoherent film.
Usually, I can excuse a little incoherence if the film is at least visually interesting or features an unexpectedly good performance. Unfortunately, The Stay Awake is quite possibly the slowest horror film that I’ve ever seen. There are countless POV shots of the evil spirit moving through the school’s hallways, but the film is so ineptly edited that we’re never really sure where the killer exactly is in the school, especially in relation to the girls having the stay awake. While the film itself was clearly meant to take advantage of the ’80s slasher boom, there really aren’t that many deaths. Instead, the spirit seems to possess his victims rather than kill them. If they’re possessed, it would seem to stand to reason that they can still be saved if the killer’s spirit is vanquished. However, that would apparently require too much work on the part of the girls who haven’t been possessed. It’s easier to just blow up the school and, I guess, kill everyone.
The film’s title feels almost like a dare. I’m surprised I was able to stay awake while watching.
