HE SEES YOU WHEN YOU’RE SLEEPING (2024)

Streaming on Tubi!!
Directed by Charlie Steeds.
Written by David Lenik.
Check out the trailer here!!

After being the sole survivor of a Christmas Eve massacre by a hatchet wielding Santa Claus, Chester (played by writer David Lenik) is released from a mental institution and ventures home for the first time twenty years later with his girlfriend Afton (Nellie Spackman). Living in the home is Chester’s Aunt Marion (played by TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE II’s Caroline Williams), his cousin Burke (Cedric Gegel), and Burke’s girlfriend Melody (Natalie Veater), who are all conspiring against Chester to steal his inheritance including the house by convincing him that he is not recovered from his mental anguish tormenting him since his parents were murdered. Meanwhile, a killer Santa with an axe is sneaking around the grounds and hacking people to bits when they separate from the group.

Borrowing heavily from SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, with the Christmas Eve killings, the Santa with an axe motif, and even a kooky old man spouting crazy things about the real legend of Santa Claus, HE SEES YOU WHEN YOU’RE SLEEPING evolves into a classic inheritance scam-style flick where someone is gaslit to believe they are going crazy in order to lose a hefty sum of money. This type of film was quite common in the classic era of cinema, where the audience and the lead are manipulated to believe the world is going crazy. While the story shows its hand and reveals that the family is trying to manipulate Chester a little bit too soon for my tastes, HE SEES YOU WHEN YOU’RE SLEEPING does turn out to be a fun film that still is able to withhold some surprises for the final act. One can tell writer David Lenik has an appreciation for old-school thrillers with the classic setting in an old dark house, an inheritance up for grabs, and a bunch of greedy family members clamoring over one another to get it. There’s some nice shades of film noir here where the worst parts of a human are on full display when all the cards are on the table.

This isn’t necessarily overly gory. It’s no TERRIFIER 3 or anything like that. There are some decent kills involving axes, ice skates, and other Christmas items used as weaponry, but none of them are overly grotesque or over the top.

The acting is decent as well with Caroline Williams proving that she is still an extremely talented actress when given the right material. She plays the greedy Aunt to perfection and gets some of the film’s best lines. David Lenik who not only wrote the film, but also stars as its lead in Chester is functional in the role, but honestly doesn’t seem like leading man material. He a little too snippy and snide to be likable with his Conan O’Brien hairstyle and well-to-do mannerisms. The rest of the cast, though, who are all conspiring against Chester twirl their moustaches in a cartoonish, but fun way. There’s also a smaller role given to NEIGHBORS, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2, and IN A VIOLENT NATURE’s Lauren-Marie Taylor that turned out to be a fun little cameo and she can still belt out a scream like the best of them.

HE SEES YOU WHEN YOU’RE SLEEPING is a fun and harmless little holiday horror. It delivers some gore and twists the story into a film noir mold rather than the typical slasher one. While not everything worked, like the weird Taylor Dayne-esque final song, I don’t feel like I wasted too much time watching it. How’s that for a recommendation?