Sleepstalker: The Sandman's Last Rites

For the initiated, this descendent of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET has its share of solid scares. Still, Freddy Krueger fans probably won't need their nightlights as this fright flick's initial promise recedes, only to be replaced by conventional storytelling that can't sustain the verisimilitude of the "Sandman" monster lore.

Despite reassurances from his parents, seven-year-old Griffin (Vincent Berry) finds that his recurrent nightmare has come to life in the form of a homicidal madman known as the Sandman (Michael Harris). The Sandman murders Griffin's mom and dad in cold blood. In the nick of time, police led by Detective Bronson Worth (William Lucking) rescue ...