Eddie The Sleep Walking Cannibal(2011)–Weird Film… Weirdly Excellent Film

Here is another movie that I had not heard of until this week and was pretty much blown away by how much I liked it.

Eddie the Sleep Walking Cannibal tells the story of a Danish painter, Lars (played by Thure Lindhardt), who travels to a small Canadian town in order to both teach art and to hopefully get his muse back and start painting again.

Lars has trouble fitting into the community at first, stating off his adventure by hitting a male deer (a Buck), with his truck – that scene, while grim has a certain morbid humour to it that sets the stage for the rest of the movie. Shortly after starting teaching, one of his students, Eddie, (played masterfully by Dylan Smith), an adult mute with what seems to be a learning disability loses his care giver, his aunt, and ends up in the care of Lars, living in his home with him.

Soon Lars finds out Eddie has an interesting, if disturbing  habit of walking and killing  (and eating) living things in his sleep. Witnessing this, Lars finds that it drives his creative juices and suddenly he can paint again – the sleep walking Eddie becomes his muse.

Eddie starts off killing and eating a small animal but soon progresses to humans. Each time, Lars is inspired again to paint, and each painting he cerates, he sells and uses the proceeds to help the small community that he now resides in.

Lars soon learns that Eddie only does things when he is upset, and as Eddie becomes more comfortable with Lars, he stops the killing. Lars, feeling the need to create, tries to create a situation that upsets Eddie in order to spur on his nocturnal activities. Lars is becoming addicted to Eddie in a way.

This movie explores a weird and unusual subject. Lars at first is a sympathetic character, but morphs into someone unlikeable. His relationships within the community develop in an interesting manner as does his descent into darkness. Strong performances by the supporting cast helps to elevate this movie from an interesting B movie to something that I strongly suggest you watch. Keep an eye out for Stephen McHattie as Lars’ agent – you might remember him as Elaine’s therapist/lover from Seinfeld.

Check it out! Here is the trailer: