Don't Go To Sleep is a 1982 made-for-TV movie that was produced by Aaron Spelling

Aaron Spelling

Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's eponymous production company Spelling Television holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits...

 and Douglas S. Cramer

Douglas S. Cramer

-Career:Cramer began his career in advertising, serving as a broadcast supervisor on Lever Brothers and General Foods programs at Ogilvy & Mather in New York City. In 1962, he became Director of Program Planning at ABC Television...

. The movie featured Dennis Weaver

Dennis Weaver

William Dennis Weaver was an American actor, best known for his work in television, including roles on Gunsmoke, as Marshal Sam McCloud on the NBC police drama McCloud, and the 1971 TV movie Duel....

, Valerie Harper

Valerie Harper

Valerie Harper is an American actress, known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for her starring roles on the sitcoms Rhoda and Valerie.-Early life and career:Harper was born at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, Rockland County,...

, Ruth Gordon

Ruth Gordon

Ruth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the...

, Robert Webber

Robert Webber

Robert L. Webber was an American actor who starred as Juror #12 in the 1957 film 12 Angry Men.Webber was born in Santa Ana, California, the son of Alice and Robert Webber, who was a merchant seaman. He was a U.S. Marine during World War II serving on Guam and Okinawa...

, and youngsters Kristin Cumming, Robin Ignico

Robin Ignico

Robin Ignico is an American former child actress, who was one of the final three girls up for the title role in the 1982 film of Annie. She missed out to Aileen Quinn and played the role of Duffy instead.-Early life:...

 (fresh off of a supporting role in the film Annie

Annie (film)

Annie is a 1982 American musical film directed by John Huston and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. The film is an adaption of the 1977 stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray. The movie features music by Charles Strouse,...

) and Oliver Robins

Oliver Robins

Oliver Robins is an American former child actor who is now a writer and director.His first film roles were in the 1982 TV movie Million Dollar Infield, and in the 1982 ABC TV movie Don't Go to Sleep as Kevin. He is best known for his role as Robbie Freeling in the 1982 movie Poltergeist and in its...

 of Poltergeist

Poltergeist (film series)

The Poltergeist movies are a trilogy of American horror films distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the 1980s. The films revolve around the members of the Freeling family, who are stalked and terrorized by a group of ancient ghosts that are attracted to the youngest daughter, Carol Anne. The...

fame. The film was shot at Warner Brothers in Los Angeles, California on soundstage 15.

Plot summary

The premise of the story is that a father, Phillip (played by Weaver) and mother, Laura (played by Harper) and their two children Kevin and Mary (played by Robins and Ignico, respectively) move out of Los Angeles (as seen in the opening credits) to a house up north in the countryside. Moving in with the family would be their grandmother (played by Gordon), whom nobody in the family other than Laura cared for very much. The family had just suffered the tragedy of losing their oldest daughter Jennifer (played by Cumming) and hope to regroup and start a new life without her.

Just as they move into their new home, Mary begins hearing the voice of her dead sister under her bed. Soon enough, Jennifer's ghost begins appearing to Mary in secret. Jennifer hopes to kill off her family as an act of revenge. Immediately after these meetings with Mary, one by one her family members meet twisted fates. Grandma suffers a heart attack from being spooked by Kevin's pet iguana, which was released onto her bed one night, Kevin is thrown off the house roof while retrieving a Frisbee and father Phillip is electrocuted in the bathtub when the radio he is listening to falls into the water.

After it is discovered that Mary committed all of the killings (at the urgings of her demonic sister's spirit), she is placed in a mental institution where it is revealed to viewers through a flashback the fate of Jennifer. Riding home from their grandma's house, Kevin convinced Mary to play a prank on their sister, so Kevin tied Jennifer's shoes together. Apparently they were both jealous of the favoritism their sister was receiving as well as her constant bullying. When their car is accidentally struck by a van and begins to spark, all except Jennifer are able to get out of the car. Just as Phillip is about to go back to get her, the car burst into flames.

The final scene of the movie is memorable to viewers who have seen the movie in the past: As Laura lays sleeping one night, alone in her dark bedroom, she is awakened by a sound at the foot of her bed. It is the ghost of Jennifer who pops up and says, very sinisterly, "Hi, Mommy!" Jennifer's eyes widen evilly. The camera cuts and zooms into Laura, who screams just as the closing credits begin.