THE PREMISE:

"A young, expectant wife must figure out how to stop her husband's nightmarish sleepwalking habits before he harms himself or his family." 

OUR MOVIE REVIEW:

The concept of sleeping has always been fertile ground for horror writers. If you think about it, sleep is inherently kind of creepy. There we are – the closest we can be to experiencing death without, say, being in a coma. We are in our most vulnerable state, and quite literally any number of scary things can happen, unbeknownst to us, while we sleep.

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This general feeling of weirdness about sleep has followed me into my adulthood. That said, I’m frankly surprised more films like Jason Yu’s Korean horror Sleep don’t exist (apart from the obvious popcorn slasher Freddy Krueger flicks, of course). Sleep automatically gets brownie points for utilizing a topic rife with uneasy possibilities. And for the most part, it does it well.

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The film tells the story of a couple who is about to lose out on a lot of sleep, as they are expecting their first child. At a time when the young woman should be thinking of nothing but bassinets and baby bows, she grows anxious when her husband starts saying odd things in his sleep. One night, the talking turns to sleepwalking, and one scary incident leaves him dangling dangerously close to the couples’ high-up bedroom window. Utterly disturbed, the pair consult the help of a sleep doctor, who isn’t much help. That’s when the expectant mother does some sleuthing and discovers a strange connection between her husband’s weird actions and a tenant who lives above them.

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Sleep is a psychological thriller with a dash of supernatural razzle dazzle. As intriguing as the build up is, the finale features a surprising lack of nuance. There’s not much room for interpretation of Yu’s intentions in the third act. Still, the uneasy and at times frustrating thriller is one you’ll want to stay awake for.