Laura Hasn't Slept

Watched Smile some time ago, but was curious to check out the short it was based on. Quite honestly, I kinda liked this more than the feature.

The production design was really immersive and it had a really good use of sound to build tension. The actress was quite good as well and I was glad they put her in the feature too. It felt a bit longer than it was, probably due to being drawn in so quickly.

I can totally see why Paramount scooped up this short, as it was pretty original. I wish the feature was more about the roots of this short, rather than running off to do its own thing. One of the best short films I've seen.

The main character in "Smile" (2022) was female. There was reason to expect a male one in "Smile 2" (2024), but that expectation wasn't met.

This isn't a horror film series with an iconic heroine like "Alien" where Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley would remain the main character for more than one film, and not without reason. Talking about two horror films with only six days between them, chronologically, and the main character in either is female. One actress in the first one, another in the other, and that isn't a problem.

It was clear in both those films the evil thing our heroes would have to deal with was a supernatural entity and could appear as anyone, man or woman, it could take any human form. But in this short horror film that was the origin of both "Smile" and "Smile 2", there are only two characters on screen and the evil supernatural thing to deal with.

Laura, a young woman who is the main character here, makes it clear her nightmares, the ones that she has been having for a few nights now, the ones she can no longer stand, the ones she tries to avoid now by choosing to fight off sleep, are about a man. Not something supernatural appearing in the guise of different, various individuals, it is a man, specifically, a man, even though his face is different every time, it is a bad man this young woman is supernaturally haunted by.

Man bad woman good, clear on that. What's also clear is the creator wants more than a horror film, he wants there to also be something like humor. Whether or not it is misplaced is open to discussion. What's also clear is the open ending. Or, rather, a lacking ending, and that isn't good either, because if one accepts "Smile" and "Smile 2" as a direct continuation of "Laura Hasn't Slept", then there is a problem.

In both of them the entity could show up any time in any human form and didn't require the victim to sleep, even though it did resort to nightmares. But here, it's like the entity only shows up in the nightmares. And the whole "chain" idea, this thing going from one person to another, none of it is in "Laura Hasn't Slept". And the whole short film is basically one sequence, and you can't really tell where the definitive line is between the reality and the nightmare.

The visuals and the sounds work fine, and the acting is also a plus, it's the content, the substance beneath the package that could and should have used more care, should have been paid more attention to, but they clearly were banking on the package to fool the audience into thinking there was something highly sophisticated underneath.

Not that anything much should be expected from a short film anyway, but all "Laura Hasn't Slept" accomplishes is give the audience a scare or two. And again, it is impressive technically and when it comes to the performances, but it has no point to make, it's bright, loud, and pointless.

I have not seen smile yet but I do intend to. I watched this film instead as it's the inspiration for Smile. This was one of the best short films I have seen. The tension and atmosphere were perfect, it managed to give an real air of menace. The two actors were very good and really managed to convey the fear and sense that something if a little off. I hope that Smile is as good as this. Movies like The Broken and the original The Ring, The Grudge and Dark Water all manage to convey that things are not quite right feeling. Laura Hasn't Slept managed to do that beautifully.. I fully recommend this short film.

Lovely! Caitlyn is amazing amazing I swear shes gifted as hell the way she portrays desperation and fear surely has a real roll on her psyche and for that Im sorry but thank you so much for that Caitlyn, pure awesome. Therapist is great too at leaving you guessing if hes competent, or to be trusted , or is he just a frikken Satariel incarnate...who knows! Omg this short is the perfect preambule to Smile tho i didnt know about it after watching Smile sadly.

At any rate Parker Finn quickly becoming a noetic horror MASTER.

PARKER IF YOU READ THIS, dont name Smile 2 , Smile 2 if u want to make it happen even...

What about...." Smiling "

:)))

I can see this being the inspiration for Smile (2022). The visual effects used were disgusting in a good way and on point. I especially liked the CGI for the doctor's face. It's a bit different from Smile though. Smile was more about trauma affecting people and a mysterious curse. Laura Hasn't Slept reminded me a bit of Nightmare on Elm Street, because here the curse is more of a ''sleep demon'', I would call it. In Smile the characters can see the manifestation of the curse even when they are awake while in this short film it seems like the curse mostly manifests itself while the character is asleep. This short film is very intense and has a creepy atmospheric horror vibe. Both the actors involved do a great job portraying their characters. Very solid overall, my rating is 8/10.