Don't Sleep

Don't, Sleep

"Don't" bother watching this. And yet, ironically (or is it just coincidentally?), this may represent a cure for insomnia.

'Don't Sleep' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an slightly intriguing but very derivative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws are here present in those films, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'Don't Sleep' is terrible, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is next to nothing to recommend and it is a sleeper.

Lets start with the sole positive. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky.

Unfortunately, it is not done justice by the rather direct to video schlocky way it's shot and edited, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm.

Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates. Especially the best friend who is just as annoying as that squeaking door mentioned previously.

Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting. It even gets the worst out of Cary Elwes, an actor who to me is generally watchable.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both dreadfully done.

A lot of 'Don't Sleep' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending makes the film finish on an incomplete and confused whimper, in fact it is not really an ending at all.

There is not enough threat here and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, while the psychological elements are unimaginative and are more odd than scary, completely failing to show any sense of horror. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, got the sense their heart was not in it, and the music doesn't really fit.

Concluding, near-irredeemably awful. 1/10 Bethany Cox

The lead actress (turned model) might clearly love herself and the director wanted to showcase her with super slow walks to the shower, but she did nothing good with her role. An awful performance, barely anything to feed off for the lead actor Dominik who at least made an effort not to take the Michael out the audience. Even if he couldn't execute it. This movie felt like the show RIVERDALE where teen like writing and delivery occurs.

Low budget ghostly figures, rushed tension, rushed and poor dialogue, slow start and no chemistry between the leads. The romantic scenes were cringey as was charlbis lacklustre performance. Ruined the entire film.

All in all sorry not sorry this was terrible for a horror film. And a young(ish) couple clearly older than the student age they're meant to play, moves into a big cottage... oh come on. In England youd move into a studio! So unrelated. Poor casting.

By the end of Don't Sleep I felt bad, the ending was so interesting that I wished that I had enjoyed the film. But I didn't, I simply couldn't.

Starring Cary Elwes (Princess Bride, Saw, Top Gun) and Drea De Matteo (Joey, The Sopranos) but both as side characters this supernatural thriller staggers along at a dreadful pace from start to finish.

The story a mess, the creation abysmal and yet there was something there something frustratingly beneath the surface but unable to break free.

In the hands of a decent writer this could have been something quite watchable but Don't Sleep is far from that in its present form.

The Good:

Well the ending was certainly interesting

Cary Elwes

The Bad:

Lame/dull leads

Dreadful story

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I learnt that we had a backup pack of ibuprofen at the back of our cupboard for the headache this 95 minute embarrassment gave me

This movie had me lured in by the DVD cover, the fact that it is a horror movie and also because Cary Elwes was in it.

I was in for a rude awakening of a surprise.

"Don't Sleep" is weighed down by an incredibly slow paced and pointless storyline. It had potential at the start, but lost its momentum about halfway through.

In fact, the movie was so boring and uneventful that I gave up when there was just 15 minutes left of the movie.

It should be mentioned that they had a rather good cast of talents to perform in the movie. Although this was but adequate acting, because the actors and actresses were having almost nothing to work with in terms of script and plot.

All in all, don't bother with "Don't Sleep" if you like a proper horror movie to keep you entertained. And I guess the title of the movie actually was more of a plea from the writer and director than it was an actual title.