Non ho sonno

I must admit that have seen all Dario Argento's films and the last 3 ones were very disappointing. Being his fan I could not miss his last effort specially when I noticed that the myths since the time of "Profondo Rosso": The Goblin, were performing the soundtrack.

Dario Argento is back to the old typical thriller structure: a serial killer with a nonsense-rhyme for kids is the leitmotiv of all the homicides in a very wet and scary Turin.

The characters are well performed specially by the "bergmanian" Max Von Sidow. Chiara Caselli and Stefano Dionisi are fine and the first 20 minutes of film are an example of very high level cinema -the scenes shot in the train are icing- The soundtrack is less electronic than in the past with some elements of heavy metal.

Rating: 5/10

In 1983 a serial killer nicknamed the Dwarf embarks of a murderous spree. The detective in charge Moretti (played by legendary Max von Sydow) manages to connects the dots to a mystery novelist Vincenzo de Fabritiis, only for the suspect to die before capture. Almost twenty years later a prostitute by freak accident stumbles upon memorabilia of past murders, whilst leaving a clients house. Before she can pass on the mementos to anyone else she is brutally murdered. Soon after murders surprisingly similar to the 1983 case occur and detective Moretti is called back in to assist...

After over a decade of lingering in the disembowelled remains of his legend Dario Argento returns by resurrecting his giallo cookbook. And make no mistake - Argento does not attempt in the slightest to modernise the genre, instead he follows his own former path of glory making sure the recipe is repeated. This also signals a welcome return of The Goblins and their always hauntingly suitable score. The requisite ingredient of long marauding shots, which follow the blood, murder and atmosphere, is obviously also present. One especially well-done fist-clenching sequence has the camera follow a red (what? you expected any other colour from Dario?) carpet with the unmistakable relentless accompaniment of The Goblins straight to a morbid beheading.

That said Argento seems to have dropped his obsession with coloured lenses and does not seem to attach the same fervorous attention to set-pieces. Unfortunately this does seem to take away some of the Argento magic and can not help but feel the superiority of the 70s giallo. Even more so, that the formulaic repetitiveness of Argento causes "Sleepless" to become all to similar to what the master has already offered us in the past. The script has the feel of being a collage of several other Argento giallo flicks. Nonetheless the movie features surprisingly crisp acting for an Argento movie, even though some of the characters seem unnecessarily overcooked.

There are several other smaller flaws to "Sleepless", as the movie drags on even more than we are used to from the Italian, the dialogue can be ridiculous at times (Moretti dumbfoundedly asks "Who is that? Is this a joke?" after hearing someone break his window), whilst some of the plotting is absurdly unlikely to say the least (i.e. a witness decides to return a gold pen to the serial killer in exchange for money, instead of handing in the evidence to the police).

This movie also has a touch of Argento's self-commentary to it in the shape of Moretti, a detective used to the old ways of solving crime. Now the methods have changed, but Moretti has struggled to adapt, still preferring the traditional art of deduction. One can't help but feel that this is Argento's personal explanation as to his persistent drop in status during the 90s.

Nonetheless a nice movie that shows that Dario Argento still has some spark left in him. Whether or not he will be able to tap into this source to make a spectacular comeback to the limelight remains however to be seen.

A retired detective gets involved on a case which he was in charge of 17 years ago, about a grisly killer known as 'the dwarf' that killed people in a small part of town and now it's happening again, though this time his working with a son of one of the original victims. 'The dwarf ' was found dead after those murders 17 years ago… so could it be him from beyond the grave or a copycat?

This a pretty decent murder/mystery film by Dario Argento, I wasn't expecting much- but what I saw it was above average. With his usual flair of over the top blood and gore, stunning photography, the soundtrack by 'Goblin' really gives it an added boost and the usual unexpected twists and turns, make this film worth a look after his earlier disappointments.

It has a superb opening half-an hour of terror that is truly haunting and eerie. Though It does sag a bit in the middle of the film, losing a bit of the steam and the menacing atmosphere fizzles out- though that's when we start to learn more about the story, with clues coming thick and fast and then it picks up in the upbeat and unpredictable last half hour, where the final twist will have you on the edge of your seat with disbelief. What I liked was that the killer uses nursery rhymes from a specific book to pick their next victim, which I thought was pretty ingenious and disturbing, especially since the victims have something to associate them with the animals in the nursery rhymes.

Though the plot might have certain flaws, one being it's one -dimensional characters and secondly at times it was pretty convenient that the killer was at the right place at the right time- but otherwise it makes up for it with it's swift and creative deaths: that truly come out of left field… you cant go wrong with that opening scene on the train and at the station, with the hysteria and tension of isolation that builds up throughout that scene.

Though the death scenes might turn off certain viewers- but not if your fan of Argento, as a lot of detail goes into them and so did the setting of the film- it was beautifully shot. The performances are below average; they were kind of lacklustre or either over the top, though with the exception of Max Von Sydow, who brings a lot of class as the retired detective.

An entertaining Giallo film!

3/5

I'm still sort of new to Argento's films but I found this film of his to be one very solid effort. The first half has this very unusual tone and atmosphere that makes you feel both uncomfortable and creeped out at the same time. The death scenes in my opinion are more tense here than in some of his older films.

The acting is very good although the occasional dubbed voice causes some actors to look like their facial expressions almost don't match their voices.

One outstanding feature is the cinematography. The camera constantly moves around and many of the settings are lit up just right enough to create it's atmosphere.

Overall, it's a very well made and solid gaillo from Argento and is well worth the effort even for fans of the genre and not necessarily Argento.

Yes! Yes! … YES!! Dario Argento returns with the type of film that is worshiped by a select share of real horror fans. An authentic, old-fashioned Giallo! Sleepless is a solid and ultra-violent serial killer mystery with unique plot-twists and a huge amount of ingeniousness. The beautiful city of Turin is the setting of a bizarre series of murders. These killings seem to follow the modus operandi of a serial killer that was active in the same neighborhood 17 years earlier as well. The former commissioner Moretti has to dig deep in his memory and files to go after him again. He can't count on any help by the ‘new' police department and finds assistance in the now adolescent son of the killer's first victim. The pattern seems to include a nursery rime and the always-returning image of a dwarf… After a rather disappointing 90's decade with inferior films like `Phantom of the Opera' and `The Stendal Syndrome', Dario Argento now delivers his purest film since the brilliant `Opera', dated 1987. The tension is terrifically built up and the clues to solve the mystery are slowly being revealed…one by one. Sleepless is provided with a downright fantastic soundtrack by the cult-band `Goblin' and the nursery rime (which forms the pivot element throughout the whole film) literally chills the blood. As usual in this type of films, the acting isn't very good. Veteran actor Max Von Sydow more or less does a good job, but the English dubbing regretfully is dramatic. But hey, that's not Argento's fault so why criticize him? Another often heard remark is the explicit violence in Sleepless. True, several sequences are sadistically gross with heads getting smashed against a wall and a real nasty death caused by a musical instrument. If you can't stand violence, it's your loss…you don't know what you're missing. Sleepless is a film that raises new hope for the Italian horror industry and it easily ranks in the top 10 of best horror films since the new Millennium.