Hipersomnia

I hadn't heard about "Hipersomnia" before stumbling upon it here in 2020. I was initially lured in by the movie's cover, which was intriguing and interesting. And the movie was labeled as horror, so of course I took the time to sit down and watch it.

While writer and director Gabriel Grieco's movie "Hipersomnia" from 2016 isn't exactly what I would label as a horror movie, it was definitely an interesting enough movie. It starts out alright, but then becomes somewhat of a strange movie in the middle, right up until the reveal of what is actually going on, then the director Gabriel Grieco gives you that "ah, so that is what going on" experience. And that was definitely enjoyable. So a nice twist there, which makes the movie worthwhile watching.

The acting in the movie was good, and I do enjoy watching movies where I am not familiar with the cast, as that prevents me from associating them with previously portrayed characters. Yamila Saud definitely carried the movie quite well.

Now, "Hipersomnia" is not a movie that will fall equally well into everyone's taste, because there is some odd quality to the movie, for better or worse. I enjoyed it, but I believe that the movie will not be as entertaining to everyone in the audience.

I am rating this movie a six out of ten stars.

There are some films that are so bad they're good, some that are overall bad but are worth watching for some interesting concepts brought up or other redeeming qualities - but I just don't recommend watching this one at all. It would be more valuable to take the premise and write something yourself, as that might be at least a little more interesting (and original).

As others have stated, there are many directions this film could have gone, and nearly all of them might have been better.

The premise quite nicely allows for intrigue and horror aspects throughout, but the climax and resolution which that world leads up to are simply disappointing (and gross).

The characters are two-dimensional and mostly either bland, forgettable or unbearable (or perhaps both, unbearable in their blandness). Not to mention completely unrealistic. Motives are not clear, or legitimate motives are not present throughout. On top of this, motives are blurred even more by stupid plot-twists.

Many loose ends, ideas abandoned within minutes of their introduction, never to be brought up again.

There is nothing new here - we've got trope-filled exploitation, unlit torture rooms*, hardened victimised prostitute girls, some tacky and pointless gore, insects in stomachs**, and, drum-roll... a cheap resolution backed by cheesy pop-style music. Leaves a bad taste in your mouth and completely devalues the rest of the movie (assuming it had anything of value).

As for a PSA about human trafficking… it almost seems insulting. In fact, as mentioned in the credits themselves, there are thousands of cases of human trafficking per year - it seems insensitive to dramatize the issue unrealistically, and then pointless to watch this unrealistic movie about it when it's already happening on such a large (considering) and terrible scale.

*Which at first I questioned... Sure, it's atmospheric, but I feel being trapped in a constantly brightly-lit place would be terrible too, mess with your circadian rhythm in a terrible way. I realised it's most likely because bringing in electricians raises your risk of being caught.

**Not sure what's with this theme in horror - bugs are friends.

You gave a pretty good review, but I'm not understanding why you didn't get the subtitles? I also need them but I automatically get them when I watch Netflix streaming. If I get DVD in the mail, I have to click on it, but unless the movie just was not made with them, I always get them. I would not have understood anything about this movie if I didn't have subtitles; I suggest you try again, try right clicking your mouse and see if it brings up the option... I don't understand why you don't get them. Very good little horror movie about human trafficking also, I would recommend it to watch if you are a fan of trafficking or horror, it has both.

It seems Argentinian films are fast becoming my favourite choice for well made, imaginative, unpredictable dramas, and Hypersomnia for the most part fits that. Edgy and taut, it's heavy on atmosphere, with a sense of risk and menace saturating it, taunting its audience to figure out what's happening as it continually unfolds.

Deliberately blurring the age-old lines between actress and prostitute and reality and fantasy, Hypersomnia (excessive sleepiness) presents like an uncompromising stage play, and any outlining of the narrative here would probably spoil it, but given that this is set in Argentina its themes resonate more viscerally than the usual Hollywood fantasy horror, and is generally better made and thought out.

Unfortunately though, after a promising and intriguing story has developed, it then sadly relies upon and drops into the usual Hollywood tropes rather than exploring the layered themes that it has set up, and so suddenly looks hurried and wasteful at the end as it rushes to conclude.

Could have been, and should have been better than it was, but if this is your genre then there is still plenty to recommend it.

One of the Best Foreign films. This is the most Gruesome movies i have ever watched in my life. Very Terrifying because this could be happening to women everyday. Who knows.