Sleep No More

This was close to a 5 but, had to knock it to 4 because of some of the over the top visuals and the occasional poor acting and writing. Overall though, the idea was unique, solid and thought out. I absolutely loved the 80's vibe from this movie and wonder if that played a bigger role in why I enjoyed it as I did. I asked myself, would I have liked this without the 80's feel? The answer is, probably not. That being said, the vibe lends itself well to this particular theme. It felt like a much more feasible experiment to be done in 80's, so bravo to that! The overall look of the movie was great, well produced and solid cinematography. I look forward to seeing what Guzman does next!

Ok so the acting is pretty good, but as said in the title it's a film that wants to be a horror (which it fails at) and be like the 80's film The Breakfast Club. The reason why it fails, forgetting the horror and yes they are clearly depicting grad students, but despite the good acting these people are in their 30's, late 30's in some cases. We want to like them but they should be acting like adults and scientists physically, however they act like teens and make no coherent sense in numerous scenes. Putting on glasses like Velma from Scooby-Doo does not make things younger nor make us think they are therefore intelligent. In the end you are left feeling I know what is MEANT to be going on but I can't actually see this occuring and quite frankly if it did it's a little too late anyway. If you don't like or know 80's music it's a mark of 3.

This movie should easily average a 5.8, it's not great, but it is good, and I was engrossed the entire time. Did they totally succeed in creating an 80's vibe? No, but it comes closer than most movies bc of the limited locations, some of the clothes are authentic to the time period, which is more than I can say for most of these movies set in the 1980's. I suspect that we're this experiment real, it would probably go just like it does in the film. It has unexpected consequences and careens out of control.

What this movie also has is somewhat dull, but mostly likeable characters, and a fittingly bitchy antagonist. I cared about the fate of our protagonists. The final solution at the end of the film works and the monsters are creating and we'll done. I actually had a dream the night I watched it with the monsters, so there you go.

All in all, I don't get the hate this film gets, it does a good job of creating a certain kind of mood and tension and holds it all of the way through. It's a slow-paced movie though. I'm guessing that's why so many on here dislike it, but I would absolutely call it a slow burn, and it deserves to find it's audience, it is a good low-budget sci-fi thriller.

What I liked: 80's music and vibe. The disturbing visions that they encounter are very reminiscent of Stranger Things from Netflix. What I didn't like: Predictability. A lot of yelling and chaotic stuff that didn't really help the story. They touched on many different paths that the story could have taken but didn't really fully commit to any. The ending was a bit ambiguous. Overall: Wait for it to come out on Redbox and spend a few dollars. Anything more than that and your throwing your money away.

Yet another horror movie that I had never heard about prior to stumbling upon it here in 2024. And given my life-long romance with the horror genre, of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch the movie. I had read the movie's synopsis, but have to admit that I had no expectations to the movie. So I suppose that writer Jason Murphy and director Phillip Guzman had every opportunity to impress and entertain me.

The storyline was fairly adequate. I mean, it was somewhat of slow paced narrative, but the contents of the storyline were certainly interesting enough to maintain my interest in watching the movie. So while writer Jason Murphy didn't exactly put together the most scary of horror stories, there was just something entertaining about the movie, something sort of surreal in a sense, that actually played well in favor of the overall impression of the movie.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in "Sleep No More", aside from actor Keli Price. And believe it or not, but that is actually something I do enjoy. I like seeing new and unfamiliar talents on the screen. And I will say that the cast ensemble they had put together for this movie put on good performances.

Visually then I will say that the effects in the movie were good. It wasn't a movie that relied heavily on special effects to carry the narrative. But whatever special effects were in the movie actually served their purpose well enough.

The music in the movie was good, because it definitely helped to set the 1980s vibe and mood, which was the era the movie's story was set to take place.

However, I have to say that this is not a movie that warrants more than just a single viewing.

My rating of director Phillip Guzman's 2017 movie "Sleep No More" lands on a five out of ten stars.