Fique Acordado

I have enjoyed the movie for the most part. Setup was interesting, the eerie atmosphere of the potential experiment going bad is present and is made well.

The story is nothing new. It is scary if you think about, how something similar might be happening in real life. Certainly, it's not going the way it is going in the movie though, because it would be really practically unreasonable and unrealistic, like "ha-ha, we are evil pharma, now we gonna make yall suffer cause that's what we do, ha-ha". Don't even get me started on that 'drug' and the death scenes (to me it seems highly implausible and overdramatic)... Yet even distant possibility of similar experiments is enough to consider and is something to be alerted about.

Millie Brady is beautiful, but the characters are quite superficial. Can't say it's a big problem for a type of movie this is. We do get a small insight in each of their lives, but it's not dramatic enough to make us care really, apart from the main heroine (where we get bit more, while still not really enough). Most character interactions and dialogues are no good.

Execution is on a 'okay' level I'd say. Obviously, looks like budget is limited (the whole movie takes place in like 3 rooms, and each of them is sterile, which can be explained by this being a locked experimental facility and/or also low movie budget and the lack of attention to detail at the same time), yet the existing scenes seem to be well made. In other words, camera operators and editors did their job well. Overall, the picture is a pleasant view.

The ending is controversial to me. It is logical story wise and obviously we all root for the main character, yet ideologically it's empty and it's also unrealistic, so its not satisfying to anyone who wants some answers or an unexpected turn, or something similar.

All that said, somehow, I did enjoy it for the most part still, I guess my expectations were low and I really liked the setup and the image, and Millie Brady of course. So I'd say my scoring here is generous.

Claire (Millie Brady) participates in a drug trial run by Dr. Burke (Pollyanna McIntosh). It is in a basement level of Back Wood Pharmaceuticals and the group has to stay there for five full days.

It is a simple small Irish horror. It has a small set and a small cast. That's all fine. The concept is simple. Again, that's fine. My biggest issue is that this made me sleepy. It is the theory of the yawn. When one person yawns, it infects the rest of the group and everybody starts yawning. The movie is basically talking about a yawn and daring the audience to follow suit. It makes me sleepy. Otherwise, this is fine.

So about half way threw I realised I've seen this film about 3 times. With the Russian sleep experiment and about 2 more amazon prime films about the same thing. Group of people doing an experiment. People die bla bla bla.

The acting is not great but I've seen worst I guess. The problem with these films is there very bland. The setting is by nature very boring. The people that do the study are very or below average no interesting characters. It never ever makes for a good or interesting film but I keep watching them because in theory it should make a exciting good horror film. Come on someone get it right.

At a tidy 90 minutes, this film is a great way to spend a night. I knew very little about it going in, and I was pleasantly surprised that it blended several genres pretty seamlessly. It wasn't a simple one note kitschy movie, although it certainly could have been with the general plot line.

It goes beyond the premise of the sleep trial to build characters and tensions between them in times of stress and dire need, even outside of somewhat silly premises as this one. The premise makes it a fun ride though, and kudos to the actors and director for taking it so seriously and making a thriller, suspense movie with mystery and horror thrown in.

At the time of this writing, the average is 5.5, which is much too low. It's a 7.5 for me, but rounding up to help the average.

If you enjoy the genre, you will enjoy this one.

The idea of medical trials going wrong is not new. Maniac, Tell me how I Die, Inhumane, Altered Perception are examples and all in the last ten years. But this was way more watchable. This was actually good.

The characters were believable. There was no identity politics. The script and plot kept bouncing along nicely. I felt invested in the characters and their motivations and traits. And lastly, their actions made logical sense.

I liked the 'warped' reality of their psychosis due to sleep deprivation. And the ending rounded things off quite nicely.

The production values and direction were good enough.

Overall, I would recommend checking this out.