Dead Awake

As someone who has experienced sleep paralysis countless times, I can say the ordeal is extremely terrifying. The concept & real life experiences could have made this a very decent movie, but it completely missed the mark. This movie doesn't even deserve one star, but I that's the lowest I could rate it. I wasn't expecting one of the greatest movies ever made, but I at least thought I would have a jump moment, feel tension, anything. I just found myself checking to see how much time was left.

A film about sleep paralysis, the only theme I've been more scared of going in to a film (see: "The Nightmare") than I have waking up the next day (as in, I thought I was going to have nightmares and wake up paralyzed but then woke up the next day having forgotten all about it).

Well here's the fiction take, including the woefully underutilized since "The House of the Devil" actress Jocelin Donahue. It's too bad the the film itself is a tepid, creaky tale of a sleepytime boogeyman that strangles you while you lay there paralyzed. That's not exactly scary. The plot is just pure nonsense and the film has literally no tension nor atmosphere to speak of.

So first i gotta complement Jocelin Donahue ,, she did well in the beginning of the movie doing the two sisters roles ,, but the movie plot was just bad ,, the script was slow for a Horror/Thriller genre ,, watched it on my laptop "thankfully" so i kept on speeding up to see the good part till i found myself in the credits :D

The cast was okay ,, i watched Jesse Bradford before "in a comedy" :D so this was weird ,, Jesse Borrego "Dr. Hassan" was just not sensible to be a psychiatric , and even Lori Petty "Dr. Sykes" was so obvious and not engaging .

My advice find some other movie to watch ,, Not recommended.

Uh oh! A scary ghost is slowly spreading through a group of friends and picking them off one by one! But this time it involves sleep paralysis so this time it's different, right? RIGHT?

It's kind of like a really slow-paced, watered down version of The Ring. The ghost isn't particularly scary once you actually see what she looks like, which happens pretty early on. Death scenes are uninteresting and repetitive. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that a movie can't be a good horror without buckets of blood, but for that to work there needs to be tension and suspense, and there's none to be seen here. Most of the movie just consists of the characters standing around talking about the ghost and trying to convince various people that it exists.

Sorry to anyone who actually likes this, but basically this is a horror-lite movie for people who don't actually like horror movies. That's the only crowd I can imagine enjoying this. It's not scary, it's not thrilling, and it's not interesting. It's an absolute waste of a great concept that maybe someone better can try again someday.

Sleep paralysis is a phenomenon in which a sleeping person experiences movement inability. This even happens in many people. Clinically, it doesn't hurt but psychologically is terrifying. Of course the reason is not demon/evil but whatever it is, it makes you uncomfortable. I have had such experiences while napping in the afternoon (and not nights!). I have felt that I want to awake but not able to do so. Something strange. At that point, I feel going deeply sleep (or die!) and then attempting to wake up but it is very difficult. Well, no body dies because of sleep paralysis. Now let us to be focused on the movie.

Accepting the fact that sleep paralysis doesn't lead to death, the movie tried to show us it might takes a life which is fantasy than reality. DEAD AWAKE is a little be chilling but not for me because I am rarely terrified by a horror/thriller movie. If you are an easy terrifying person, then there you go. Watch it! It is just a ghost/evil with funny make up! (I don't like that kind of masks!). This is the first Guzman's work I have ever seen honestly. It was directed well. The story could be more close to reality. Camera setting was good. Designs and decorators were good. Actions/plays were not super duper and fascinating but acceptable. I liked Jocelin Donahue's role. All together, I think this movie had much much more potential to be made in better ways. Don't be afraid. It is a supernatural movie without any gore or slashing scene. I was not disappointed but I will definitely not see it again.