Customer Reviews

Parasomnia

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's about time someone decided to release this film. I've been watching scenes and outtakes and previews from this film and was hoping someone would have enough sense to release this nightmare motion picture. From the weird visuals and creations to the love story between the girl with Parasomnia(Cherilyn Wilson) and the art student (Dylan Purcell) who falls for her and finds himself in a battle for the young lady by uber villain (Patrick Kilpatrick)who has been locked in the room next to hers. Bound with chains and shackles, he is known as, "the doctors say, "The only man they've ever met without a soul" Mr. Kilpatrick causes others to kill themselves with just a suggestion.A lot of this film is spent in Cherilyn's dream world as the hero and villian fight for her soul.

This is one of Bill Malone's best films and the visuals are very creepy. This should end up being one of those horror movies that people will add to their 'lists' of favorite nightmares. Like I said, it's about time someone wised up and is releasing this film. Even if it's going straight to DVD. It would be a wonderful film to see in the theatre on the large screen though..

Hopefully, we won't have to wait this long for Mr. Malone's next film to find a a distributor.

Parasomnia is William Malone's latest directorial effort. As a director, he's pretty hit and miss, but he's always had a keen sense for visuals. His Masters of Horror episode (The Fair Haired Child) was rock-solid and probably one of his best films...until Parasomnia.
While Parasomnia does have its share of issues-- spotty dialogue, moments where the script fails to be convincing, overall it succeeds in its goals, which, of course, are to entertain and dazzle. Without spoiling much, the plot revolves around a "sleeping beauty" who is plagued by terrifying nightmares. A literature-loving psychopath hypnotist has somehow gotten hold of her dreams and wishes to be with her for eternity, but of course Prince Charming comes along to try and mess everything up.
The acting is generally good, with varying levels of quality. Jeffrey Combs is great, as always. The main actress is convincing in most scenes, and Patrick Kilpatrick is appropriately creepy. But what makes the film REALLY work are the visuals, of which there are many. Besides the nightmares, a particular scene that comes to mind involves a bunch of twisted automatons dancing while a policeman plays Russian roulette by himself. This might sound less than amazing, but if you've seen the film, you know what I'm talking about. Also, I can't think of a horror film in recent memory that has a better opening than this one.
It's nice to see a film that makes genuine effort to entertain with its own sense of identity, rather than joining the ranks of torture films, "camera" horror, and cheap slashers. If you've got time to kill and prefer your horror films visceral, bizarre, and with a little bit of fantasy, you would do well to check out Parasomnia. Bare in mind that many of the flaws of the horror genre are present here, but they aren't enough to detract from the overall product, which is one of quality.

This was an entertaining movie, but discontinuously so. In general, the film tells the story of an individual having the ability to enter one's dreams and direct their behavior, but he remains locked up in a psych ward. If you make eye contact or he otherwise telepathically hunts you down, you're his minion. Unfortunately, the movie was half good. The awake scenes were somewhat slow and discontinuous; the story jumped around and things happened without any particular logical sequence. The dream scenes, on the other hands, were very cool. Comparisons to Hell Raiser are somewhat accurate, although Hell Raiser was much more graphically and violently intense than this film is. Dreamers are in this surreal world populated by fiendish demon-like creatures who flit around, obviously stalking their prey - very creepy. Overall, despite the lacking awake scenes, its still a 3/5 due to high production values, good enough acting and the dream sequences. Certainly worth a rental, but not sure whether its compelling enough to justify a purchase for repeated viewings.

***This review is chock full of delicious spoilers***

I watched this film with a friend and my house turned into something akin to Mystery Science Theatre 2000. When it was over, we both sat silently watching the credits. I asked him what he thought and he said he wasn't sure; I was at a loss for words. Neither of us was particularly sure what to make of this movie right away, it was just so incredibly off the wall as to be ridiculous. Not the fun sort of ridiculous that lives on the fringe of creepy, the kind of ridiculous you get when you see a steampunk automaton opera with a chick impaled with feathers to look like an angel.

The story revolves around a girl who sleeps almost her entire life due to a strange disorder, and is in a hospital on the wing for mental patients being cared for quite well even though she has no family and the hospital looks like it is falling apart. Creepily (though not seemingly intentionally) everyone wants to have sex with her, which is so far from appropriate that could have been the actual horror in the film. The doctor, the art student, the crazy and obsessive while also magical serial killer...everyone apparently thinks it's just A-O.K. to want to make love with a comatose woman. I mean, isn't that just grand? It's also presented as totally fine, even understandable, I mean someone is putting makeup on her so Sleeping Beauty must want this sort of attention.

When she does wake up, she's like an infant because of her stunted understanding of the world around her. Yet suddenly she is as mature as an adult (conveniently when it comes time for her to be sexualized), her lilting haphazard speech becomes regular, and we can almost believe this is an affliction that comes and goes rather infrequently instead of how it was originally presented. Perhaps the director realized that presenting a person with a serious medical affliction and developmental delays due to it as wanting sex as being far too repulsive and morally repugnant. Or maybe a producer did. It's dreck.

Our serial killer is supposedly a hypnotist that also possesses a serious psychic ability to invade dreams along with being obsessed with Sleeping Beauty and killing lots and lots of people. He's so dangerous that they keep him locked in a room restrained with chains so he can't move, but they have one haphazard security guard and allow orderlies to go into the room unattended. He was / is a bibliophile with a store that while shut down and barely boarded up after his capture is completely intact, if only mildly dusty. After all, nobody would want to break into it, burn it down, vandalize it, steal memorabilia, or otherwise.

Our student / record store clerk has a dead end life with a girlfriend who conveniently leaves him just before he meets Sleeping Beauty. He is an utter and complete idiot, with no common sense, and no understanding of the world. This shouldn't be hard to swallow considering everyone in the film suffers from this disorder. He manages to kidnap Sleeping Beauty (ala "rescue") from the hospital because she's going to be signed off to another facility to be used as a test subject by a doctor that somehow still has a license to practice medicine! Then she kills some people under magical psychic dream control and the police (one of whom she kills) are just confused as all get out by the entire ordeal. I mean, who would think to check the other apartments on the hall when someone is killed? Who would hear the screaming and torture that obviously took place during the murder in a crowded building? Everyone must have been having one heck of a party.

Then we climax with a weird steampunk automaton opera death scene where the evil plans of serial killer psychic hypnotist book lover are revealed and some stuff happens and the movie ends in some fuzzy love place that makes you go: "Huh?" Especially since horribly afflicted patient girl can (it would seem) control her disorder which makes you wonder why she wanted to suffer so much for her entire life.

Throughout this little adventure we're bombarded by terrible visual effects of this dream world. Then we find our evil dreamscape cleansed and happiness ever after. The only redeeming factors of this movie are the music which is generally palatable and the fact you can spend the entire time making fun of this movie and it never gets boring. From hackneyed characters and plastic acting to poor effects and general stupidity we're left with something so bad that it almost borders on good. Almost...

This is one of the most ridiculous film's I've ever seen. First of all, and this isn't the film's worst quality, it stretches credulity beyond the point where you're willing to suspend disbelief. The writers expect us to believe, amongst other things, that an insane asylum will keep a serial killer with the ability to instantly hypnotise others in a sometimes unlocked room in an unsecured hallway with no guards, right there amongst rooms for general patients (drug addicts, etc), and that he would be spoonfed by one lone frightened nurse with no guards standing around at mealtime. Sure, his wrists are in restraints at all times and he is made to wear a hood, but that's all the security there is. It's as if someone took all the torture from Gitmo and Iraq they saw in the news, but none of the accompanying security measures, and thought it would have great clinical benefits for the patient. The movie also expects us to believe that the head doctor would have no problem with members of the general public wandering into random patients' rooms unsupervised (and, yes, he allows more than one person to do so) -- in fact, he'll gladly tell anybody whom he finds hanging out, totally unauthorised, in any room the entire private case history of that patient. Heck, its even not a problem for an unaccompanied young male, let alone an employee, to be left alone in a room occupied by beautiful girl who is unconscious all the time (instead he'll immediately assess you as a good person and swear to cops that you are even after dead bodies are found in your room after admitting that you're a total stranger). And we're expected to believe the one security guard who sometimes decides to do his job thinks it is no big deal for anyone in a white coat to wheel out patients or that it's necessary to even check their ID, even when the person wheeling off the patient is clearly nervous and cannot even appear to remember their own name. Add to these items a new stupid irrationality every 3 minutes, and that's this entire film. The ending manages to be even more shocking in its idiocy, even after such inanities become the expectation. The last 2 minutes of this film -- even though it immediately follows an overlong climax in which the villain reveals a plan that makes no sense except, perhaps, to a performance artist -- are sort of the equivalent to the shock of seeing someone whom you've just witnessed eating one disgusting food item after another for over the past hour suddenly finish things off by swallowing battery acid. But with none of the horror.

But wort of all, this film is plodding and lacks direction. Not one of its elements are fully developed. We have a girl with her own surreal dreamworld. Do we get to learn about her dreamlife and how it works? No. We get a few minutes here and there of her running around a bunch mirrors floating in the air in bleak landscape. Sure, we get to see the serial killer use the world to talk to her, but hardly anything representing a relationship. It's more like a surreal version of a bad commute to work than a LIFE. "Oh, there's those mirrors again and those ugly decrepit industrial developments. And, great, there's that guy who always insists on engaging in meaningless small talk and never has anything new to say." And yet we're supposed to believe that she has this deep psychic life craftily infested by the villain to gain her trust (at least when they show this to be a total failure, that's one part of the film that makes sense). After the hero escapes from the asylum with her she kills a couple of people whilst under the serial killer's hypnotic control. Do we see a cat and mouse pursuit by cops as the pair try to establish her innocence and convince others of the threat posed by the incarcerated serial killer? No. Another dead end plot. When she turns up unconscious in a bedding store does anyone notice she's covered in blood or call the police? No. Does the creepy old guy we see for 2 seconds in the film rape the girl while she is unconscious on the sidewalk? Who knows. She just turns up unconscious somewhere else. Nothing in this film has consequences. Her entire unconscious escape around the city is just to fill running time. Do we see the serial killer's past at all? No. Mainly that he got his wife (played by Sean Young for her grand total of 3 minutes in the film) to jump off a roof. No explanation is given why someone of his power was ever caught or why he chose to spend years in the asylum if he could escape at any time (no great feat given my above quibbles).

Why 2 stars instead of 1? Well, I've seen worse, and it is so jaw-droppingly silly some people might have fun getting together to heckle the film.

I won't ruin anything by talking about the details of the movie. Lets just say the bluray was great and the movie was pretty intense. I really like the main actors too. Also, its set at a great price. Pick this one up today!

I try not to have high expectations about horror flicks. I forced down my expectations even though the movie had these things going for it: 1. Jeffrey Combs featured in cast 2. Fangoria magazine feature that seemed pretty promising 3.great premise with so many possibilities 4. I am one of the ones who loved House on Haunted Hill (the remake) and figured this had to be OK, since the director was the same 5. heard excellent buzz. Aaaand well... it didn't turn out to be even half as good as I thought. I couldn't believe (almost to the point of being mad at myself) how much trouble the flick had keeping me interested enough to follow the plot. Jeffrey Combs did the best with what he has (as always) but this is not always enough. From the reviews this looks like a love-it-or-hate-it movie. I didn't hate it, but was let down and remember, I forced myself to keep my expectations just mediocre. I even (ironically, given the themes) fell asleep on first viewing (though I was sleep-deprived, but all the same, Ive stayed awake when tired when the movie was engaging, just a little show on keeping up with the plot if I have had insomnia. Not the case here and if the movie had worked, it would have made me SCARED to fall asleep. I give the 2 stars for two reasons: Combs and some pretty cool stuff in the last act. Kind of Tim Burton-esque--a good thing in my book--looks like an actual dream/nightmare, and some pretty creepy creations. So, the movie doesn't really come alive until the last act. If that last part really motivates you, rent the movie and be prepared for boredom until half an hour or so is left ...then you ll be impressed. This could have been an AMAZING movie & I cant stand flicks that waste such good potential. Again, though, you might want to see it if you are a fan of horror movies using sleeping and dreaming to scare the hell out of you. Otherwise, you ll get antsy before the movie is even half over.

Ill try to avoid using spoilers so I will just say I thought this could have been really good but the poorly executed story kind of ruins the movie.

At times it has some really cool visual effects and atmosphere as well as some pretty effective music to go along with the dream sequences.
It also started out with a decent premise for the story and the lead girl is cute and likeable. Also has some decent gore thrown in.

But some of the acting and dialogue is poor and the story does not take advantage of an interesting concept, it really has way too many "are you kidding me" moments that kill it.

And the guy who is supposed to be the "hero" just ends up being pretty creepy to me right from the get-go, if you watch the movie you will see what I mean. Also a pretty hokey ending.

Anyways I feel it is worth a rent and I gave it 3 out of 5. If 2.5 was an option I feel that would have been more appropriate. In the right hands I think this could have been a lot better, but as it stands I feel it was a near miss due to lack of execution on the story.

Im writing this review as this movie is playing infront of me right now, my wife wants to see how it ends, but i lost interest after only 10 minutes.
I was put off immediately by it's low budget, which is obvious from the moment the movie starts, bad actors, bad lighting, bad direction, bad everything.
Horror ? really ? not even a bit scary.
the plot might have been interesting, i mean it seemed like a good idea, but the excusion was terrible.
i just can't watch this, and i can't believe so many actually liked it in here.
im going to convince my wife to turn it off and watch something else, i advice all of you who are reading this to also watch something else, I don't recommend this at all.
some good Horror i would recommend : 28 Days Later (Widescreen Edition) , 28 Weeks Later (Widescreen Edition), The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) [Widescreen Edition] and The Fourth Kind

PARASOMNIA is a very neat film. It takes a concept one does not expect and spins it into a nicely plotted modern fairy tale. There are a few moments that remind me of the far superior PAN'S LABYRINTH with the surreal imagery. The movie is defiantly in the horror range, but it ranges to the psychological realm. At its base concept, it is an unlikely love story. There are some really great and original things about this film. It also has it bad moments. I will outline a few below.

***SPOILERS***

The good:
* The imagery is wonderful and surreal.
* The characters are excellent
* The bad guy is soundly creepy even if he is derivative.
* The cinematography is excellent.

The bad:
* The plot is a bit far fetched
* The bad guy's death scene is almost horrifying comical...screwdrivers...give me a break.
* The young lady is not showcased enough.
* The dream world is not showcased enough.
* The care given to the girl by the young man is borderline erotic. (This is likely on purpose.) It just came off as very weird.

All in all, the film is a much better than the average offering, but misses the mark slightly. I see amazing potential wasted just a bit with some of the oddities that are presented on screen. The film is worth seeing and even owning. It is different enough to be a lot of fun. NOT FOR KIDS