good back-story, and good acting

Beautiful, moving film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This movie had me lured in by the DVD cover, the fact that it is a horror movie and also because Cary Elwes was in it.I was in for a rude awakening of a surprise."Don't Sleep" is weighed down by an incredibly slow paced and pointless storyline. It had potential at the start, but lost its momentum about halfway through.In fact, the movie was so boring and uneventful that I gave up when there was just 15 minutes left of the movie.It should be mentioned that they had a rather good cast of talents to perform in the movie. Although this was but adequate acting, because the actors and actresses were having almost nothing to work with in terms of script and plot.All in all, don't bother with "Don't Sleep" if you like a proper horror movie to keep you entertained. And I guess the title of the movie actually was more of a plea from the writer and director than it was an actual title.

'Don't Sleep' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an slightly intriguing but very derivative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive. It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws are here present in those films, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'Don't Sleep' is terrible, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is next to nothing to recommend and it is a sleeper.Lets start with the sole positive. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky.Unfortunately, it is not done justice by the rather direct to video schlocky way it's shot and edited, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm. Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates. Especially the best friend who is just as annoying as that squeaking door mentioned previously.Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting. It even gets the worst out of Cary Elwes, an actor who to me is generally watchable.Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both dreadfully done.A lot of 'Don't Sleep' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending makes the film finish on an incomplete and confused whimper, in fact it is not really an ending at all.There is not enough threat here and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, while the psychological elements are unimaginative and are more odd than scary, completely failing to show any sense of horror. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, got the sense their heart was not in it, and the music doesn't really fit.Concluding, near-irredeemably awful. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Zach (Dash Williams/Dominic Sherwood) has bad realistic dreams as a child and is uncontrollable. Thirteen years later he is an adult in law school living with Shawn (Charlbi Dean Kriek). His dreams come back and people around him start getting hurt, raped, and killed.Zach has psychological problems, but things happen not related to the illness. The film drops lousy clues. They explain the plot in the last eight minutes, turning it into a WTF production, and not a "see how clever we are" ending. I won't say the ending ruined the film, it wasn't that great to begin with. Where did grandpa get that shiny chain and what did he attach it to? Guide: F-word, sex, rape. No nudity.

***Beware this content may contain spoiler **Nowadays it's hard to find a good horror thriller but I was lucky enough this movie didn't disappoint me. It gave me what I am looking for?" If a demon were to steal after you in your loneliest loneliness.. Would you not curse the demon who spoke thus or would you answer, 'You are a god & never have I heard anything more divine." ----Friedrich Nietzsche (1882)Story begins with a young boy who is afraid of dark. In his sleep he saw nightmares someone going to take him. He was restless. His mother was concerned about him so she Called a doctor. Doctor started to consult with him as I mentioned he was having this nightmare very often.I thought this would lead a revenge type self surviving movie but it was something else. It was such a mystery. I don't wanna spoil it by revealing the mystery.As the boy become a man went to honeymoon with his girlfriend. They were happy. His friend came to visit once everything was fine since the neighbor Mr. Marino lost his dog. One night he heard a sound he followed the path & found the dog it was dead. That time a demon possessed him. Later he committed suicide by hanging himself through a chain. He was saying, I wrote my own life I will not join with you demon, You rot in hell. Who was that demon??As the mystery continues demon gradually attacked everyone & killing them. Who is that demon? What mystery beneath? watch this movie. You gonna love it.A must watch film for horror, thriller lovers. Beware it's a scary movie.