Parasomnia Movie Review, Film Still and Poster

U.S. 2008
Director: William Malone
Cast: Patrick Kilpatrick, Cherilyn Wilson, Dylan Purcell, Jeffrey Combs, Timothy Bottoms
Rating:
Release Date: 2009
Running Time: 1 hour 42 minutes 47 secs

Review of the Movie

Parasomnia film still 1


PARASOMNIA
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Slash slash slash! Flesh flesh flesh! As appealing as the slasher movies are with the slash-and-flash formula to horror/slasher aficionados, sometimes it's nice (read: yearned) to see a horror movie with enough brain quality in it. Especially with the exhaustive list of slasher flicks, remakes and pale-face-white-dress female ghosts films in the recent months. Although it might skip the a-list actors or expensive prosthetics to back up the movie's storyline, Parasomnia has something to give us that different "scary" flavor. Parasomnia is directed by the person who invented the legendary hockey mask of Jason from Friday the 13th, so I guess we don't have to concern about the main antagonist's appearance in this horror film.

What the heck the term Parasomnia means anyway? For me personally all I know before was Insomnia, a very very common unable-to-sleep thing if you used to study/work at night. Parasomnia or aptly called "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" is a condition in which a person is sleeping all the time with occasional waking up at random times and for unknown period. The premise alone is already a unique one. Meet Danny Sloan (Dylan Purcell) a normal everyday guy who works at a music store. On a visit to his friend in a rehab, Danny has the chance to also "visit" different kind of patients, most notably the infamous serial killer Byron Volpe (Patrick Kilpatrick), the man who has killed his victims with hypnotizing-ability and for that seriously dangerous ability, he is held in a special room where his head is hooded so as to prevent him from hypnotizing people. Another one that Danny meets is the Sleeping Beauty, Laura Baxter (Cherilyn Wilson), a pretty young girl who has no relatives and whose sleeping state already makes Danny falls for her.

Danny goes as far as kidnapping Laura from the hospital to take care of her on his own. What he doesn't know that Byron Volpe also has some serious intentions with Laura, and he is furious to know that his "special one" is gone. It turns out that Byron not only can control people with his stare, but he also could control Laura through her nightmarish dreams. Unbeknownst to Danny, Laura could do stuff beyond his imagination. What will happen to Laura and Danny?

Slash! is what you won't get, in terms of old chase-and-slash, although the body count is pretty high. But Flesh is what you will still have, but not in a sheer nudity and cheap-like. It's romantic and memorable. Usually fans expecting some women flesh from the extras who were sometimes even un-credited, but in Parasomnia, Cherilyn Wilson gives it all out to you moviegoers. He's a sleeping sexy for sure. Anyhow, her performance and the other cast are relatively solid. They are not excellent, but also not over-the-top as to make Parasomnia's plot fictional. Dylan Purcell, Cherilyn Wilson and Patrick Kilpatrick deliver the right performance suit well to their characters. Except for Jeffrey Combs who plays as Detective Garrett, oh so over-the-top acting which inevitably contributes to the minus factor in scoring Parasomnia. Thankfully senior actor Patrick Kilpatrick delivers menacingly convincing performance as a psychopath.

Another thing that you will get, Tension! Yes, it's actually already creepy enough to follow how the story unravels without any twist but the writer still cleverly inserted some twists which are nicely executed. The twists are not for shock-values only, but they are integral parts of the storyline. The twists are, again, amazing and although they might not make you jump out of your seat but at least they would make your attention locked unto the screen. And not to forget the gore, now this one seem like a cheap attempt to shock, but hey, it's just a minor flaw and doesn't damage the intensity that Parasomnia builds. Besides, the soundtracks are on hands to help build that intensity with a weird mix of oldies and classical tunes. At one scene, the combination of the soundtrack and the props even ranks Parasomnia as Elegant, in a creepy kind of way.

What sets Parasomnia apart with other horror movies is that it is full of disturbing surreal realm. To see how Laura is trapped in his nightmare and encounter creatures and/or building that haunt her dream is quite unsettling. However, the one that I admire the most is the ending scene which is surprisingly excellent, classy, dramatic and acceptable.

This horror movie is a must to watch for fellow moviegoers who already sick with the blatant clichés of never-ending horror films. Parasomnia is at the very least worth a rent.