Parasomnia starts as record store clerk Danny Sloan (Dylan Purcell) visits his friend Billy Dornboss (Dov Tiefenbach) at drug rehab, while there Danny has a walk down to the psychiatric ward & sees notorious serial killer Byron Volpe (Patrick Kilpatrick) who uses an intense form of hypnotism to kill. In the room next door sees a young beautiful woman named Laura Baxter (Cherilyn Wilson) who suffers from parasomnia which is a very rare condition in which she spends most of the time asleep & is only awake for a few minutes at a time, Danny becomes fascinated & enchanted with Laura & when he finds out that she is going to be experimented on Danny kidnaps her. Meanwhile serial killer Volpe had a psychic connection with Laura & could manipulate her dreams & thoughts, angry that Danny has taken her Volpe escapes & hunts them down as the bodies pile up Danny & Laura find themselves running from a serial killer & the police...
Written & directed by William Malone who also apparently financed the whole project himself this part horror, part thriller part romantic comedy which could be described as a dark fairy tale is a really good film & just stops short of being an excellent one, I personally think there's lots here to admire & like. The romantic side of the plot with Danny falling for Laura who has this rare condition in which she spends most of her time asleep is cute & could have been turned into a neat little Rom Com on it's own, the idea is charming & certainly grabs you & the concept manages to create a lot of sympathy for the two character's & as it builds up during the film it makes the rather sad ending quite heartfelt. Parasomnia starts off quite strikingly with a woman receiving a phone call & then jumping off a building to her death as the camera follows her down & there's lots of little touches & moments that stick in the mind, the gruesome climax played out to classical music or the dreams that Laura has & Volpe invades to some amusing & sometimes dramatic moments when Laura suddenly falls asleep. The film lasts for 100 odd minutes but it takes time build the story & character's up to really good effect which ultimately makes the film so much more rewarding in the end. An often engrossing film & one that feels refreshing original & different to the mundane slashers & faceless clones that litter the horror genre, my only problems are that Danny falls in love with Laura too quickly (he only sees her lying in bed for a few minutes & then suddenly he loves her? He'd never even spoken to her) & just how easy it was for Danny to simply walk out of a maximum security hospital ward (it did have a serial killer there) but these are minor complaints to what is otherwise a really good film & one of the best original horror films I've seen in the recent past.
Parasomnia is very artistic & stylish too, the general look of the film felt to me like a detective noir thriller with not much colour to the picture &the overall look just felt a little period. There are plenty of striking images throughout & it's a dark, atmospheric & often twisted tale of love between two people which at it's core is what Parasomnia is all about. Maybe not as gory or bloody as some may like there's still a couple of gory bits as someone is stabbed in the stomach & his guts start to fall out, someone is stabbed in the eyes with syringes & there's a gory slashed throat. While definitely original there are recognisable influences here from A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) with a sadistic killer entering dreams along with The Silence of the Lambs (1991) with that mask & a serial killer who talks in eloquent quotes & riddles are two that spring to mind.
Filmed in Los Angeles this looks great with memorable production design, good special effects & great choice & usage of music. There is some good acting here from a good cast including Timothy Bottoms, the always watchable Jeffrey Combs & an intense performance from Patrick Kilpatrick as the bad guy.
Parasomnia is a great twisted little dark fairy tale about love, I will stop just short of calling it excellent as I am not sure if I would want to see it again anytime soon but if your looking for something original & striking then Parasomnia is well worth watching. I was impressed & Parasomnia is one of the better indie horror films I have seen.
Written & directed by William Malone who also apparently financed the whole project himself this part horror, part thriller part romantic comedy which could be described as a dark fairy tale is a really good film & just stops short of being an excellent one, I personally think there's lots here to admire & like. The romantic side of the plot with Danny falling for Laura who has this rare condition in which she spends most of her time asleep is cute & could have been turned into a neat little Rom Com on it's own, the idea is charming & certainly grabs you & the concept manages to create a lot of sympathy for the two character's & as it builds up during the film it makes the rather sad ending quite heartfelt. Parasomnia starts off quite strikingly with a woman receiving a phone call & then jumping off a building to her death as the camera follows her down & there's lots of little touches & moments that stick in the mind, the gruesome climax played out to classical music or the dreams that Laura has & Volpe invades to some amusing & sometimes dramatic moments when Laura suddenly falls asleep. The film lasts for 100 odd minutes but it takes time build the story & character's up to really good effect which ultimately makes the film so much more rewarding in the end. An often engrossing film & one that feels refreshing original & different to the mundane slashers & faceless clones that litter the horror genre, my only problems are that Danny falls in love with Laura too quickly (he only sees her lying in bed for a few minutes & then suddenly he loves her? He'd never even spoken to her) & just how easy it was for Danny to simply walk out of a maximum security hospital ward (it did have a serial killer there) but these are minor complaints to what is otherwise a really good film & one of the best original horror films I've seen in the recent past.
Parasomnia is very artistic & stylish too, the general look of the film felt to me like a detective noir thriller with not much colour to the picture &the overall look just felt a little period. There are plenty of striking images throughout & it's a dark, atmospheric & often twisted tale of love between two people which at it's core is what Parasomnia is all about. Maybe not as gory or bloody as some may like there's still a couple of gory bits as someone is stabbed in the stomach & his guts start to fall out, someone is stabbed in the eyes with syringes & there's a gory slashed throat. While definitely original there are recognisable influences here from A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) with a sadistic killer entering dreams along with The Silence of the Lambs (1991) with that mask & a serial killer who talks in eloquent quotes & riddles are two that spring to mind.
Filmed in Los Angeles this looks great with memorable production design, good special effects & great choice & usage of music. There is some good acting here from a good cast including Timothy Bottoms, the always watchable Jeffrey Combs & an intense performance from Patrick Kilpatrick as the bad guy.
Parasomnia is a great twisted little dark fairy tale about love, I will stop just short of calling it excellent as I am not sure if I would want to see it again anytime soon but if your looking for something original & striking then Parasomnia is well worth watching. I was impressed & Parasomnia is one of the better indie horror films I have seen.