My quick rating – 4.4/10. The Shudder logo appears. You know what that means. Me either. Could go either way. Parasomnia follows Riley (Jasmine Mathews), a young woman plagued by horrific night terrors and the sort of unresolved trauma that horror movies apparently require you to carry around like a second suitcase. After her best friend goes missing, Riley begins to suspect that the demonic figure haunting her dreams has figured out how to cross over into the real world.
The movie opens at the Amherst Sanctuary Foster Home in 2014, where we first meet David (Stephen Barrington). Since the movie flashes the names on screen, I assume that’s how we’re supposed to meet everybody. David goes to check on Riley, who appears to be completely dead to the world, and then we get a creepy-ass vision, or whatever the hell that practical bloodbath was. It’s actually pretty damn cool before the movie jumps ahead to 2024.
Then we get the exposition. And more exposition.
Oh geez, they talk about falling asleep in five seconds. They’re referring to fainting yourself, which is something I really hope they’re deliberately explaining incorrectly because that shit is dangerous. We used to do it all the time when I learned how to do it about 35 years ago, and I’m honestly surprised we’re all still here to talk about it.
Riley’s dreams are spooky, but unfortunately they seem to have been designed primarily around one simple filmmaking principle: JUMP SCARE!
After that excellent opening sequence, Parasomnia slows down to approximately the speed of continental drift. We get a little bit of action, followed by a whole bunch of exposition. Then a tiny bite of action, followed by another truckload of exposition. Rinse and repeat until you start wondering if the demon is actually haunting you or if you’re just being punished for watching the movie.
There are some genuinely interesting ideas here. The demon gets an unusual bug-eye perspective that looks pretty damn cool, and the atmosphere occasionally works. There are also a few practical effects that deserve some credit. Eyeball eating, anyone? Yummy.
The problem lies in the fact that the film is way too focused on telling rather than showing. Nothing is explained properly in terms of lore, there is very little action, and just when you are hoping for the plot to shift gears, it becomes obsessed with explaining why this particular exists.
The result is a movie with a decent concept, okay atmosphere, and some memorable imagery that gets buried under an exhausting amount of explanation.
And then there’s the sequel tease. Because Parasomnia wants another chance to put us to sleep. Not terrible, but definitely not the nightmare I was hoping for.
