In the history of film, there have been a lot of movies about physical ailments or illnesses. Also, mental disorders can be added to that. One of the only ones I haven’t seen depicted on screen has been sleepwalking. Sleep is a great horror film that deals with this mental disorder. This film is one of the most thought-out depictions of an illness or mental disorder I have ever seen. It’s so intelligently done by director Jason Yu.

Hyeon-Soo (Lee Sun-Kyun) and Soo-Jin (Jung Yu-Mi) are a happily married couple in South Korea. He is an actor and she is a stay-at-home wife who is expecting their first child together. When he starts to sleepwalk at night it starts to worry her. She’s worried about her unborn child and her own welfare. There is a little bit more to the story than meets the eye though, as the saying goes.

Jason Yu has created a story based on intelligence and science. That being said there has to be a horror element to the story to make it interesting and give fans a real reason to watch it. This film truly has that. Film fans will know there is a twist to this story. How that twist plays into the main story is one of the best things about this movie. 

Yu splits the story into three parts or rather 3 chapters. This allows for the passage of time. During this time the baby was born and the story progresses that much more. The couple tries everything including sleep drugs, a witch doctor, and separation by the couple to try to figure out what’s truly going on with this man in this apartment building. What starts to happen that is a prerequisite of the mental disorder though is it drives his wife crazy in the process of trying to figure out what’s going on.

Yu assembles a great cast for this film. One of which isn’t among the living anymore. The two leads are very well cast and they drive the story forward brilliantly. You see them progress as characters quite nicely through the 3 chapters. The various stages that the two have to endure during the process of the film are quite jarring, to say the least. This movie shows that any marriage can be saved if you work hard enough in the relationship.  This is true indigestion that love through any odds can still exist. This film proves that. Even though it’s a fictional story. It’s based on reality. 

Sleep has a story that is grounded in reality. It has scientific facts that back it up. Sleepwalking is a real problem people have and there are medical cures for it. Including drugs and other medicinal remedies. The script by Yu uses these to base his story on. He throws in the horror-centric stuff to make the story more interesting. The story is truly an original one that gave me a sense of dread while watching the movie. I was genuinely drawn to what was going on from beginning to end. Thank God though I don’t have sleeping issues though. I wouldn’t know what to do if I did.

Sleep has two great performances at the center of it. Yu grounds this story in reality with a horror twist thrown in for good measure. The horror elements were well thought out, and so were the sleepwalking aspects of the story as well. There are plenty of jump scares to go around, and horror fans will surely love the vibe and intelligence at the forefront of this South Korean horror film. The subtitles are also very easy to see and read which is a plus in foreign films. This movie deserves an audience because it’s that good.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen