Raindance Film Festival 2024: Sleep

Sleep; the South Korean horror movie that will ensure you get absolutely none for the foreseeable future. Jason Yu’s directorial debut brings together the pressures of modern family life and the world of the supernatural into an entirely new, spiritual concoction that will chill you to the core.

Soo-Jin (Jung Yu-mi) and Hyun-Su (Lee Sun-kyun) will soon be welcoming their first child into the world and everything is set for them to make the transition from a family of two to three. Hyun-Su is a successful actor who cringes at the mere sight of himself on screen, but his wife Soo-Jin his biggest cheerleader and support blanket. One night she notices her husband begin to sleepwalk and hurt himself in the process. At first, the couple think nothing of it, but before long, Hyun-Su’s actions become far more sinister, and when his medication leads to no successful changes, Soo-Jin begins searching for more unorthodox methods of curing her husband.

Sleep focuses less on traditional jump scares, but steadily cranks up the tension and uncertainty, as we see from Soo-Jin’s perspective her husband transform into someone unrecognisable. The fear comes not from seeing any ghosts, but from the unpredictability that comes from not knowing what a possessed sleepwalker might do next. In a classic horror flick, the viewer finds themselves praying for the daylight to arrive, but in Sleep, it is the sunshine that reveals what disturbing activities have been taking place in the darkness.

Full credit is due to Jung Yu-mi and Lee Sun-kyun for their performances in this movie. Whether asleep or not, they are present in practically every scene and it is on them to carry this drama home, a challenge they both more than rise to. Jung Yu-mi tells a thousand emotions solely through her facial expressions, as she descends into her own world of paranoia and insanity, while Lee Sun-kyun must play two characters; the loving husband slowly getting swallowed by fear and hopelessness, and the alter-ego that is taking a hold of his body.

Horror is by no means an easy genre to harness, but Sleep is an effective debut from Yu. Told in three chapters, the film makes excellent use of the liminal space in which it is set and the claustrophobic nature of the family home only builds the tension with each passing night. What could be worse than a violent sleepwalker in a small apartment with a newborn baby? The movie is wrapped up a little too nicely in a bow by the end with a climax that proves quite underwhelming, and there are a few illogical moments that are cast away into the shadows, but nonetheless Sleep makes for an endearing and disturbing watch thanks to the performances of its lead duo.

Guy Lambert

Sleep is released in select cinemas on 11^th July 2024. For more information about Raindance Film Festival, visit their website here.

Watch the trailer for Sleep here: