Slumber (I) (2017) User Reviews

Bad dreams

[Fancytower · 5/10 · 26 August 2018]

If you are like me, you just want to be entertained for a few hours and Slumber fits the bill. Slumber isn't an awful movie, it isn't a great movie but the production is good and the acting is good. Not a bad way to spend a few hours.

Great concept, falls short.

[amandakociszewski · 4/10 · 7 May 2018]

The concept of a doctor studying demons during sleep paralysis could create a very strong plot; although there was very little climax in this film. The main actress was talented, the supporting actors were not bad as well. With that being said, the scenes were repetitious, and not very scary. I also wish they wouldve touched on the scientific side of these studies, instead of a google search: Folklore. Giving it a 4 because of a clever premise but in the end, lacked backing it up. Not a bad film if you want to be entertained but not frightened.

Had a real potential...

[Just-A-Girl-14 · 5/10 · 30 August 2019]

The idea of a demon attacking people in their sleep causing nightmares and sleepwalking is very interesting. Could be really scary since we all have to sleep and we all have our own fears. Unfortunately, this movie is a big disappointment. I like to watch horror movies at night (most scary) and in this one, somewhere around the middle of the movie, I literally fell asleep. The first half was mostly boring and the second half was missing some real action and a good solution. I also didn't feel any real connection to the main characters. No real character development. It wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen. It was just very mediocre and the ending was very predictable. Shame! I think that with a better script and probably a bigger budget someone can make a real good movie out of this idea. Good luck next time!

I wanted to like this...

[handsomebwonderfull · 3/10 · 3 December 2017]

1st off it should be said that I wanted to like this movie as it had a good concept. I have actually been through a sleep study before, and so I was intrigued when I first heard about Slumber.

The movie started out OK but quickly took a turn towards unrealistic nonsense. When I say unrealistic I am not referring to anything supernatural as this is a horror movie and as such the perfect place for all things supernatural. What I am referring to is the writing for one, and the acting for another. The acting can be forgiven as this is a lower budgeted movie with a mostly unknown cast, but that does not excuse the writing.

I take great issue when people do, or say things in films that are simply out of the realm of possibility. Things that are just outright stupid bother me...

-----------------SPOILERS AHEAD------------------

One of these things that just made me scream at my TV after seeing it was when the family spends their 1st night at the sleep centre. It doesn't take long before they begin sleepwalking etc... The 2 technicians Alice & Dr? (who were both away from their monitoring posts)hear screams and quickly go to investigate. They run into the room only to find everyone out of bed except for the son Daniel. They run over to Daniel and look at his chest and see bruises in the shape of a hand print. They then look to the daughter who is standing in a corner quietly humming to herself. When Alice approaches her the father springs out of the shadows and begins choking her. After some struggling the father is subdued by a janitor who just happened to be passing by, and in the next scene we see the father is being handcuffed and led away by the police. Alice tells the Dr. that she believes the father was sleepwalking the whole time, and the Dr. replies that it doesn't matter "you saw the bruises on that boys chest etc..."

So the 2 major things that I take issue with here are 1. The bruise on the boys chest was clearly a hand print, it's also very clear that it was a very tiny hand print, there's noway it was made by the hand of that father. Any police officer, or especially a Dr. would notice this right away.

And 2. I have taken a sleep study before and they monitor EVERYTHING, that includes video taping you while you sleep. It's even mentioned in the movie that there are cameras filming them the whole time, so Why on earth wouldn't they just review the tapes to see what had actually happened??? In real life that would have been the very 1st thing done.

You cannot become, or remain immersed in a movie when logic is just thrown out the window, and unfortunately Slumber is just filled with one head scratching moment after another. I think I'm being quite generous by giving this a 3/10.

What a mess !

[Harfy · 2/10 · 16 September 2018]

Ok. This one is full of nonsenses.

1. A woman is a sleep doctor. She's working day and night. Wait...when does she sleep ? 2. They study people in special bedrooms, and said "there are cameras inside". Wait...no mic ? No motion detector ? 3. It's legit to have all doctors to leave the screens survey, both. 4. Looks like they have a few patients to study. However, they are only two : a man and a woman. Go to 5. 5. As they can have to study men too, they don't think to have a few strong male nurses. In case of a father becoming fierce during his sleep. 6. A janitor is always standing behind the door in case of emergency. 7. Yup, a janitor can save the day if you are a stupid doctor. 8. A disturbed old man has the key of the riddle. 9. The ending twist may leave you dubitative. 10. Watch this if you wanna to fall asleep fast.

"A nightmare on Elm Street" and "Darkness falls" are way more better than Dumber.

Don't go to that sleep clinic

[steve-667-10190 · 3/10 · 15 January 2019]

SLIGHT SPOILER.

Other reviews sum it up perfectly. I'll simply add that I can't understand how a professional director could watch the finished product and not rethink the stupidity the doctors show. You'd watch the flipping video before you had the guy locked up. I mean jeez!!

I'd have rated this much higher as I actually got some scared out of it. Liked the Morgan family.

What a mess

[giannakopoulosgn · 2/10 · 28 September 2018]

This movie is the perfect example of an great idea being poorly executed.

Without going into details, the movie does not seem to know what it wants to do with its story, which character to focus on, and most importantly the ending seems so rushed and incomplete, like the whole team just run out of ideas for the most important part of the film.

Some good acting moments clearly do not save an overall boring horror film. 2/10

Waste of time

[Njinked · 2/10 · 1 December 2017]

Possible slight spoilers; This movie is just like any other movie regarding sleep paralysis, tying in what evil may lurk in the shadows at night. It was wayyy too dragged out., it actually made me want to fall asleep and hope a demon saved me from the boredom. The acting was good, I'll give it that much,, but the story was so typical and everything about this movie was predictable.

I want to give it a 6.5/10

[steven-rick-garcia · 7/10 · 30 April 2018]

I liked the idea of a horror movie based on sleep paralysis. It's completely different from nightmares while you're actually asleep and dreaming, so it's nice to see a new spin on it.

Maggie Q is great as always. The other actors are decent. Child actors are pretty standard child actors (nothing spectacular). The story drags along a bit slowly for my tastes but it is acceptable for me. However, there are a lot of pitfalls in terms of common sense in this movie that it's not quite right. Not a movie I'd recommend specifically, but if someone was looking through some movies and asked me, I'd tell them I'd watch it. Not a bad movie, just not a good one either.

SPOILER ALERT

My biggest criticism has to be the janitor and his father. It seems really randomly inserted and doesn't really quite fit in my opinion. They do not provide answers. They don't know more than what we all know. This is followed up by scenes where they're all just sitting there not doing anything. And the way the whole sequence happened with each individual's nightmares.. it just paints the family as incredibly weak willed and selfish. They even let a random stranger die instead of their kid.

And in the end, they let the doctor get taken away into a mental hospital? You've got to be kidding me. She saves their kid and that's how they repay her?

Not an impressive addition to the horror genre...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 12 June 2018]

This horror movie really had potential. Especially since its plot was so interesting.

But a failure to bring the horror to life on the screen resulted in a very flaccid and monotonous horror movie that offered nothing much of any interesting to anyone, unless this is the first time you watch a horror movie.

Maggie Q was performing quite well in "Slumber", and she managed to render the movie bearable to watch.

There is a frightening lack of scares in the movie, and the night hag looked interesting the first time you saw it in the hallway, then it just became a mediocre CGI creation after that.

This horror movie offers nothing worthwhile to the horror genre.

A movie about sleep doctors who can't stay awake

[no_vampires_here · 3 December 2017]

Why does everyone in this movie is far away from that poor kid every time he needs them? Also.. -- plot hole -- -- plot hole -- -- plot hole -- oh and... -- plot hole -- -- plot hole -- -- plot hole -- OK I'm done.

What a garbage!

Thought provoking

[ant36au · 8/10 · 28 December 2017]

As a sleep paralysis sufferer this was an interesting and thought provoking movie for me from a historical point of view.One reviewer stated that they couldn't get past the first minute of the movie,well,their loss,and why are you writing a review of a movie you never watched,pointless and a little narcissistic. The acting could at times be a little over the top but overall was good and didn't detract from the movie at all,special effects were basic but well done basic,proving not everything has to have a big bang to draw the audience in and creep them out.The ending was good and wasn't something I was expecting but came as no surprise.I have no qualms in recommending this movie to anyone who doesn't mind a horror movie that isn't dripping in blood and slashed up naked women.A solid 8 out of 10 from me.

With a higher budget and better actors it could have been much better.

[deloudelouvain · 6/10 · 14 October 2018]

Slumber isn't a great horror movie , far from, but for most part of the movie I've been entertained. The concept of the movie is good, but it clearly could have been much better with a bit more effort and a higher budget. The monster or demon is poorly done, just a bit of shadow, so there it failed a bit. The acting was okay for some actors and poor for others, no-one of those actors will ever be Oscar winning actors. It's the story that keeps the movie entertaining, with some good suspense. The story is inspired by true events, at least that's what they say, but I have serious doubts about that. All in all I was entertained for a good part of the movie, besides the end part then.

Instead of 'Slumber' it should have been 'Sleeper'

[purcilia · 3/10 · 14 December 2017]

I found myself trying to stay awake watching this one

Gets it all wrong

[Void-Horizon · 4/10 · 3 October 2018]

As a person who has suffered from sleep paralysis and parasomnia, I can tell you that this movie is a real stretch. Obviously, the writer was attempting to make a Hollywood-style movie out of something they don't know much about, but completely missed the opportunity to depict the true creepiness of the phenomena. It loosely bases some of the events off of real history, but tries too hard to cram it all together into a worthwhile plot. It would be better to leave it unanswered, and mysterious. The ending sorta fit with the history, of people being made to commit acts of violence on its behalf. However, it's unlikely the woman would get locked up. One guy, who killed his wife in his sleep, beat the rap, since he had a history of dealing with it. There are documentaries on the subject which are far more entertaining. Actually, even a little more scary. It's not bad, as far as Hollywood b-rated horrors go. I've seen worse. However, it's lame crap, like this, which is why I don't often enjoy horror movies. They try too hard to scare you, when they are often more successful when they aren't even trying. There's an old saying which says that if you try to be scary, you'll never scare anyone.

Disappointed

[nicci1972 · 5/10 · 26 March 2020]

This movie definitely had potential. Unfortunately, they really pushed it with 1. The doctor not believing in monsters after what happened to her brother 2. The sleep doctors being completely out of the room and 3. The dad going to jail - seriously. They could have made the doctor a believer much to the disappointment of her staff. They should have resolved the whole movie in a different way. Oh and I forgot, 5. You are a SLEEP Doctor and your child is drawing the eeriest I have seen and you don't even ponder 🤔 it? Un - Be - Lievable. Everything about the mechanics of the movie was fine but the writing needed more thought.

By the sheep ... I mean numbers

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 9 September 2020]

If you've seen a couple of horror movies, nothing much will surprise you in this. "Twists" are not really there - not even in the ending. I'm surprised some would call it a twist or "reveal". It is actually pretty obvious, I didn't for a moment think anything else was going on.

So this is decent overall, with shock effects and a story that is easy to follow. Based on something real - there are quite a few things we can't explain that happen when we sleep. Which can make the mind make up stuff quite easily ... or is it not made up? Well whatever you may think of such fantasy and horror, will determine if you're entertained or not

Deadly slumber

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 30 May 2018]

Saw 'Slumber', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching it.

Unfortunately, despite not reading any reviews purposefully before watching, am going to have to agree that 'Slumber' isn't too good, though not terrible. A film that started off good, but ran out of steam very quickly and rapidly got worse by a second half that makes one not want to keep watching. Never judge a film without seeing the whole thing and wanted to give 'Nails', so gave it a fair chance.

'Slumber's' best assets were the first fifteen-twenty minutes, starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue.

Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere.

The setting is effectively spooky and the acting was better than average, Sylvester McCoy and Honor Kneafsey giving the best performances.

However, so much brings 'Slumber' down. The direction is so phoned in and pedestrian, one gets the sense that the director showed no interest in the film at all. Would have liked more chemistry between the actors, which can be put down to directing, tending to have interactions that are both static and awkward, and writing, which really doesn't flow, issues.

Where 'Slumber' most underwhelms is the writing and story. The far too exposition-heavy writing is incredibly lazy, it's awkward in dialogue, very confused as a result of not tying things up or going into full detail and doesn't feel complete. The story suffers from a very limp pace after the first fifteen minutes and gets slower and slower until an interminably dragged out second half.

It further suffers from feeling too much like a short film stretched out with a lot of useless padding, too many things that don't make sense or under-explained and tiresome repetition. The characters are nowhere near interesting enough, and the inconsistent and illogical motivations bring them down.

For a film billed as a horror, there is very little interesting and nothing remotely scary. They are too few and are far too predictable, anaemic and weakly timed to make impact, with the dull pacing and obvious sound effects cheapening them significantly. 'Slumber' doesn't engage let alone thrill, the film started off very well but feels wasted by how quickly everything runs out of steam. The ending is an anti-climactic head-scratcher, like the script it feels incomplete and making sense of it was extremely difficult.

Overall, mediocre but with good points that stop it from being worse. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Better than Valium

[nsrporfirio · 2/10 · 4 April 2018]

Watch this dull if you have troubles to fall a sleep, trust me, its way better than any other drug. It starts with a good premise on a real problem but soon it all morphs in a dull-slow paced- scareless- over the top acting mess. Maggie Q does her part effectively but the remain cast seem like they were taken out of the Muppet Show. Terrible acting. All in all a two stars rating for Maggie Q´s performance, and for my afternoon nap.

Decent horror

[gil-191-414728 · 7/10 · 29 November 2017]

I was pleasantly surprised at this flick as I was not sure what to expect since there wasn't a review yet. I'm not actually going to put any spoilers in, so you can read on without fear.

Basically a new twist on another recent, terrible film about sleep paralysis. This one is worth watching though, I promise.

The acting is very good all the way around and although there were a couple of plot holes, they're forgivable.

One thing I would throw out to the film makers is that I think they made a mistake in offering up too much of the story right off of the bat by somewhat pre-explaining what was going to happen. I think it would have been better to be more vague about the description and let the viewer discover what was happening.

Glaring flaws ruin this one.

[Winter_Stardust · 2/10 · 28 February 2018]

While the overall premise of a sleep demon is pretty interesting, the execution is terrible. The film can't decide whether to follow Alice's story, or the family's story and it bounces between the two. To be honest I don't recommend this one at all.

They Nailed It!

[Vivibs · 10/10 · 1 December 2017]

I'v never written a review before but i really want horror fans to watch! The first Horror for the year that deserves some good recognition. It's a solid 10 all the way. Acting was perfect by most, story-line realistic and ENDING, ill say no more. Give it a try promise you won't be disappointed!

Enjoyed it mostly

[jedaaa · 6/10 · 2 December 2017]

I really liked how this film took the time to introduce the characters and what was going on.by the time things started happening you're very invested in everything. it was shot well, acted well (for the most part, i'll get to that in a second) it did suffer a bit from some poor CGI that would have been better just left out all together for a 'what you can't see is always scarier than what you can see' kind of effect.

But...what has to be the reason this film is missing an entire point or star if you will, it the absolutely TERRIBLE performance of the absolutely TERRIBLE character Amado played by former DR Who actor Sylvester McCoy. thankfully he's hardly in it. Maggie should have won an Oscar just for keeping a straight face opposite him. but it is an over all decent horror film that values tension over cheap scares.

So much potential!!

[Patient444 · 5/10 · 3 December 2017]

This movie was so close to perfection! It had an awesome plot, with very good details, good actors&acting, and I simply must pay more praise to the premise!

The story seems familiar at first, then it starts to grow, slowly, it makes its own set of rules, it becomes better as I get more and more intrigued. Even tho it is shorter than your usual only 1h:20 minutes, it gives the impression that it's going to deliver! When the ending does arrive, you'll feel so disappointed!

How could they build such a great atmosphere and not go all the way? It becomes so obvious that you almost want to skip to the end and see if it's going to happen the way you think it will. And its exactly what it does. A lovely little story that no one bothered to finish it properly and we are left hanging there, asking What happened? Is this it? Is there an alternative ending Slumber out there? Cause I want to see that!

This movie goes hand in hand with Before I Wake, another close to masterpiece horror that failed to deliver even tho it managed to have a much better and complex story than what we are given today.

Cheers!

Why would they do that?

[evemas-am · 4/10 · 9 December 2017]

The movie could have been better. It was neither boring, nor was it scary enough. I don't mean to complain a lot, but since IMDb requires 5+ lines for each review. I have no choice but to criticize the movie even further.So, here it is: I liked the character development of the main characters. However, there was one person that I could not understand: the old man. I mean, was he intentionally portrayed as a funny and weird guy that said awkward stuff, or was he supposed to be the wise and mysterious guy who would eventually save the day? To me, his character was not suitable enough for a horror movie (Of course, I have seen comedy in some well-known horror series such as The Conjuring that worked perfectly). But this guy...he was way too awkward. And it was probably because of his crudely designed personality that I felt nothing when he died. For me, it was more of a "Oh thank God the weird guy is out of the picture, literally" rather than a "oh no, the wise man died, but as a hero".

Also, plot and everything else aside, please do not leave your child with a man you just met. Even if your house is infested with demons. Thank you!