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| RLJE; Not Rated; 91 minutes; Amazon |
Set in the 1980s or 1990s (more on this later), Sleep No More centers around a small group of graduate students who volunteer to be to test subjects for a sleep study that's being conducted by Dr. Whatley (played by Yasmine Aker). This isn't your typical sleep study. Their goal is to prove the theory that once you've passed 200 hours without sleep, you'll never have to sleep again!
After one of the test subjects kills himself, the university wants to to close down the sleep study. Despite the objections to their research, the four remaining students, Joe (played by Keli Price), Frannie (played by Brea Grant), Dale (played by Stephen Ellis), and Holly (played by Christine Dwyer) decide to become guinea pigs under the supervision of Dr. Whatley. Dale would be the "control" of the study and the other three students would take a stay-awake type drug.
Their goal of staying awake for 200 hours comes with a price - a supernatural being, who begins tormenting the group. The longer they stay awake, the more deadly the threat becomes.
Sleep No More would make a great title for A Nightmare on Elm Street reboot, but that's just fan dreaming on my part. Instead Sleep No More is a blend of Flatliners and Stranger Things, but on a much lower budget. The acting is pretty decent, which isn't always the case with horror films. The music score was heavily influenced by Stranger Things' techno score. Yes, you could call the music either a ripoff or a homage. Nevertheless, the musical score works well here and helps give off that 1980s vibe. Speaking of dates, the year the movie is set in is never revealed, but they way everyone is dressed, as well as the music, I'm guess it takes place in the late 1980s or early 1990s.
Overall, Sleep No More is a surprisingly creepy and entertaining horror flick. It's not perfect ( FYI: There's CGI blood in one scene!), but I still enjoyed watching it.
* Note - I received a complimentary copy for this review. All opinions are my own.
