Ironically, I rented the new horror movie Slumber via iTunes and fell asleep watching it. I did not, however, suffer from sleep walking and I was not attacked by a demon while in a state of sleep paralysis. Instead, I woke up without realizing I’d missed anything… then rewound and realized I really hadn’t.
Slumber is about a family who are collectively suffering from various sleep disorders. Sleep walking, night terrors, sleep paralysis, cutting heads off dolls with garden sheers. You know, the usual. They go to a sleep clinic where their doctor doesn’t know a surprising amount about the history of sleep disorders and learns it verbally on-screen as if providing exposition to the viewer. It seems the boy has a demon attached to him and his sleep paralysis is real, yo.
This movie isn’t terrible but it’s full of horror movie cliches until you realize the trapping of real sleep disorders is just a hook for a boo fest. It does try – and sometimes succeed – at creating a dark and sinister mood but the cliches get in the way and fail the movie.
No reason to rent this one. It shares a lot of DNA with Poltergeist and Nightmare on Elm Street so might as well just watch them again.
Score: 72