Monsters creeping out of dreams and causing terror in the real world is not a new idea—even Freddy Krueger wasn’t the first to do it, though the Nightmare on Elm Street movies are still one of the trope’s greatest examples. New indie horror film Parasomnia digs into the idea with determination, and while all the pieces don’t quite fit together, there’s enough ghastly dread involved to make the film worth seeking out.
Parasomnia’s main character, Riley (The Tomorrow War’s Jasmine Mathews), has figured out a way to ward off the deeply disturbing night terrors she’s had since childhood—or so she thinks. It involves an extremely regimented bedtime routine of supplements, eye drops, avoiding alcohol, and so on, with the added paranoia of insisting everyone under the same roof dozes off before she does.
She also has the ability to make herself fall asleep almost instantly. It’s something her friends treat as a party trick, not realizing that Riley’s circadian rhythm has the potential to be weaponized. But we have a pretty good idea of how inadvertently dangerous she is, thanks to Parasomnia’s opening flashback. It takes us back a decade to see a teenage Riley slumbering through a vicious attack on the group home where she’s been living since her parents perished in an equally awful act of violence.
Coincidence, or is something supernatural afoot? Considering Riley’s foster brother David witnesses their seemingly possessed guardian chomping on human eyeballs, the latter seems entirely likely. But neither Riley nor David (played by the charismatic Stephen Barrington as an adult) really wants to believe that could be true—until they meet again in the present day and Riley’s strange affliction returns.
The less said about Parasomnia’s narrative, the better to avoid spoilers; though certain things feel very familiar about Riley’s torment, including a sequence where she becomes determined to stay awake in true Nancy Thompson style, writer-director James Ross II whips out some surprising twists as the story progresses.
Unfortunately, his script also makes some heavy-handed choices. For example, when a character makes a very specific remark early on about how they simply cannot cry, you just know that will come back around eventually. Parasomnia also exerts a lot of energy trying to detail exactly who is haunting Riley and why, with a character who drops in mostly to deliver rapid-fire exposition that feels needlessly complicated. You have to wonder: why go to the trouble to cram in all that lore if it’s too convoluted for the audience to keep up with?
It’s frustrating, because Parasomnia has plenty of spooky atmosphere and effective jump scares going for it. The performances are also well-directed, with Mathews’ fed-up, guilt-ridden protagonist a standout. Riley’s dreams take her to a creepy maze of basement rooms that evoke the last moments of the Blair Witch Project, an effect enhanced by the POV shots that accompany her freaked-out journeys across that realm.
Also, the eyeball-chomping we mentioned earlier? It becomes a theme. Many eyeballs are devoured, and it doesn’t get more delightfully, squeamishly nightmarish than that. There’s promise here, but with a more streamlined story to back it up, Parasomnia’s horror would have been even more potent.
Parasomnia arrives on Shudder starting September 4.
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