Nerdly » ‘Sleep’ Blu-ray Review

18th Sep2024

‘Sleep’ Blu-ray Review

by Matthew Turner

Stars: Jung Yu-mi, Lee Sun-kyun, Kim Gook-hee | Written and Directed by Jason Yu

Just when you think it’s nigh-on impossible to put an original spin on a possession / exorcism story, along comes Korean chiller Sleep, from writer-director Jason Yu, previously an Assistant Director to Bong Joon-ho. Creepy, darkly funny, and filled with great moments, it’s -ahem- a sleeper hit in the making.

Set in present-day South Korea, the film begins in a high rise apartment, where newly pregnant office worker Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi, from Train to Busan) is awakened by her snoring actor husband Hyun-su (Parasite‘s Lee Sun-kyun, who sadly died last year). Suddenly, he sits bolt upright and announces, “Someone’s inside”, before promptly going back to sleep again.

Soo-jin investigates but finds nothing other than a nicely timed jump scare involving the cute family dog Pepper. However, Hyun-su continues to act strangely, first by scratching his face in his sleep and drawing blood, and later by sleepwalking and eating the contents of the fridge. A doctor diagnoses a sleep disorder, but when an increasingly desperate Soo-jin consults a shaman, she becomes suspicious that her husband has been possessed by the ghost of a recently deceased neighbour.

Making his feature debut, Yu proves a dab hand at mustering up decent jump scares and shock moments, but he also knows how to create an atmosphere of unsettling tension. Moreover, he knows exactly how to escalate that tension at a crucial moment, pulling off several deliciously creepy sequences as the story unfolds.

The script is superb, ensuring that there is effectively threat from both sides – Hyun-su as his sleep disorder-slash-possession becomes more and more dangerous, and Soo-jin, as she becomes more and more obsessive over the measures she takes to cure her husband. Cleverly, the film also works as a portrait of marriage that explores both positive and negative aspects, from the various anxieties experienced by each partner (the pregnancy, the inability to sleep with a snoring partner, etc) to their stated commitment to solving their problems together, as a unit (they even have a cheesy slogan to that effect, engraved in wood and hanging on their wall).

The performances are excellent. Jung Yu-mi, in particular, is superb as she conveys Soo-jin’s gradual descent into borderline madness, while Lee Sun-kyun has a good line in creepy blankness during the sleepwalking scenes. There’s also strong support from Kim Gook-hee as the pair’s neighbour, who first alerts them to the idea that something might be very, very wrong.

Aside from a couple of other briefly glimpsed locations (such as a sleep clinic or a doctor’s office), the majority of the film takes place in the couple’s apartment, adding an effective air of claustrophobia. This is heightened by some excellent production design work, particularly in the climax, where the changes to the flat are simultaneously blackly comic and genuinely creepy.

Sleep‘s most innovative aspect occurs in the thrilling final act, which puts a new spin on an overly familiar horror cliché and achieves something original and interesting as a result. In fairness, the story drags a little in the middle section, but it finishes in high style, making this well worth your time.