Sleep ~ Can You Not Sleep or Are You Possessed?
“Sleep” is a 2023 Korean movie, categorized as Action, Family, Crime and Comedy; and streaming on Disney+/Hulu.
SUMMARY: A young couple’s marriage is put to the test.
♦ There‘s Blood on the Floor. This Can’t Be a Sleep Disorder.
In “Sleep”, Soo-Jin is heavily pregnant. She should be giving birth any day now. Her husband, Hyun-Soo, told her that marriage is about tackling problems together. There is nothing that they can’t overcome if they just stay together and work it out. She believed him and she believed he believed what he said.
One night she rolled over to find him sitting up on the edge of the bed. He said, “Someone’s inside”. Soo-Jin wasn’t sure what he meant. He climbed back into bed and went to sleep, but she got up to look around the house because she heard noises. Their door was open and the wind was blowing it back and forth. She shut the door but noticed bloody paw prints on the floor. They have a little dog and it was hiding underneath the bed. That was the beginning of their nightmare.
Another morning, she woke up and Hyun-Soo’s face was bloody. When she found her dog in their refrigerator, she knew there was a serious problem. It got worse. Another night, she followed her husband while he was sleepwalking, and he started eating raw meat out of the refrigerator. This is horrific! But they’re married, and marriage is about tackling problems together.
Like any loving and dutiful wife, she got on the Internet and researched sleep disorders. Soo-Jin found a doctor and took her husband for treatment, but he didn’t get any better. Soo-Jin’s mother is old school, and she brought in a shaman. By this time, Soo-Jin had given birth to their baby girl, and the grandmother was afraid something might happen to the child. The shaman said two men were living in the house with them. Whenever her husband fell asleep, the other man would possess him. The shaman said she couldn’t help drive out the ghost because she needed a name. Soo-Jin needed to find out who he was.
Initially, Soo-Jin and Hyun-Soo dismissed the shaman’s words as nonsense. But as time passed the environment in the home with Soo-Jin and their baby became dangerous. The medical treatment was not working. WHAT IF the shaman is right? Soo-Jin searched for the men she dated before they got married, but they were all alive. So who is this “other man” that had invaded their lives? He killed their dog. Does he plan to harm or kill their baby? Oh no! That’s not going to happen!
Soo-Jin’s mama bear instincts kicked in. She believed that marriage was about tackling problems together. But Hyun-Soo didn’t believe that he was being possessed, AND her baby’s life is in danger. If she can’t get the ghost to LEAVE and go to the next world, he might kill their daughter, AND they are going to live with him until they die! The ghost may be a supernatural being now, but he was once a human. There has to be a reason why he doesn’t want to leave this world, and there has to be a way to MAKE HIM LEAVE WHETHER HE WANTS TO OR NOT! It’s mama bear against the ghost.
Main Characters:
Viewership and Rating:
- IMDb: 6.6 out of 10 stars
- My Drama List: 7.5 out of 10 stars
- Letterboxd: 3.4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon customers rated the film: 4.3 out of 5 stars
My personal rating is the same as Letterboxd.
The movie “Sleep” is very interesting. Lot of reviewers shared their critique. The female lead won Best Actress – 2023 (44th) Blue Dragon Film Awards. Sadly, the male lead passed away tragically on December 27, 2023, at the age of 48. His death was ruled a suicide.
NOTE: Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) is real but relatively rare. Ghost possession is kind of IFFY. There are no scientifically verified cases, but there are a couple of famous stories. For example, the case of Anneliese Michel in Germany and the story of Anna Ecklund in the United States.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
‘Sleep’ Review: Husbands Go Bump in the Night in Korean Ghost Story | Variety
Unseen Terrors: The Slow Unraveling of Trust in ‘Sleep’ | The Asian Cut
Review: Jason Yu’s ‘Sleep’ Is A Near-Perfect Horror Comedy | Vulture
“Sleep” Review: A Sleepless Thriller That Thrives on Paranoia and Friction | VIEW OF THE ARTS
TRAILER/TEASER:
Magnolia Pictures &. Magnet Releasing. “Sleep – Official Trailer.” YouTube, 14 Aug. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yww5bCIChM.
♦
