Director: Rodney Ascher
Year Released: 2015
Rating: 2.0
Ascher - who made the truly out-there Room 237 (in which fans of Kubrick's The Shining use it for their own crackpot ideas and interpretations) - gathers together eight people who suffer from a horrifying condition called 'sleep paralysis' in which, while in slumber, they can't move and are tormented by shadowy beings. The people he interviews are convincing in their description of what they feel happens to them, however the 'recreations' of the events are unintentionally funny/bordering on camp and the total absence of medical professionals/sleep experts is a major detriment to the project as a whole. "Chris C." is a captivating narrator - he's loquacious and genuinely intrigued by his 'disorder' - though the rest are less philosophical about it. I get the feeling Ascher is trying to be the next Chris Marker, but that's (a.) a lofty goal and (b.) it's going to take more than cheap scare tactics to even get close to Marker's use and understanding of the medium.
