Parasomnia (2008)

A horror-thriller centered on a woman (Wilson) suffering from a medical condition that causes her to sleep her life away, waking briefly on rare occasions.

Director:

William Malone

Writer:

William Malone

Stars:

Dylan Purcell, Patrick Kilpatrick, Jeffrey Combs

Cast

Credited cast:
Dylan Purcell	...	Danny Sloan
Patrick Kilpatrick	...	Byron Volpe
Jeffrey Combs	...	Detective Garrett
Cherilyn Wilson	...	Laura Baxter
Timothy Bottoms	...	Dr. Corso
Janet Tracy Keijser	...	Sara
Kathryn Leigh Scott	...	Nurse Evans
Brennan Bailey	...	Danny - Age 8
Dov Tiefenbach	...	Billy
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alison Brie	...	Darcy
Katherine Carlsberg	...	Miranda
Serah D'Laine	...	Pretty Young Nurse (as Sarah Laine)
Madison Davenport	...	Young Laura
Jeff Doucette	...	Detective Conroy
Mekita Faiye	...	Nurse / receptionist

Storyline

In "Parasomnia," a stylish horror/thriller from director William Malone ("House on Haunted Hill," "Masters of Horror,") Laura Baxter is a young woman, literally a "sleeping beauty," who suffers from a medical condition called "parasomnia." A childhood accident victim, she is actually sleeping her life away, awakening briefly on rare occasions. Art student Danny Sloan falls in love with her, unaware that her hospital neighbor, a terrifying mass murderer and mesmerist named Byron Volpe has other, more sinister plans. Sloan helps Laura escape from her hospital prison only to discover that Volpe is about to enter her dreams.

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Plot Keywords:

blood | female nudity | self mutilation | massacre | female killer | 

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Genres:

Horror | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 October 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Das Dornröschen-Massaker

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Luminous Processes, Rising Storm Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min 103 min (European Film Market)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director William Malone funded the entire project himself.

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Goofs

While Danny is searching for information on Volpe, his screen clearly shows that he is browsing local files rather than internet pages.

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Quotes

Byron Volpe: Shes mine in time, in time shes mine.

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Crazy Credits

This film is dedicated to Mom and Dad

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Connections

References Frankenstein (1931)

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Soundtracks

"Entrance of the Montagues and Capulets"
(uncredited)
from the ballet music to "Romeo and Juliet"
Written by Sergei Prokofiev

User Reviews

Tick... tick... tick...

Initially when I picked up "Parasomnia" from Amazon, it was simply because Jeffrey Combs is in the movie. But I must admit that I didn't particularly have any expectations to it, as I had never heard about the movie before, and happened to come across it by sheer luck.

Having seen it now, I must admit that I am positively surprised, because the movie turned out to be quite interesting, and had some really interesting visuals and some disturbing images and ideas. And that was really something new and fresh to see, and it helped the movie quite a lot.

The story is about young art student Danny Sloan (played by Dylan Purcell) who comes across Laura Baxter (played by Cherilyn Wilson) who is suffering from 'parasomnia'. Laura is in a health facility where the dangerous mass-murdering mentalist/hypnotist Byron Volpe (played by Patrick Kilpatrick). Byron is in love with Laura and Danny's clever plan to help Laura escape from the hospital sets in motion a murderous rage in Byron. With police detective Garrett (played by Jeffrey Combs) on the case, time is slowly ticking out for Danny, as the police and the dangerous murderer is closing in on him.

Despite the story seeming like it is fairly standard and generic, it does offer something unique and interesting to the horror genre. And it is well worth watching, if not for anything else, then for the visuals alone; because there are some rather disturbing images and visuals throughout the movie.

The people cast for the movie did good jobs with their given roles, and it was nice to see some new faces on the screen, and have them do good jobs with their characters.

For horror and thriller fans alike, then "Parasomnia" is definitely worth watching, and I was thoroughly entertained by it.