User Reviews

Short review: Watching a film called 'Sleep' late at night seems like a challenging task. Luckily the film was so good that even watching characters drift off at that hour didn't make me too envious. I was really impressed with this film and what it managed to get out of the concept.

I loved that the film never felt safe. There was one scene involving a boiling pot. Now a lot of the time in most movies you wouldn't even consider the implication a possibility. Here though, it felt possible and I saw some hands go to mouths (mine included). This film is even made in such a crafty way that it is able to pull off and make exciting a PowerPoint presentation late in the film. Also the two lead actors turn in great performances that help elevate the film. This was a good one. 8.5/10.

Sleep has probably one of the best premises for a horror film that I've ever seen. The idea of the person sharing your bed doing strange and sometimes terrifying things in their sleep is almost a *primal* fear, something inherent to every and anyone who shares a bed with their partner: "What are they doing in their sleep? Am I safe with this person next to me?"

It's such a brilliant concept, that the movie almost writes itself. And that's the thing...this movie needs better writing. There's something missing from the narrative, undoubtedly there to keep the mystery and ambiguity the entire way through, but it feels like the script needed a bit more complexity. I wished the characters and their relationship was fleshed out, that we learned more about them and their dynamics, to help really generate discussion as to what's going on. I wish an unseen and unheard character didn't have such an impact on the narrative; someone who is only mentioned a couple of times and very briefly. The film also jumps forward in time at several points for no apparent reason...it raises more questions than answers and I get the sense that no one knew how to address some of these plot holes.

It's a shame, because there's so much about this movie that works. It's very scary at times, generating enormous tension that you can cut through with a knife. And there's a wonderful bait-n-switch where your perspective on what's going on is tested and it's a juicy prospect. The film also has a wicked sense of humour and that always helps with otherwise very dark subject matter.

The performances are also quite excellent; Jung Yu Min in particular carries a lot of this movie on her shoulders and she's absolutely EXCELLENT. I just felt like all the other characters weren't fleshed out enough for me to really connect with them. Korean horror is renowned for its character work, slow pace, and shocking twists. I wish this movie took its time more and did a bit more world building. At a scant 95 minutes, it certainly could've used another 15-20 minutes to do that, and it wouldn't have made the movie worse.

However, I can't pretend like this isn't a good time. The film is creepy, effective, and again, just has that killer premise that's inherently good. Is it perfect? No. Could it have been even better? I suspect so. But given this is Jason Yu's first film, it's not a bad debut at all.

A fine debut thriller from Jason Yu. It was shown in Cannes and was pretty well received by critics. Now, after finally seeing it, I'll be joining those who recommend it.

This is a playful exercise in subverting genre expectations. The premise uses horror tropes in interesting ways, without succumbing to overwrought melodrama or clichés. A lot can be said about its expert direction; Yu finely balances humor and horror, and the script mischievously makes you question whether what you're seeing is paranormal or psychological in nature. He is enormously helped by Lee Sun-kyun (a formidable actor at this point) and the always lovely Jang Yu-mi. Their couple has loads of chemistry that is utilized to great effect.

Also, the short-ish runtime of 94 minutes ensures no minute is wasted and no plot point unnecessarily protracted. A hearty recommendation if you like your thrillers twisted and adventurous.

Jam (or Sleep for the English title) is another good movie from South-Korea. Definitely one of my favourite countries when it's about movies. Writer/director Jason Yu made an easy to follow and entertaining movie. Categorized on here as a comedy horror mystery thriller. You can remove comedy and horror as it was neither of those two. Mysterious it was for sure, thrilling as well. Good suspense keeps you focussed all the time. The small cast, only four different actors, were very believable in their roles. The proof you don't need a big cast or a big budget to make a decent movie. Worth a watch.

There is no jump scare, but how 'Sleep' manipulates my fear, uncertainty, and anxiety is something else. It's a kind of horror that I can watch without getting too scared, but I cannot go to sleep, thinking about the whole movie over and over in my head. The situation in the movie might seem extreme, but sleep disorder, noise between floors, and postpartum depression are very much realistic social problems and very much modern problems as well. They are almost tangible, and you hear about them everyday. Three things combined in the movie, the ending is not that extreme anymore, and it's scarier because it can happen to me, too.

How the director uses lighting and composition makes the movie more intense. Before the wife is affected by husband's abnormal behavior during REM sleep, lighting is shed in front of her face. However, once she starts to lose control of her reasons and mental health, the lighting moves to the back of her head, increasing the eerie atmosphere and highlighting the sudden change.

I like Korean movies and tv shows, but this wasn't very good.

The story has a grain of a good idea, but it isn't developed very well and at times is laughably bad.

The acting is fine without being great, but the direction is mediocre and fails to bring any truly scary scenes.

The story starts off well and has an intriguing set up but it fails to deliver on the early promise. It doesn't build any tension and the ending is a bit of a dud. It's a shame because I think Korea has been making some great horror movies.

Train to Busan and The Wailing are Korean horror movies worth watching. I can't say the same for Sleep.

Had the pleasure of seeing the screening at Cannes FIlm Festival. It blends horror and comedy perfectly. This was definitely my top 3 films I saw at Cannes and even surpassed those with bigger and higher budgets. With anything new and Korean made I have to go see it. They truly are a talented nation with coming up with new and interesting ideas to keep a modern audience hooked. I would defiantly recommend seeing this when released. Lots of the audience were pleasantly surprised and the reactions were priceless. From story, to acting, to editing and sound. It was a deliciously well crafted film, one that will keep you (mind the pun) to not be able to 'Sleep.'

From the beginning to end, there were an enormous amount of plot holes and missed opportunities. Lots of the characters' decisions were of the eye-rolling variety such as in the 1980s slasher movies where everyone decides to split up (instead of sticking together) in order to find a serial killing maniac. The same sort of knuckle-headed logic dogged the exposition of this movie. Character development is almost non-existent to the extent that by the finale you don't care who comes out dead or alive. Granted, it has a nice look and good pace but when the story fails to generate enough suspension of belief to make it engaging, there's not enough left to enjoy.

Terrific premise for a movie that really delivers - sure the cliched horror movie scares run through much of the film but everything is performed in such an imaginative and inventive way that you are fascinated - engaged - and thoroughly frightened - Sleep has a great premise - two loving individuals have their world turned upside down by the husbands sleep walking - sleep walking that turns into a horror show as the film moves forward - is he having a psychotic break ? Is it really a sleep disorder ? Or is there something more sinister in the works? Who is the really crazy person here? Noone is safe as the movie progresseses..and while an overall simple movie it is powerful in its delivery - with characters that are very well developed - and two dogs that are essential to the overall plot - and a power drill - enough said - Lots of fun! Delivers the goods !!

In South Koreans 2023 horror movie sleep a young woman is startled by her husband's unsettling behavior during his sleep. He starts rocking around eating raw meat from the fridge and even tries to jump out of the window but as soon as she wakes them up he doesn't remember a thing. At some point the woman gets pregnant and she starts to get really worried that her husband is going to harm her little daughter. The movie puts the viewer in front of a difficult decision because on one hand you follow the wife who is understandably worried and you can and courage her decisions to a certain point but on the other hand you feel bad for the husband who is not aware of his cruel behavior when he is sleepwalking. The performance is by both lead actors are solid even though it is hard to rate them based on the foreign language, but their physical acting was good and the characters were believable. This story was interesting and unique but still didn't manage to entertain me for the 94 minutes run time. I like South Korean cinema and I was looking forward to this movie but in all honesty I was pretty bored at times. Overall I would say this is an interesting topic and this movie would definitely have its fans but for me it was just a decent watch. [5,4/10]

Sleep isn't a masterpiece but it's a pretty good debut from Jason Yu with strong directing, interesting writing and great performances from the cast members. Yu's direction and writing does a pretty good job on balancing out the tones of comedy and horror and creating a good sense of tense and terrifying atmospheres surrounding the setting and characters. The main premise is definitely very interesting as I don't see many movies focus on horror elements regarding sleepwalking or so forth. The narrative, while does have some faults and could have explored certain aspects a little more, is solid with good dialogue and executions being satisfying.

All of the performances are really good as each of the cast members does a good job on performing their characters. The soundtrack, production sets and the dialogue is pretty good too. While some depth in the characters could have been explored a bit, I found the characters to be entertaining to observe. There are some moments that were well-executed, especially a scene regarding PowerPoint's that was really entertaining. On the structure, the movie is a slow-burn but not once the movie felt slow or dull.

Overall, I am impressed with Jason Yu's first feature. No doubt there are some flaws but Yu's talent is pretty impressive enough to not overshadow the entire movie. I look forward to see what Jason Yu can offer in the future with his talents.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. I'm a very light sleeper, so I can't relate to sleepwalking and problems that occur during deep sleep really, but this one really pulled me in and had some genuinely creepy moments. If you're a dog lover like me just a heads up that there are a couple scenes that may be triggering.

From what I understand this is Jason Yu's debut film and in my opinion that's very impressive. I hope to see more movies from him in the future. If you're a horror fan I highly recommend this one and that you do what I did and watch it at night as there are a lot of dimly lit scenes. This is a 8.5/10 to me.

How to avoid an overflow of spoilers while expressing respect for this film? This is the kind of horror that gets inside your head and sets up housekeeping for a long, long time after the credits roll. Personally this is a far scarier film than any slasher flick overflowing with screamers, knives and masked lunatics. Why? Jung Yu-mi's performance for one--this is obvious as she delivers a believable transformation of the wife. Then there's Lee Sun-kyun's equally solid performance of a different sort--as loving husband/father willing to go the extra mile to overcome obstacles together. If you're not wondering what's really going on with him by the end then that's on you, not Lee. What a great pair of performances which unfortunately will not be repeated. Much respect.

It's always gratifying when a horror film truly lives up to its billing (especially given how many awful releases there are in this genre), but that's because this debut feature from writer-director Jason Yu qualifies in the more ambitious "smart horror" branch of this category. The filmmaker's first outing tells an entertaining, suspenseful and often quite humorous tale that serves up its share of good frights (without becoming gratuitous) while simultaneously and metaphorically giving audiences something to think about on a seemingly unrelated topic - the challenges of marriage. That's quite a lot to tackle in one picture, but the director handles it capably through a well-constructed, tightly packaged narrative that seamlessly and effectively integrates gasps with laughs, often doing so without becoming silly, obvious or predictable. This offering follows a young couple (Jung Yu-mi, Lee Sun-kyun) whose lives get turned upside down when mysterious nighttime, sleep disorder-related occurrences begin happening in their apartment, events that threaten the well-being of their marriage and prompt them to go to great lengths to resolve these issues, frequently at great cost to the health and future of their relationship. The intensity builds steadily, but the director skillfully injects measured changes in direction and well-placed humor to deflate the shocks as a means to not playing his hand too soon. The result is a captivating watch that holds viewer interest through its economically orchestrated 1:35:00 runtime. It's indeed rare that I heartily recommend horror flicks, but I'll gladly do it for this one, both for its entertainment value and the insightful advice it offers to all the married couples out there. Hang in there, folks - as this film shows, things always have the potential to get better, no matter how dire they may look and how much resilience must be put into working them out, even if there are a few scares - and laughs - along the way.