Hooptober... And Then There Were Nine

2nd Kill

Actual footage of me watching this movie. That's not a loop, by the way, I just kept doing that over and over again.

Yeah... this is some disturbing shit. Sleep Tight is aiming for similar territory as George Sluizer's The Vanishing. It doesn't hit as hard as that film (that movie's a fucking piledriver to the soul) but it is very dark stuff.

I don't want to spoil too much, but our protagonist in this film is one of the more outrageously horrendous character concepts you will ever come across. Quite exceptionally unpleasant - a being who exists only to do ill to other people. The sheer malice involved is quite breathtaking. And none of it is portrayed in a cartoon villain way - this is just a massively fucked-up individual - himself constantly on the verge of suicide throughout the film. The only thing that keeps him going is his ongoing project in ruining other peoples' lives.

In retrospect, it's a testament to Luis Tosar's outstanding performance that it's even possible to spend 90 minutes following this guy. He should trigger an immediate abandonment of the film - but maybe I'm discounting the power of our morbid curiosity (or mine at least - yeah, I have a good dollop of that, I have to admit). But somehow Tosar makes this character work as a protagonist - we never feel much sympathy for him, he's constantly repellent. But there are moments when he screws up or is close to being discovered, and this movie makes us fear for him - to hope he gets away with it, not because we agree with what he is doing, but just because the suspense is so well executed and we just react instinctively to it.

Very restrained and classy direction from Jaume Balaguero. The whole production is very well put together - well acted, beautifully shot despite being restricted to a single apartment building, lovely score as well.

I don't know what it says about me that the most unbearable thing for me in this film is the idea that this guy was using her toothbrush! If only that was the worst thing he does but...yeah...

Best Kill (may contain traces of spoiler)

Only one death, I think - a shard of glass jammed into someone's neck which results in a rather disturbing death as that character lies helpless in the bath as their heart pumps pint after pint of blood out of the jugular. As uncomfortable and dire as the rest of the film.