Slumber | Film review - Sleep thriller won't give you nightmares

(Image credit: Signature Entertainment)

Welcome to the Original Nightmare.

Only mildly scary, soporific horror movie Slumber stars Maggie Q as a briskly rational sleep therapist who has to abandon her scientific scepticism after she comes across a troubled family – husband, wife and two small children – whose nightmarish sleep disorders appear to have a supernatural origin. Former Doctor Who Sylvester McCoy livens things up when he turns up as a wacky old timer with special insight into the case - he detects the presence of a parasitic demon or night hag - but the film isn’t really tense enough to keep you awake.

Certificate 15. Runtime 84 mins. Director Jonathan Hopkins

Slumber available on DVD & Digital from Signature Entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fan_u1ED58

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.