Jug Face (2013) ~ The Pit Wants What It Wants

Movies about "backwoods horror" seem to be a dime a dozen these days, with films that echo the feel of Deliverance with dashes of The Hills Have Eyes peppered throughout...so it's hard to find something that is truly different within that sub-genre.  At first glance, Jug Face may not really catch your eye as something unique, but after viewing it I've pretty much decided it's the most original film I've seen at least all this year.

Writer/director Chad Crawford Kinkle has created a tale that besides fitting into the horror genre really gives us a slice of life that most of us thankfully aren't privy to and perhaps even have a primal fear of on many levels.  Many of us consider ourselves poor - complaining that we don't have enough money to take that vacation to Jamaica or even to make this month's rent.  But I'm talking destitute here. Not enough food to eat.  Defecating in a bucket.  Washing clothes in the local river by hand.  Scraping up road kill off the highway for dinner.

In the poverty-striken back woods of an unnamed location (could be Tennessee, could be eastern Georgia...who knows?), several families make up a community that live by their own set of rules and principles. Strangest of all is their primary focus on what the "pit" wants.  Yes, a real pit.  A hole in the ground with a deep, percolating puddle of muddy goo that apparently speaks to one of the townsfolk, demanding human sacrifices on random occasions to keep the little colony of residents "safe". Said resident is Dawai (Sean Bridgers, The Woman), who has a keen understanding of what the pit is asking for and in turn makes a jug face - quite literally he crafts a piece of pottery with the face of the requested sacrifice on it.

Because they have dwindling numbers, there is little to pick from in the gene pool as far as mating goes. Hence, that is perhaps the excuse we are to believe when we meet Ada (Lauren Ashley Carter), who is shamelessly attracted to Jessaby (Daniel Manche) - whom we are soon to find out is her brother.  One of the first scenes is the two of them having sex against a tree, and it's obvious (before we even know their connection) that the tryst is forbidden.  And even though we should be repulsed by the copulation, for some reason it just doesn't seem that awful. 

Once we meet Ada's parents - the hardened Loriss (Sean Young) and community leader and lead moonshine-maker Sustin (Larry Fessenden, a legend in the genre!), it's obvious that Ada has a rough time. She is their only daughter and has been promised to one of the only men left to choose from - a chubby dolt named Bodey (Mathieu Whitman). As preparations are made for their "joining", Ada finds out two things. One, she's pregnant with her brother's child. And two: she is the next ritual sacrifice.  She finds the jug with her face on it and promptly stows it away in the woods, hiding it so it cannot be used. 

Dawai, the maker of the jugs, is sweet on Ada, and when the jug comes up missing he says nothing and crafts another, this one with the face of Bodey.  But the pit will not be fooled. And that's when things go terribly awry.

I hate to give away more plot details, as the story itself is sparse. But meager as it may be, it packs a punch in the short running time.  There are frights in here that have nothing to do with the ominous pit of death.  In one scene, Lorris is determined to make sure Ada is still a virgin and hasn't disgraced the family before her joining. She forces her to sit on the toilet and spread her legs while she does an exam ten times more thorough than the gynecologist ever thought of.  And as Ada hesitates and squirms, her mother burns her inner thigh with a cigarette.  And the scene when Sustin and Ada are in town selling their moonshine to a local store -Sustin stops to pick up a dead possum off the road for supper....Gah!

Most of us cannot imagine living like this. Without our comfortable houses and apartments, countless mobile devices, that new Jeep Wrangler, and a drive thru at Taco Bell in our lives it would be unthinkable.  To scrape together a dinner of roadkill and a romp with a sibling? Unheard of.  These are the things that made me the most uncomfortable watching Jug Face.  Oh yes, there is blood. The pit demands sacrifice to keep things in the community in line, and when we do get that there is some nice gore for the blood-hounds out there. 

And it is in these moments that I though it was the only place where the film slipped a little bit.  The sacrifices are "told" to Dawai - and later through Ada - by a seizure-like possession, in which the camera shakes and we get characters with milky eyes and screaming.  There is also a ghostly character that the community has named "the shunned one" that in my opinion could have been completely eliminated and the film would have still worked.

There is much to be said about the truly excellent performances by the lead roles here.  Lauren Ashley Carter is perfect as Ada, a down-trodden teenager with no future but a big heart.  Scenes in which she cares for her mute grandfather are touching and yet difficult to watch due to the reprehensible conditions the old man is living in.  I can't imagine Carter not having a nice career in front of her. Her unusual yet pretty features make her like the girl next door. (Albeit maybe the anorexic book-worm next door, but you get my drift.)

And you can certainly tell Fessenden had fun with this one.  The man behind such films as Habit, Wendigo, and The Last Winter didn't let low budgets hold him back from playing the role with flavor.  Additionally, both Sean Young and Sean Bridgers were flawless in their portrayals of the callous matriarch and prophetic lunkhead, respectively.

Part of the film's charm, if we can call it that, is the fact that the characters aren't caricatures of backwoods hicks. Of course there is the obvious "village idiot" language that screams hillbilly, but the people are genuine, not freaks ready to cut your heart out if you cross onto their property. You can feel honest sympathy for them and the gloomy lifestyle that they lead because regardless of their tax-bracket, they are earnest in their poverty and never once take on a woe-is-me attitude. They just accept life as it comes. Oh, and they worship and live by the rules of a supernatural pit of doom.  But hey, to each his own.

I'll be interested in seeing what Chad Crawford Kinkle has in store for us next.  It's obvious his heart and soul went into Jug Face, and if his next idea is as original as this one, we should be in for a real treat.

Skinwalker Ranch (2013) : Superstition, Folklore, And Yet More Found Footage.....

~review by Marie Robinson

The 2013 found-footage film Skinwalker Ranch, directed by Devin McGinn, is inspired by the real-life location of the same name.

Skinwalker Ranch—originally Sherman Ranch—located in Utah in a place called Bottle Hollow is believed to be the site of various paranormal phenomena. Among the claims are UFO’s, mysterious lights, disembodied voices, and enormous wolf. The ranch was popularized by journalist George Knapp, who penned several articles concerning peculiar activity on the ranch and later co-authored a book with research scientist Colm Kelleher.

"Navajo skinwalker"

Kelleher was Deputy Administrator for the Las Vegas based organization, National Institute for Discovery Science, which researched the paranormal before it disbanded in 2004 after only nine years. In Knapp and Kelleher’s book, Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah, they chronicle the supposed unexplainable events they encountered when they brought a team from NIDSci onto the ranch.

I should also briefly explain where Skinwalker Ranch gets its bizarre name. A skinwalker is a creature from Native American folklore, particularly among the Navajo. More specifically it is a person, usually described as a witch, who has the ability to take the form of animals—they are able to do this by wearing the pelt of the animal. Skinwalkers are extremely feared among Native Americans as they are considered to be evil and are known to terrorize innocent people. The ranch received its name from the belief that a skinwalker is responsible for all of the strange activity that surrounds it.

The film draws loosely from the ranch’s history and superstition. We are introduced to a band of amateur investigators who have been given permission by the ranch’s owner to explore the mysterious property. The owner, Hoyt (Jon Gries), has been driven to desperation after the tragic and curious disappearance of his young son, who one day simply vanished without a trace. Since his loss Hoyt has isolated himself on the ranch and become the local nut job, but welcomes the team of investigators, whom he believes are there to help find his son.

The team, led by Sam (Steven Berg), a field scientist for a research organization called MDE (Modern Defense Enterprises). Joining him is an old friend, Cameron (played by the director, McGinn), an investigative reporter acting as a third-party. The other members of the team are a local veterinarian, a couple techies, and a cameraman. Cameron, the resident skeptic, is quickly faced with a terrifying epiphany, as the supernatural activity on the ranch grows more frequent and more bizarre while remaining inexplicable. With each passing night the crew witnesses everything from the apparition of Hoyt’s missing son, mutilated livestock, mysterious idling vehicles, and the giant wolf of legend, and it isn’t long until it isn’t just the UNNECESSARY dog being killed.

While I’m aware that all the supposed paranormal activity at Skinwalker Ranch is so intriguing because it fails to be explained by science and logic, this film asks more questions than it answers. Piling weird events and creepy scenes on top of each other does not make a good movie, and that’s really all Skinwalker Ranch accomplishes. Sure, there were some chilling moments in the film and perhaps even a touch of good old-fashioned tension, but it fails to create any depth, and even gets shallower as it rambles on. In fact, I even thought it started out pretty interesting, and appeared to be a somewhat researched film as theories on the paranormal are introduced along with each occurrence. But then it just boiled down to cheesy UFO conspiracy theories with absolutely no reward at the end.

Although Skinwalker Ranch failed to impress me, I would like to welcome new director Devin McGinn. A debut is a tricky thing, and pretty much impossible to do perfectly, so I will gladly keep McGinn under my radar and check out what he has coming next.

Haunter (2013): A Supernatural Groundhog Day

~review by Marie Robinson

For those of you who are fed up with the lack of originality in recent horror cinema, consider Haunter a beacon in the darkness. This Canadian supernatural sleeper comes to us from director Vincenzo Natali (Splice, Cube), and writer Brian King (Night Train).

It stars Abigail Breslin (Zombieland) as Lisa, a moody teenager with a music taste pretty similar to mine. What is really troubling her, though, is that she is stuck reliving the same day in 1985 over and over again, while her parents and little brother are seemingly oblivious. She tries desperately to break the routine and bring her family members to the realization that they are all dead.

When Lisa challenges the monotonousness she is threatened by a grim entity credited as the Pale Man (Stephen McHattie). He warns not to meddle with his arrangement, or try and contact the living, as she has been trying to do by way of an Ouija board, or she will suffer a fate worse than death.

Unfortunately, this is really all the plot information I feel comfortable giving you. However, let me reinstate that this is a very original concept and there is plenty more storyline to follow where I left off. It is a slow-burner, so events take place very gradually over the course of the film, but I don’t fear you’ll have trouble staying interested in Haunter.

While an unconventional storyline, well-developed characters and lovely cinematography are a few qualities that make Haunter a good film, the performances are what truly bring it to life. Abigail Breslin has been a promising actress from the start, and at age 17 she is only getting better. Her acting is flawless, compelling, and extremely impressive from a performer her age. I sincerely hope she continues to do more genre work—we could use a few new scream queens!

Another favorite of mine is Stephen McHattie (Pontypool); his face is so deliciously expressive he could easily give an entrancing performance without speaking, but then you would be robbed of his wonderful voice. McHattie has been in a fair amount of genre work in his day, such as Tales from the Darkside, The Twilight Zone (1980’s series), The X-Files, and plenty of others, and it looks like there’s only more to come. His upcoming films include the disturbing and psychological Torment (2013), and Hellmouth (2013), which is directed by John Geddes (Exit Humanity, also featuring McHattie), and written by Tony Burgess (Pontypool).

So far I am quite the fan of Natali’s work and I’m very excited to see what he has next—which is apparently a segment in the ABC’s of Death 2, set for a 2014 release.

Halloween 2013: Claustrobic Horror ~ Anxiety In Tight Quarters

Happy Halloween, all!  For our final post of the holiday month, Marie and I have chosen to spotlight films that are claustrophobic.  Movies that give us that horrible tense feeling of dread - of closed in places, of being locked in a building, of being stuck somewhere you can't get out of, or in a situation that gives you that extreme feeling of panic until you think you could just possibly lose what is left of your sanity.

Not a definitive list, mind you. Perhaps there is even room for a part two?

Can't you just feel the anxiety rising?  Aren't your palms starting to sweat just thinking about it? Let's dig in....

CUJO (1983)

I'm not sure anything could be more claustrophobic (or terrifying for that matter) than being stuck in a crappy Ford Pinto with a screaming child and a rabid St Bernard beating down your door. Dee Wallace should have had an Academy Award for her portrayal of Donna Trenton, a woman who, when dropping her faltering car off at a backyard mechanic's, comes in contact with a rabid house pet who just happens to be a two-hundred pound purebred with a raging case of rabies. Worse yet, she has her young son with her, making it all the more imperative to get the hell out of there. But the broken-down car, blazing hot sun, and a devastating case of rabies has something else in mind. Utterly harrowing! / CH

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)

A home is where you are supposed to feel safe. At the end of the day a roof, four walls, and a locked door are what you inevitably rely on for protection. Certainly, we assign responsibility to houses; you find yourself thinking, “Nothing could ever happen to me in my home!” In George A. Romero’s black and white classic, a group of people have all sought refuge from an increasing horde of zombies in a large house. However, feelings of sanctuary quickly diminish, as all attempts to barricade the doors and windows prove futile at the hands of the hungry horde. On top of that, tension is building between the refugees, making the air thicken with each knock and slap on the door. To make matters even worse, they weren’t ever safe in the house in the first place, for something is in there with them! / MR

BURIED (2010)

The ultimate in claustrophobia, Buried gives us the tale of Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), an American working in Iraq who is captured and wakes up buried alive in a coffin, with only a lighter and a cell phone. Even though he does reach the US State Dept, he is told there is a firm policy of not negotiating with terrorists, who have asked for a 5 million dollar ransom for Conroy's release.  In the course of the grueling 94 minute running time, we as an audience feel as helpless and terrified as Paul does, in particular when bombs explode nearby and his coffin begins to fill with sand. Right up to the shocking ending, Buried takes its audience on a suffocating thrill ride from which there is no conceivably good result. /CH

THE DESCENT (2005)

Let me get this through to you: I hate caves. The very notion of them gets my skin creeping. I think a lot of people share this fear, or can at least very easily understand it, and that is what really made The Descent a truly terrifying film. A multi-cultural group of thrill-seeking female friends gather to explore an uncharted American cave. What kind of idea of fun is this?! They delve deeper and deeper, scrabbling through the smallest of openings before they are trapped by falling rocks. It is then revealed that the leader of the group has tossed away the map in the spirit of true adventure. I think all audience members experienced the same two emotions on first viewing: piss yourself then wring her neck! What’s worse is lurking in the dripping darkness are grotesque cannibalistic humanoid monsters! The tight spaces aren’t the only thing that inspires claustrophobia in The Descent; it’s also the notion that there quite possibly is no way out. /MR

CUBE (1997)

Five people trapped in a cube-type room struggle to understand both why they were taken and how they know each other. Rather reminiscent of an early Saw, the cube itself has multiple confusing colored rooms and deadly traps in store for the guests, but the film differs in that it requires some serious thought and even some mathematical skills to try to escape. While not the gritty (and gory) film that Saw is, it still has a very claustrophobic, helpless feel to it. /CH

DEVIL (2010)

I'm sure we've all been in an elevator at one time or another when we've felt a little bump, a sudden jolt perhaps. But there are probably very few of us who have actually been stuck in an elevator for any length of time. In this film, a group of five strangers become trapped between floors together - but that's not even the worst of it.  The lights go out, and when they come on, one of the five is dead.  And it doesn't stop there. The title is relevant because there is an old notion that the devil watches sinners and after taking human form he proceeds to entrap them in closed spaces and have them off one another. An interesting theory, no? /CH

SAW (2004)

An unimaginable scenario: you wake up in an unfamiliar room with a stranger and a dead body. Your shackled there and an ominous voice tells you that they only means of escape is to kill the other person or saw through your own leg. Like I said, it’s a completely unrealistic situation, and one that you will (hopefully) never find yourself in. All the same, it is incredibly easy to conjure feelings of dread, panic, and hopelessness. This isn’t the only scene that inspires that gnawing feeling of being trapped in Saw; nearly every scenario the sinister serial killer Jigsaw places his victims in can give anyone that “closed-in” sensation, for all have them quite literally trapped until they can complete the macabre task within a time limit. James Wan’s Saw is an essential and intense example of claustrophobia and body horror. /MR

THE MIST (2007)

Hey, at least they are trapped in a grocery store, right?  When members of a small town in Maine are besieged by unknown predators, the tight quarters of a local business tests the resolve - and the morals - of everyone inside.  Something, no- lots of somethings, hover outside the walls of the market and will do anything to get inside, leaving the group nearly helpless against the wrath of said interlopers. They start fighting amongst themselves, and it becomes more of a battle against each other instead of the menacing creatures preying on them from the outside. With as bleak an ending in horror as I've ever seen, this is one film that boils your nerves from the inside out. /CH

THE LAST WINTER (2006)

Very much like The Thing in theory and freezing locale, a group of environmentalists in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are working at a drilling base, far from civilization. When one of the team is found dead out in the snow, the team blames sour gas, but in fact it may be something much more sinister. The extreme Arctic tundra seems like it would be a wide open canvas and difficult to be smothered in, but the feeling of hopelessness and pure fear put the entire team on edge, and that claustrophobic feeling of dread eases its way into the camp. Snow is almost always stifling, and in this case even more so with the alienation of the extreme location. /CH

GRAVE ENCOUNTERS (2011)

A group of filmmakers are shooting a paranormal reality TV show called “Grave Encounters”, in which they explore allegedly haunted buildings. This found-footage style film puts us in the perspective of those filmmakers as they are filming an episode in an abandoned Canadian mental hospital. For dramatic effect they lock themselves inside the spooky old building after nightfall and begin to explore. They are surprised to find that not only is the place actually haunted, it seems to have its own form of intelligence. The building begins playing tricks on them, changing its layout, creating dead ends and making doors disappear. The pitch-black asylum, which once seemed almost labyrinthine, has suddenly become very small and close. Panic rises in the steadily depleting survivors as they come to term with the idea that they may be trapped there… forever./MR

MISERY (1990)

Number One fans aside, Misery is one claustrophobic bitch of a film. We all know the story: Paul Sheldon wrecks his car and is miraculously saved by one Annie Wilkes, a beastly woman that takes him back to her humble abode in the middle of nowhere and nurses him back to health. Only thing is, she has designs on keeping him there forever.  Trapped by his injuries in a small upstairs bedroom, Annie forces him to write a novel bringing back the heroine he killed off in his last book. She locks him in with a typewriter and little else and her moods change as quickly as the chapters fly by.  A godawful predicament to be in, and a seriously panic-inducing dread hovers over the entire film. /CH

PANIC ROOM (2002)

Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart play a mother and daughter whose new home is invaded by burglars, causing them to hide inside the panic room of the brownstone. The previous owner had installed it and hid a fortune in a safe - inside the panic room. An action-packed thriller from the word go, it has a terribly claustrophobic feel to it because of them being stuck in that godforsaken room for so long. Add to that the feeling of intrusion and invasion and you've got a tense, taut film that rivals anything of its kind./CH

THE SHINING (1980)

Surely you are all familiar with Stanley Kubrick’s classic tale of harrowing isolation. The Torrance family, headed by Jack (Jack Nicholson) are employed to stay at the sprawling Overlook Hotel during it’s closing of the winter season. The reason it closes is because it is set high up in the mountains and it is nearly impossible to access after a heavy snow. Unfortunately for the Torrances’ it is a deadly place to be stuck, as evil supernatural forces make themselves known in various forms. The already tightly wound Jack develops cabin fever, and is manipulated by the spirits to chase his family around the seemingly empty hotel with an axe. With no way of contacting the outside world, and fewer and fewer places to hide, the tension and terror is as suffocating as the piling snow. /MR

REPULSION (1965)

Carol (Catherine Deneuve) is a naturally nervous person. She lives in a London apartment with her sister, Helen (Yvonne Furneaux), who spends most of her free time banging her married boyfriend. Carol’s fear and revulsion of men grows with each interaction, and even materialized into disturbing nightmares where a man breaks into her home and molests her. Rather than leave the damned apartment or seek help, Carol locks herself inside of it and descends further and further into madness. What makes this film all the more harrowing is that Carol almost compels her own torment, trapping herself in the apartment while one monster after another attempts to claw its way in. / MR

ALIEN (1979)

Yes it's true: in space, no one can hear you scream.  One of my all-time favorite films is a sure pick here. Alien is just as suffocating example of horror as I can possibly think of.  Many sci-fi films depict a group of adventurers/astronauts/etc. having some kind of horrible accident or space monster making their lives miserable, but no film before and certainly no film after is able to capture the unbelievable dread of being helpless in space like Alien. While it would seem like space is a vast frontier and it would be impossible to feel closed in, when you are on a spaceship that has been invaded by an alien creature and there's no where left to run, you can only feel a choking sensation of horror and panic.  This, my friends, is the essence of Alien.  Be afraid. /CH

[.REC] (2007)

Television reporter Angela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman (Pablo Rosso) are following the local fire department on their night shift. They film them answering a call about an old woman trapped in her apartment. However, when they breakdown the door they find her in a deranged state, and she lunges forward and bites one of the fireman. A violent infection spreads quickly through the building, and everyone inside is forced to be quarantined. Angela demands that they keep rolling throughout the entire ordeal, not knowing the hell they are about to endure. What in essence is more horrifying than the zombies in REC is the notion of being locked up in a building of strangers, and basically being told that you must wait there until everyone dies! / MR

THE THING (1982)

The Thing is one of my favorite movies, and can be used as a great example for a number of things, and claustrophobic is certainly one of them. A group of researchers stationed in Antarctica are in for a night of survival when an alien life form begins to wreak havoc. A very tense and creepy film, it isn’t hard to feel what the characters are feeling—trapped by the small area they are given, surrounded by impenetrable tundra. Survival is little more than a game of hide and seek until someone can step up and destroy that which wants to consume them. /MR

THE VANISHING (1988)

A film of profoundly good standards, The Vanishing stands as one of my favorite thrillers of all time, but it is just one part of the film that lands it on this list.  I would never give the most important plot points away, so I don't have much to say here except: SEE THIS FILM.  It will stick in your head forever, I'm warning you.
Oh, and forget the American remake, not worth a bit of your time. /CH

DAS BOOT (1981)

I'm well aware that Das Boot is not a horror movie. But this German war film is not only one of the most impressive films ever made, but one of the most frightening examples of claustrophobia, ever.  The crew of a German submarine during WWII endures some of the most brutal conditions known to man - horrific storms, enemy attacks, food rationing, cramped quarters, no light for weeks on end... it is a never ending case of cabin fever and a terrifying look at how many soldiers - from both sides - dealt with war-time conditions and a slowly deteriorating outlook on war and life itself.  Altogether depressing and yet oh-so brilliant.
Note: The horror film Below (2002) also explores claustrophobic horror on a WWII-era submarine, but throws in a ghostly angle that makes it a must-see. It's not well known but is truly creepy and worth a look!/CH

*So that's all we have for you at the moment, but there are a bunch of films running through my head that fit this bill as well - so be prepared, part two is imminent.

Halloween 2013: Kinky Sex And Horror: Part Two

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Halloween 2013: Sleep Terrors ~ Whatever You Do....Don't Fall Asleep!

Sleep is one of the things that many of us take for granted. Life can be a real bitch when you can't fall asleep. But in horror, sometimes falling asleep can be one of the very worst things you can do.  God help you if you fall into a coma or are a sleepwalker - those are even worse than settling in for a long winter's nap...

Marie starts us off with the most glaringly obvious entry here, then I take you on a tour of films you shouldn't expect to sleep well after seeing.

NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)

Perhaps the most obvious example of a sleep-themed horror movie, I have included it mostly for my emotion connection to it. If you don't know, please make note that I am a HUUUUUGEE Nightmare on Elm Street fan. Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) was a real creep in life; a child murderer who wore a glove of four steel claws on his hand as his weapon. After the local parents on Elm Street burned him alive, Freddy just wasn't done terrorizing the youths. In death he has the ability to invade peoples' nightmares, and any harm he does to you while you're asleep actually affects you in waking life. So when you die in your dreams, you die for real! The answer to this predicament seems simple, right? Don't go to sleep. But a human can only stay awake for a few days before they go into a coma, making every conscious moment full of dread./MR

BAD DREAMS (1988)

 When Cynthia (Jennifer Rubin of Dream Warriors fame, ironically, because this is such a paltry rip-off) nearly dies in a gruesome fire started by the leader of a cult she was unfortunate enough to be a part of, she wakes up after 13 years in a coma to find herself smack dab in the 80's, institutionalized, and being pursued (haunted) by the very same crazed - and very dead - cult leader.  While the film doesn't have much to actually do with bad dreams, it does feature a deep sleep that it is actually scarier to wake from. 

SLEEP TIGHT (2011)

A wonderfully creepy and downright disturbing film, this thriller brought to us by Jaume Balagueró [.REC] tells the tale of Cesar (Luis Tosar), a man who as a concierge at an upscale apartment building, knows the residents inside and out. He's got an unseen mean streak though, and spends his days making the tenants completely dispirited and miserable. But he's got a soft spot for Clara (Marta Etura), and by that I mean he sneaks into her apartment before she gets home, hides under her bed, waits for her to fall asleep, then knocks her out with chloroform and crawls into bed with her. Not surprisingly, you'll be checking under your bed before you lie down to sleep after watching this one.

PHENOMENA (1985)

When student Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly) sleepwalks and witnesses a murder, it sets off a chain of events in which a bizarre connection she has with insects has the headmistress thinking she is evil.  She demands medical testing regarding her sleepwalking habits and declares her mentally ill, trying to force her into an asylum. But Jennifer escapes her clutches and befriends an entomologist who instead claims she has a gift, and the two use this psychic talent to try to discover the murderer.  Sleepwalking is unusually beneficial in this film, but is still unpredictable and at times, chilling. 

ADDICTED (2002)

This excellent South Korean thriller has Dae-jun (Lee Byung-hun, I Saw the Devil) and his brother, Ho-jun (Lee Eol) suffering a terrible tragedy at the same time but during different activities. Dae-jun is a race car driver and wrecks his car at the same time Ho-jun is also in a car accident rushing to get to Dae-jun's race. The two end up in comas, in the same hospital, on life support. Dae-Jun eventually comes to and is taken home to recuperate by his brother's wife, Eun-soo (Lee Mi-yeon). Soon she starts noticing strange similarities - Dae-jun is acting exactly like her husband is - so bizarre are the occurrences that the brothers' doctor finally comes to the assumption that the spirit of Ho-jun has entered Dae-jun, possessing him.  Those South Koreans really know how to confuse and entertain us.

ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968)

When you're in a horror film, there's no doubt bad things are going to happen.  However, in Roman Polanski's masterpiece, young Rosemary (Mia Farrow) gets more than she bargains for when she closes her eyes: she is raped by a demon in front of her husband and their eccentric neighbors. Was it all a dream? Apparently not, as she then becomes pregnant...and her hubby explains that he had sex with her while she was unconscious so they could conceive a child.  Grounds for divorce as far as I'm concerned.  As if that wasn't bad enough, the neighbors turn out to be Satanists and her child is the spawn of the devil.  Now if it really were only a dream...

THE CELL (2000)

I'm not sure messing around in the minds of coma patients is what I would call good medicine, but that's exactly what we have in the unusual film, The Cell.  Jennifer Lopez stars as Catherine Deane, a psychologist that is using a virtual reality device to try and help patients when she is convinced to enter the mind of a serial killer who has lapsed into a coma.  Naturally this does not bode well and it takes all her skill and finesse to wander around in the killer's mind and try to locate his latest victim. She becomes stuck in the dreams of the killer's altered state and it becomes a race against time to save both the victim and herself.  With bizarre imagery and even stranger plot points, The Cell is a beautiful work of art, besides being a valid thriller.

FLATLINERS (1990)

While not directly about sleep, this eerie film transports its characters into a realm that is between life and death, making it a valid entry here.  Five medical students take it upon themselves to put each other into a state of near-death in order to experience what it is like - is there a bright light? A tunnel? Are our loved ones there?  Well something is there, and in their experiments they discover something is quite possibly returning with them when they are shocked back to life. Flatlining, as they call it, causes hallucinations of the most horrifying kind and forces the students to own up to horrible things they have done in their past. With an all star cast including Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland, this is a mostly-forgotten creepy flick from the early nineties that deserves another look. 

DARKNESS FALLS (2003)

The tooth fairy has never really seemed like a frightening concept, but nothing is safe in horror. In the town of Darkness Falls, there is a legend of Matilda, an elderly woman who always gave out gifts when the children in town lost a tooth.  Unfortunately, after she is burned and disfigured in a fire, she develops an extreme aversion to light and always wears a creepy porcelain mask, causing the adults in town to distrust her.  They blame her when some kids go missing and she ends up dying of a broken heart, not before cursing the town to fear darkness. It's hard to imagine an entire film revolving around the fear of going to sleep when you lose a tooth, but here it is folks.

STIR OF ECHOES (1999)

Another excellent film starring Kevin Bacon, this film based on the story by Richard Matheson pits Tom Witzky (Bacon) against his own mind when his sister-in-law hypnotizes him at a party. When he awakens, something has changed and Tom starts having hallucinatory episodes in which he seems to be getting clues to the case of a missing neighborhood girl.  Obsession is not a strong enough word for Tom's mindset, as he tries to solve the case by putting together the fragmented pieces his mind shows him.  Hypnotism is a state of heightened awareness in which the hypnotized person appears asleep, but most certainly is not.  Perhaps one of the worst "types" of sleep, as you never know what your mind will bring back with you.

AWAKE (2007)

I can't imagine anything more horrifying than being put under anesthesia for surgery and not going under - having to live through the pain of having a scalpel cut you again and again while you lie on an operating table, seemingly in a surgical state. Anesthesia awareness is a medical term used when someone is not given an adequate amount of anesthetic for a surgical procedure and can feel what is going on, and it is the topic in the film Awake, starring Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba.  Unfortunately for Clay (Christensen), he experiences this rare event during heart surgery and uncovers a devious plan formulated by his doctor and fiance to have the surgery fail to collect insurance money.  Awake was not well-received at the theater but it doesn't make the thought of actually being awake during surgery any less appalling.

DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)

This absolute gem from 1945 is one of the best anthology films in horror.  Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) arrives at a country estate for a party and soon has an uncanny feeling that he knows everyone at the party and has actually even been having recurring dreams about each of them. The party-goers attempt to write off the man as having had a bit too much of the sauce, but when Walter seems able to predict events yet to come, the group breaks out with several stories of their own, all linked to the supernatural.  The stories are all of top-notch caliber, in particular the one involving the ventriloquist dummy (isn't that always the case, damn dolls!), and there is a twist ending that ties it all together in a nice neat bow at the end.  The question remains: is Walter dreaming, or is he just living a nightmare? (I'm still hoping for a Criterion DVD release on this one!)

SHADOW PEOPLE (2013)

Supposedly based on a true phenomenon, Shadow People is about a radio personality that delves into the idea that there is a presence lurking in the shadows - waiting for us to fall asleep so that they can attack. Apparently these victims wake up unable to talk or move, almost in a catatonic state.  Charlie Crowe (Dallas Roberts, The Walking Dead) gives a decent performance of a man obsessed, he cannot stop until he convinces everyone that the shadow people are real.  In the real world, shadow people are blamed as perpetrators of SUNDS (Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome), a phenomenon that is soaked in superstition and disbelief.  While it's hard to write off the nighttime death of a relatively healthy person, it's also hard to imagine that there is a preternatural reason for the event. 

IN DREAMS (1999)

After the murder of her young daughter, Claire Cooper (Annette Bening) begins to have terrifying dreams in which she sees visions of the serial killer responsible for the death of her daughter planning the murders of other children.  Thought to be completely off her rocker, she is committed to an asylum but manages to escape so that she can attempt to foil the deadly plans of the killer (convincingly played by pre-rehab Robert Downey Jr.). Her premonitions are actually one of the most believable things in this mediocre film, though, as there are way too many preposterous turn of events here to make it enjoyable. 

INSIDIOUS (2011)

Even though it goes off the rails a bit in the last act, Insidious is a hair-raising entry here if only for the dread-filled first half.  The Lambert family moves into to a  new home and at first, all seems fine. Until one day parents Josh and Renai (Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) find their son unable to wake in the morning. Young Dalton (Ty Simpkins) is in a coma for no apparent reason. Turns out he is astral projecting into the "further" and unless his equally as gifted dad can go and retrieve him from the strange limbo he's in, the ghostly souls of the dead will keep Dalton there eternally.  Insidious: Chapter 2 hit theaters this fall and takes us further...into the further.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS

  No discussion of sleep in film would be complete without a shout-out to Dream Warriors. Though we've already mentioned the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, this third installment is a franchise favorite and one of the best Freddy films. Kristin Parker (Patricia Arquette) is admitted to a mental ward after she dreams of Freddy slashing her wrists and when she wakes it looks like she was trying to commit suicide. In the hospital she meets several kindred sleepless souls, all plagued by Freddy in their dreams.  She also is comforted by Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp reprising her role) who is now a dream therapist and tries to help the group defeat Freddy. Some of the best dream sequences are in this film, especially when the others in the group experiment with group dreaming and hypnosis. Dream Warriors is really an exceptional installment in the NOES series, and can really stand on its own if necessary. 

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978)

In what is probably the most frightening of all sleep terror films, this highly regarded remake of the 1956 original makes sleep the deadliest activities due to an alien life form replicating you when you are asleep. Health inspector Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland), his colleague Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams), and their two friends Jack and Nancy Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright) have discovered that the people around them are all starting to lack personalities and have become secretive and detached from the activities of daily living.  They soon learn that aliens have arrived in the form of a flower, and that the pods are the host in which people are duplicated to become passive, complacent, unemotional members of society, hence allowing the aliens to take over without any fight or complications. As Veronica Cartwright's character so fiercely warns: "They get you when you sleep!"