Jaume has actually been around in the
Spanish horror scene long before Rec. Having directed the underrated
chiller “The Darkness” with Anna Paquin, Nameless and Fragile
(one of the few effective PG-13 horror films). But this time around
Jaume isn't tackling supernatural ghosts or demon zombies, this time
around for this taught thriller “Sleep Tight”. Jaume takes the
horror into a place that hits home (Literally.)
César (Luis Tosar) is a miserable
person who gets off on making everyone around him miserable. He's a
sociopath with a capital S and he just so happens to be concierge
at an upper-crust apartment complex. The people he enjoys making
miserable? The unlucky residents of said apartments.
Things get interesting when César sets
his sights on the lovely and upbeat Clara (Marta Etura). On a side
note, if you haven't seen it check out Marta Etura's drama “Dark
Blue Almost Black” this dame can fucking act yo!
Now back to the film at hand, César
and Clara are the polar opposites. While César is a bastard by
nature Clara is always living life with a healthy attitude. This is
what really gets César's goat. His initial attempts to ruin Clara
fail miserably. From that point on he goes from a rather harmless
S.O.B. To a real threat. To say anymore would ruin the film.
This is an OUTSTANDING thriller on all
fronts because it's not your typical thriller at all. We all know
people similar to César, the types who get enjoyment at making
others lives miserable. Online is filled with these sad fucks who
like starting fights and trolling around for kicks. But imagine if
one of those sickos worked at your apartment and or lived down the
street from you and they started targeting you. Thing's would get
creepy fast.
That's one of the things that really
makes this film effective, you can see this happening in real life.
There is nothing supernatural about this film, no ghosts or monsters
or four legged beasties. The film isn't even that gory with only
really one scene of violence but it hits hard... it hits harder then
Joe Peschi with a baseball bat! This film has a huge creep factor to it, it never lets you get to comfortable. Something is always amiss and the films tension builds wonderfully to a twisted climax.
The DVD release from the great folks
over at Dark Sky Films looks terrific. Luckily for us Sleep Tight was
actually shot on 35MM which will always be superior to digital. The
amazing cinematography really shows in this transfer. My only beef?
As other reviewers have noted, the
black levels are way off, I've heard the Blu-ray has the same
problem. It's definitely a mastering problem as others have said. The
widescreen bars aren't even pure black, they are nearly grey. It
doesn't take away from the film too much but it is distracting at
first.
The Spanish 5.1 audio track on the
other hand is perfect, no complaints what-so-ever.
Like most Dark Sky releases this packed
with extras. Mainly the hour and forty seven minute long making of
feature. As a film fan and a DVD/Blu-ray lover it is so refreshing to
see studios still making feature length making ofs and this is a
good one. All aspects of production are covered.
The deleted scenes are actually worth your time and they further expand
upon the lives of the other residents in the building.
Lastly we get the films trailer which
is awesome because so few releases these days actually include the
films trailer. Also you can expect some pretty cool trailers for
other Dark Sky releases before the film loads.
This is one of the best Spanish
Thrillers I've seen in years. It hits all the right cords and
probably will stick with you when your done watching. Expect maybe a
sleepless night when your done watching this. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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