When a hotel is visited in horror films, it usually does not end in a relaxing trip. “Psycho”, “Shining”, “Room 1408” and “Cold Prey” are prominent examples of this. The German one is much less known Mysterious horror “Sleep“, which will be shown today, on the night of October 30 to 31, at 12:25 PM on ZDF. Here too, the protagonists experience true horror in a horror hotel.
This is what ‘Sleep’ is about
Stewardess Marlene (Sandra Hülser) has been crazy for some time now due to terrible nightmares, all of which seem to take place in a small village. When she discovers that her dreams are about the forest hotel “Sonnenhügel”, she travels there from Hamburg to finally understand the tormenting mystery.
She eventually suffers a nervous breakdown and falls into a comatose sleep when she discovers the reasons for her nightmares and is admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Her daughter Mona (Gro Swantje Kohlhof) is now looking for the causes herself. She comes into contact with the strange inhabitants of the village – and learns about dark forces from times long past…
Full of quotes and great actors
In the official FILMSTARTS review, ‘Sleep’ only received a solid 3 out of 5 stars, but our critic Lars-Christian Daniels describes the horror film in his conclusion as “German genre cinema with excellent leading actresses and exciting approaches”.
Although ‘Sleep’ seems a bit too confused in the second half, director Michael Venus proves his knowledge of horror film history and repeatedly bases himself on references to genre classics such as William Friedkin’s ‘The Exorcist’ or ‘The Sixth Sense’ by M. Night Shyamalan. In addition, the public is informed by “a very voluptuous nude performance in the style of modern theater productions to the brutal struggle for survival in a dim washroom […] the whole range of emotions on offer.”
‘Sleep’ is not only about the eerie setting of a remote hotel complex, but also about the corrosive fear of the titular sleep, which in the hands of Michael Venus leads to an often over-constructed but quite effective state that over time the time that is no longer there reality and dream can be differentiated.
The fact that we can definitely recommend the film to you is largely due to the actresses Gro Swantje Kohlhof and Sandra Hülser, who give it their all. The criticism about this is: “The two perform in the quirky horror home movie […] another spectacular performance.‘Sleep’ may not ultimately be a masterpiece, but you can still take a look tonight.