Intimate, dizzying South Korean ghost horror puts newlyweds in a terrifying ordeal

“Together we can overcome anything” reads a decorative burnt wooden board in the efficient and modestly decorated apartment of newlyweds Hyun-soo and Soo-jin. The South Korean version of a “live, laugh, love” portrait hangs on the wall of a couple’s Townhome somewhere in Maryland, perhaps, although Hyun-su and Soo-jin’s family motto has a little more menacing to it.What is to get?” One can consider. And what if being together is the obstacle to be conquered? South Korean director Jason Yu’s directorial debut, sleep,
Gets to the bottom of that fire-branded adage.

Sleep Opens on the very pregnant Soo-jin, a captivating young Yoo-mi, waking up in the night to find her husband Hyun-soo, played by the late Lee Sun-kyun of the cast of parasiteTalking in his sleep, loud knocks are coming from the other room. Worse events follow when Soo-jin begins to notice that Hyun-soo has trouble sleeping; Read: Scratch his face until it bleeds, and eat raw meat, eggs and fish straight from the refrigerator. Something’s going on and with a baby on the way, Soo-jin is willing to try everything from medicine to mysticism to save her husband.

Young Yoo-mi is mesmerizing in her leading role as Soo-jin

Hyun-su & Soo-jin’s chemistry elevates the film

Although Sleep is pulling from the long history of South Korean horror and thriller movies – not least of which is parasiteConsidering how often the heist of a carving knife is tapped like a piano – the movie is centered on, and driven by, the beautiful relationship between Hyun-soo and Soo-jin. If Sleep Had it been edited down to its daytime sequences, the movie would have been a wonderful romantic comedy, complete with a meddling mother-in-law and stupid next-door neighbor. As it was in a ghost movie, both could have a point by wondering what’s really going on in Su-jin’s apartment.

The doting relationship between the pair does some heavy lifting for the film and even in the third act (so conveniently announced by chapter cards that appear throughout Sleep), when things almost go haywire, Very plausible bond papers about any horror movie lapses in logic. Yu is also smart enough to primarily focus on one half of the couple and young delivers.

Jung, whose popularity in South Korea is more representative of her talent than most American audiences would give her credit for, is totally at home in her role as Soo-jin. A quick pat on the small of her back, a mimed clap dart at her husband, and a thumbs up so big it threatens to cover the screen are the tiny decisions that make Soo-jin not only adorable but trustworthy. She’s not too fat for horror either. Su-jin’s slow eye creeps from her husband to their barking dog after he devours the contents of their fridge is a horrifying harbinger.

A third act stumble is not enough to knock sleep away

Sleep keeps us guessing until the end

most of Sleep Takes place in a tiny two-room apartment and Jason Yu uses almost every camera trick he can think of to expand the space. The camera goes in close to an eye, then back to show the entire room, and quickly swings into what looks like an over-the-shoulder hand-held camera shot. He goes above, back, up, down, and around. You will feel like you are in a New Order song. It’s disorienting, and while this may be an intended effect for a horror movie, it can also feel like we’re occasionally missing something just out of frame.

As often as his uninhibited film style confuses, it also leads to some excellent momentsSuch as a shot that goes through a mirror and back out the other side as if entering another dimension. One of the more frightening moments in the film comes at the end when Hyun-su returns home after a disorienting car ride. The familiar wide shot of his living room is transformed as we slowly realize that every surface is covered in ancient yellow prayer sheets.

The third act really threatens to disrupt the smooth gliding Sleep Off its rails. Fortunately, Hugh pulls back just in time, and what could have brought the movie to a lurching end is quickly remedied in anticipation of a few more legitimate shocks. Sleep may over-explain the terror Soo-jin and Hyun-soo are facing, but their believable reluctance to let the other go ensures that we’re kept guessing about every outcome until the last shot.

Sleep is currently playing in theaters and is available to view on digital. The film is 95 minutes long and is currently not rated.