The Trailer:
Synopsis: A harrowing glimpse into the phenomenon known as Sleep Paralysis.
I saw the trailer for this documentary a while back and thought it looked amazing; the way they intertwined the commentary with intense, surreal reenactments, it looks terrifying. I've experienced sleep paralysis myself and I wanted some kind of insight into the condition, which is what I hoped this documentary was going to accomplish. And so you can only imagine how excited I was when The Nightmare finally became available on Netflix. And after watching it, I am only left feeling dissatisfied.
The film starts off good. There are a handful of people describing their experience with sleep paralysis, how it started and what their specific visuals/sounds are during it. But after about the seventh persons retelling I was already bored. All their stories, while slightly different, are basically the same: they feel themselves drift off to sleep, yet their awareness is still there, then they see the "shadow-men" and feel terrified and now have to force themselves awake in order to stop it. I kept watching, though, hoping that the movie would build upon these stories, but it never went any further than their retelling. This is literally an hour and a half of the same handful of people discussing their various and numerous experiences with sleep paralysis. And this is fine, but I wanted there to be some exploration into the scientific side of the condition as well as the spiritual side. While they do mention some lore and myth surrounding sleep paralysis from different cultures and regions of the world, it wasn't enough. It' maybe discussed for five minutes and then dropped. They also all mention their experience with trying to get some answers from doctors about it, but it is all chalked up to stress or their lifestyle. And again, that's it, it's never talked about again. Like what? I wanted to actually hear and see a doctor discuss sleep paralysis. Perhaps have one the participants (or someone who experiences sleep paralysis) get a brain scan during the sleep paralysis and compare this to a brain scan while they're not to see how they differ: what parts of the brain are lighting up during the experience, what does that tell us? Or maybe have scientists who are studying sleep paralysis or sleep disorders discuss what they know to be true about sleep patterns and dreaming and how this relates to sleep paralysis. I wanted to hear a more in-depth telling of the lore and myth about sleep paralysis with an anthropologist's educated opinion about why this phenomenon is so globally experienced and why the experience is so similar across all cultures. Bring a sleep therapist, have them discuss how this disorder can occur in conjuncture with other disorders and why this might be a danger to the person. Have someone relay ways to prevent sleep paralysis, possibly with lucid dreaming techniques and/or ways to calm the mind before sleep, something! None of this is explored, though, and just left the film feeling one-noted. I really didn't need to hear multiple stories of the same phenemonen over and over for an hour and a half. In the end, it just seemed unfinished. I was no more enlightened about the subject matter than I was before watching The Nightmare. The whole documentary just seems like a waste.
I did, however, enjoy the reenactments. They did their part to scare me and remind me of my own experiences with sleep paralysis. They were surreal and bizarre leaving me feeling uneasy. But unfortunately that wasn't enough to redeem this documentary. If you like to listen to people tell their personal stories, then this movie might be for you. If you're someone like me who wants a more well-rounded look at a subject, a more analyzed and dissected inspection, from all angles, of the phenomenon, then this movie is not for you. You will not gain any further knowledge about sleep paralysis, just a collection of stories. Ehh, I wouldn't watch it again, but I also won't tell you not to watch it. It's decent in it's own right.
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