Mackinaw Mail

A Look Into the Human Psyche

MOVIE REVIEW
The Sleep Experiment

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Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Year Released: 2022
Runtime: 1h 21m
Director(s): John Farrelly
Writer(s): John Farrelly
Cast: Rob James Capel, Will Murphy, Tom Kerrisk, Barry John Kinsella, Will Murphy
Where To Watch: will be available on several digital and cable platforms, including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, iNDemand, and DISH, starting November 1st.


RAVING REVIEW: We get a lot of intrigue here, with a story that will keep you guessing from start to finish.


The film, inspired by actual events, is a deep dive into what the human mind is capable of and how far it can be pushed. There’s far more to the story than we see on the surface. I thought I knew what to expect when I started the film because I had read up a little more on it than I generally do before screening films.

How far could you be pushed when you have no choice? That’s what we see here, a deeper dive into what makes humans tick. At times the pacing of the film seemed to suffer a bit in an attempt to show the passage of time. Overall, though, it was a compelling psychological thriller with some hints of the horror genre. Definitely not what I could consider a flat-out horror film, though.

I would suggest not reading too much into the film's synopsis; while I don’t think doing so ruined anything for me, I believe it would have been a better overall experience not to have any idea of what was coming. 

Writer/Director John Farrelly clearly wanted to tell a story within a story here, and I believe without a doubt that he succeeded. I would be shocked if anyone would be able to walk away after watching this without thinking about the film but, more importantly, thinking about the more profound parallels that were shown. This isn’t as simple as what you see, but as Farrelly points out, “I wanted to explore this film by showing the hypocrisy of the experiment. The rich, upper class, and educated researchers are the ones committing far worse crimes on these ‘criminals’ than the criminals ever committed.”

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