{"id":983282,"date":"2026-01-06T18:21:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T18:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=457288"},"modified":"2026-01-06T18:21:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T18:21:18","slug":"sleep-turns-sleepwalking-into-a-supernatural-slasher-and-its-wicked-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/sleep-turns-sleepwalking-into-a-supernatural-slasher-and-its-wicked-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleep turns sleepwalking into a supernatural slasher \u2014 and it\u2019s wicked fun"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Train to Busan<\/em>, The Wailing<\/em>, A Tale of Two Sisters<\/em>, I Saw the Devil <\/em>\u2014 the Korean horror movies that have crossed over and popped in the States have been intense<\/em>, often sprawling films that teeter on the edge of thriller. Their nightmares linger.<\/p>\n

So Sleep<\/em>, now in U.S. theaters, was an immediate surprise, simply by being a Korean horror movie with a playful rhythm. Think the heightened naturalism of Bong Joon-ho\u2019s Parasite <\/em>or The Host<\/em>\u2026 but weirder. The feature debut of Jason Yu (whose previous credits include working as Bong\u2019s assistant director on Okja<\/em>) chronicles what happens to a newlywed couple when one partner\u2019s sleep disorder takes the shape of a violent ghostly possession \u2014 and it may actually be one. As Yu explores the fallout of the situation, Sleep<\/em> careens from domestic drama into the bizarre, in often funny ways.<\/p>\n

Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi of Train to Busan<\/em>) is a business executive and the breadwinner for her growing family. Her husband Hyun-su (Lee Sun-kyun of Parasite<\/em>) is a struggling actor, nervous about the shaky ground under his professional feet as he prepares to become a father. But Soo-jin believes in him, and wants to support him, even amid the physical challenge of pregnancy. She always goes back to the mantra that hangs on a wooden sign in their apartment: \u201cTogether we can overcome anything.\u201d  <\/p>\n

\"Soo-jin<\/p>\n

With warm yellows and tender staging, Yu\u2019s style amplifies the loving safeguard around the couple, which is then immediately shattered by the worst case of sleepwalking you could possibly imagine. Soo-jin wakes one morning to find Hyun-su with a nasty scratch across his face. The next night, she catches him wandering the house, devouring raw meat and eggs. Doctors diagnose him with a severe parasomnia, but one that can be cured through safety measures and drugs. <\/p>\n

But like a horror version of Mike Birbiglia\u2019s Sleepwalk with Me<\/em><\/a>, Hyun-su can\u2019t be contained and inches closer to deadly self-harm with each passing night. Soo-jin loses sleep agonizing over her husband, and then the baby is born, adding to sleepless nights and the potential targets for the \u201cmonster\u201d living in their home. Sleep<\/em> imagines what it would be like if you went to bed knowing every night Michael Myers could wake up next to you.<\/p>\n

Yu finds the room to plunge into Soo-jin\u2019s psychological situation, that of a supportive wife during the day and a protector at night, never sleeping, slowly unraveling. Jung Yu-mi masters the red-stained eye flicker that made Essie Davis\u2019 performance in The Babadook<\/em> so primal, and the friction sparking between the couple \u2014 even while one half is asleep \u2014 becomes utterly tragic. Then Yu swerves.<\/p>\n

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