★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Intensity 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by James Ross II
Night terrors! An evil entity manifested from them! Gore galore! Parasomnia has all this and more, with many a surprise in store.
Official synopsis
After her friend vanishes, Riley must confront the demon from her night terrors that may have crossed into reality, while facing her own tragic past.
Review
Writer/director James Ross II’s feature debut Parasomnia, which won the Silver Audience Award at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, is a highly entertaining slice of fright fare that opens with a night terrors/curse plot and then later on adds unexpected backstory that heightens the suspense.
Riley (Jasmine Mathews) is haunted by terrifying dreams on her 5th, 15th, and upcoming 25th birthday involving a supernatural entity called The Seer (Simon Longknight). On those previous birthdays, people close to Riley died. She’s sure she has developed habits that will stave off any danger for her upcoming birthday, but longtime friend David (Stephen Barrington) is skeptical. During a get-together at the family home where he parents died in a murder-suicide on her 5th birthday, the pair are joined by Riley’s boyfriend Cameron (RJ Brown) and David’s girlfriend (Danny Brown), and sure enough, freaky events occur and David insists on leaving. But The Seer’s reach is not limited to where Riley might be.
The ensemble cast is wonderful here, including Sally Stewart who joins the proceedings during the second act, but I’ll leave her character description out of my review as it would spoil matters. Parasomnia is the type of film that needs to be seen going in as cold as possible, as Ross II has several surprises in store for viewers. Part of the attraction with the film is that it follows conventions of certain horror subgenres and then takes viewers down unexpected paths. Highly recommended for scare-fare aficionados of all stripes, but those with an aversion to on-screen eye trauma may be watching through their fingers.
Review by Joseph Perry
Parasomnia screened as part of Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, which took place from October 16–25 at Nitehawk Cinema Williamsburg.
