Hypnophobia

Director - Adam Dunning (The Infected, Laughter)
Starring - Adam Dunning, Olivia Kuttrubis (The Infected), and Ronald Muir (The Infected)
Release Date - 2013
Genre - Horror/Thriller
Tagline - "Sleep is no what you should be afraid of..."
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

      What I love about horror is that the genre is so wide and diverse.  Horror films have so many routes they can take and that route is only determined by the filmmaker and his budget.  I personally like the more straight forward horror flicks that hit me with buckets of blood and shear violence.  However, I am open to all films from the genre regardless of what kind of story they have to tell.  That brings me to the short Hypnophobia directed by Adam Dunning.  I knew nothing of this film before receiving a screener but that is starting to become the norm around here.  I do want to say that before watching the film I was really impressed with the film's artwork.  The artwork really got me excited to see the film so I threw it in and gave it a chance. 
     The film follows a female patient who refuses to sleep because when she does she sees another young female that haunts her.  She is locked away and under the care of Dr. Peters who tries everything to help her.  He can see the pain and torment in her eyes and believes he can help her but things start to spin out of control.  Before long we are then shown who the real patient is and who the doctor is...or isn't.

     Before I get too far into this review I want to say, once again, that I am a fan of straight forward horror.  I tend to stay away from the more psychological based horror films.  I usually don't have that much fun with them.  I feel they lack the action and violence that I crave and because I am too stupid to really appreciate them.  Now that I got that out of my system I can praise this film for what it is.  The acting in this film is not the best I have seen but it is also not the worst.  Most of the cast only had one or two films under their belts before Hypnophobia and it shows.  I'm not saying the cast lack the talent because they don't.  They do, however, lack the experience needed to make their roles even more believable.  The story is very bold and very impressive for an indie psychological flick.  I was honestly blown away by the story and twist ending.  However, the film had a lot of dry spots which took away from the overall film.  The twist ending also reminded me a lot of the horror classic Carnival of Souls.  I will not go any further in fear of spoiling the film.  Finally, those looking for great kills and special effects will not find them here.  This film relies heavily on story and atmosphere to get a rise out of the viewer.  This film also shows not all horror flicks need blood and guts to get noticed.  Overall, Hypnophobia is a strong attempt at the psychological horror sub-genre.  The film does have slow spots but fans of these films will really enjoy it.