Sleep Eater

 



Director - Shane Grant (House Rules, Blind Date)
Starring - Bill Cassinelli (Dirty Cop No Donut, Deadly Dares: Truth or Dare Part IV), Shannon Denbow (House Rules), and Dave Isaac (Sleep Eaters)
Release Date - 2016
Genre - Horror
Format - Streaming

Rating (out of 5):

     The holidays were steadily approaching and I wanted to completed a small list of reviews I had pending so I could spend time with my family.  Sadly, a family emergency reared it's ugly head and I had to say goodbye to the family dog.  My wife rescued him from a shelter in 2011 a month before we were married.  He was a big part of the family and will be missed.  This was a rough week for my wife, the kids, and myself so my reviews were put on the backburner until after Christmas.  One of the films that had to wait was Shane Grant's 2016 horror short Sleep Eater.  This film is currently free on YouTube.  Thank you Shane for reaching out to me. 

      The film follows asshole Quinn (Cassinelli) who refuses to share his food with a sick homeless man who accidentally coughs on his food.  He eats the contaminated burger and that night he falls asleep only to awaken covered in blood.  He attempts to stay awake and tries to score some drugs but the woman he tries to procure them from drugs him so she can rob him but she is unaware that this is a deadly mistake.  He eats her and soon her father starts searching for him so he can get even for killing his baby girl.

     Sleep Eater and the follow up Sleep Eaters were two new films to me.  I knew nothing about them before Shane Grant reached out to me.  The title made me think about the horror comedy Eddie: The Sleep Walking Cannibal.  Though the two have similar plots they are two different films.  The acting in this one is solid.  The cast has some on screen experience and they work very well together but there was several scenes that struggled to find the right emotions.  Some of the characters are a little more enjoyable than the others and we can thank the cast for that.  The story for this one is simple.  I liked how it was approached and I really enjoyed that it was a short.  The fact that the story is so simple it would have made for a very boring feature length film.  The 30 minute running time fits it very well.  There is a few scenes that drag on here and there but the overall pacing of the film is solid.  Finally, there is plenty of gore in this one but there is a few times where it was funny.  I love a gory flick if it fits the film but there was an instance or two where the meat chunks sitting on the actor or actress just made me laugh.  The practical effects are solid aside from those instances.  Overall, Sleep Eaters is a fun short with some gore and an interesting story.  This one is well worth the 30 minutes.