Written and directed by Racheal Cain, at experimental sleep clinic, Somnium, your dreams are made real. Side effects may include: hallucinations, confusion, paranoia, sleep paralysis, detachment from reality, lost sense of self, permanent nightmares. Starring: Chloë Levine, Johnathon Schaech, Will Peltz, Peter Vack, Clarissa Thibeaux, Grace Van Dien and Gillian White.
Right from the get-go you can see how heavily the 1980s influenced Somnium and it impressively manages to capture that feel while still set in the present. It also quickly brings through a great sense of foreboding, to give you all those classic horror suspicions. Backed up by a strong score (by Peter Ricq), which is nicely understated but effective. As well as giving the leading character of Gemma (Chloë Levine) the air of a quintessential final girl, she’s a little naïve but determined, sweet but not weak.
Chloë Levine brings a great personality to the table, she makes it easy to get behind Gemma and will for her to succeed, and want to protect her. She also does a wonderful job of portraying that feel of a slowly drifting grip on reality, it’s smooth and believable. There’s a great ensemble behind her but ultimately, this does feel like it’s her show, she’s the anchor and driving force to the entire film.
When Gemma is first introduced to the procedure, she questions whether it changes your reality or your perception of it, that’s a clever, interesting question and it’s a shame Somnium doesn’t spend more time exploring that. Especially in the context of the world of acting, the idea of whether your dream can be handed to you or if you actively shape your reality to fit that dream, is relevant and layered.
Instead, it spends a little too much time on how Gemma is grieving her past relationship, it takes up more of the runtime than it needed to. It’s a nice touch to show her vulnerability and extra push to make this career path work but it’s a weaker part of the storytelling. Whereas the rest of the plot is well chosen, and it would have been really interesting to see a more extended finale. Which is not often the case but that exploration of reality versus dream and self-acceptance and confidence, blended with sci-fi and horror, is absolutely a solid concept.
There’s a little bit of weakness to its cinematography and lighting, while the dark palette is the right choice and it generally uses colour well, the detail gets lost occasionally. There are a few shots that are too far on the dark side and become obscured. However, it’s otherwise shot well, the atmosphere is certainly there and it moves confidently. The pacing is the same, it’s consistent to hold your attention, it’s never rushing or trying to add in twists and turns, which can frequently be the downfall of similar films.
Somnium marks the debut feature of Racheal Cain and shows a lot of talent and potential from this writer, director. The balance of the story isn’t quite on the money and the visual has its weak moments but it’s otherwise strong work. Especially for a sci-fi, horror blend, it’s not an easy mix to get right on a budget but this film does exceptionally well to create an engaging atmosphere and a great lead character, who’s brought to life by a superb performance from Chloë Levine.
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