AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

GazerRise Fantastic!

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Leofwine_draca Dario Argento finally returns to his giallo roots, after years in the wilderness spent making films in America, his unorthodox version of Phantom of the Opera and an obsession with casting his daughter, Asia, in all of his movies. SLEEPLESS is a breath of fresh air and a more than watchable movie, although not without its fair share of flaws and niggles. Compared to his old classics of the '70s, SLEEPLESS is pretty poor in many respects. A lot of the cast are of the young, fresh-faced and utterly banal Italian actors who seemingly fill Italian cinema these days. The old days are long gone and we have no Neros, Hemmings, or even Steffens or Hiltons to lead us through the films anymore. Max von Sydow is a welcome presence as the retired detective and puts in an excellent performance but he does feel a little out of place in an Argento film, perhaps because he is just too famous. There's another flaw in regards to von Sydow, which includes major spoilers for obvious reasons so stop reading now if you must.The plot is fairly predictable and throws in the usual bunch of bizarre, unwieldy ingredients including poetry-spouting dwarfs, killer instruments (an English horn!), homicidal puppets, animals, and lots of gruesome murders. In many ways Argento goes back to his first films and rehashes a lot of the plot elements, lacking originality and focus at key points. The murders are even more vicious than before and for the first time Argento borders on cold misogyny. The opening sequence involves a naked prostitute being gorily hacked to pieces on a train (the most frightening scene in the film) and the rest of the murders focus on attractive women losing their lives in fantastically gruesome ways (the nastiest being a face-bashing that goes on for an age and includes flying teeth). The finale is appropriately bloody but feels a little contrived, like cod Shakespeare, and leaves the film on an unsatisfying note.Stylists will be pleased that Argento is full of his usual tracking shots, sweeps and even Goblin have returned to supply a quality soundtrack just like in the old days. But something is missing in the heart of this film. What's the point of a two minute long tracking shot of a stretch of carpet other than to show off his new digital effects and the like? Sure, it's watchable enough and even recalls the old days at times, but the film has no soul. It never really grips you and the deaths seem predictable and, dare I say it, clichéd, like Sergio Stivaletti is desperate to try out his newest and most realistic effects yet. This is why no two deaths are ever the same. The fact that von Sydow's leading character gets killed off twenty minutes before the end of the film is a mortal sin, leaving us to follow some faceless and boring young heroes for the supposedly exciting finale. Still, the film could be worse, and it's stylish enough to surpass the most brain dead of modern US slashers. It's also better than his last film, but at the end of the day I think I prefer THE STENDHAL SYNDROME.

Jan Strydom I'm still sort of new to Argento's films but I found this film of his to be one very solid effort. The first half has this very unusual tone and atmosphere that makes you feel both uncomfortable and creeped out at the same time. The death scenes in my opinion are more tense here than in some of his older films.The acting is very good although the occasional dubbed voice causes some actors to look like their facial expressions almost don't match their voices.One outstanding feature is the cinematography. The camera constantly moves around and many of the settings are lit up just right enough to create it's atmosphere.Overall, it's a very well made and solid gaillo from Argento and is well worth the effort even for fans of the genre and not necessarily Argento.

callanvass (Credit IMDb) An elderly and retired police detective and a young amateur sleuth team up to find a serial killer whom has resumed a killing spree in Turin, Italy after a 17-year hiatus.I wouldn't call this movie great by any means, but considering that Argento can't make a decent film to save his life this days, this was a perfectly acceptable film. I don't mean to sound disrespectful. I love Dario Argento. I truly do. He is capable of being one of the great horror minds, but he has succumbed to stuff that is below everybody's standards. Argento's stylish direction is fantastic, the lighting is great, and it has some really good stalk sequences as well, especially the train sequence in the beginning of the movie. Gore hounds will be fairly satisfied with this movie. We get a weird flute murder that rules. A nasty pen stabbing in the head, somebody's head gets pounded into a wall, and teeth are knocked out, and more. I was quite satisfied with Argento's brutality. The acting was decent, considering some people were dubbed. Max Von Sydow is pure class, and I thought he was great. His character is written with a lot of substance behind it, and I managed to get behind him. You'll feel for him. The rest of the cast are mostly dubbed, so I can't really comment on them much. I will say this movie has a good twist ending, which makes sense. Final Thoughts: It beats watching Giallo, Card Player, and other average films on Argento's resume these days. It's not perfect, but it does have enough flashes of brilliance to make it worth your while6.3/10

sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Famed Italian Gailo horror director Dario Argento pulls no punches in this graphically gory slasher film that has the audience guessing to who the killer is up until the very last few moments of the movie.It's when a number of women are brutally murdered in Turin Italy that it becomes evident to the city's chief of police Manni, Paolo Mari Scalondro, that the killings are the work of the "Killer Dwarf" Vincenzo De Fabritiis, Luca Fagioll, who disappeared from sight back in 1983 after murdering three women under the very same circumstances! Brought on the case is the now retired police inspector Ulisse Moretti, Max Von Sydow, who supposedly cracked the "Killer Dwarf" case back in 1983.At first feeling the this new wave of murders in Turin is that of a copy cat killer Moretti soon starts to have doubts that the late Vincenzo De Fabritiis, the "Killer Dwarf", who's decomposed body with a bullet in his skull as found floating in a nearby river back in 1983 actually committed those murders! The killer may have well gotten away with his crimes back in 1983 and is now back, in the year 2000, committing a slew of new ones! Teaming up with Chinese restaurant waiter Giacomo Gallo, Stefand Dionsi, who was at the scene of the "Killer Dwarf's" last victim his mom back in 1983 Moretti soon comes up with an answer to who the killer was back then and even more important who is is now!***SPOILERS*** It was Moretti's knowledge to who the killer is that eventually lead to his sudden death of a massive heart attack when the "Killer Dwarf" made and unannounced night visit to his house. It was also Giacomo bull dog-like determination in finding his mother's murderer and bringing him to Justice that lead to a number of his friends and their family members ending up becoming the "Killer Dwarf's" victims. After following a series of false leads and red herrings Giacomo finally uncovers who the killer is! The clue to the killers identity was hidden deep inside his sub consciousness in the strange hissing sounds he heard when he saw him mother being murdered by the killer 17 years earlier! Director Argento never lets up on both the gore and action in the film never giving the audience, and the actors and actresses in it, a chance to catch their breath. There's a number of shocking surprises in the movie but the biggest one by far is saved for last when we, after about a dozen people are slashed to death by him, finally get to see who the killer is. In what turned out to be the most shocking scene in the entire movie were given an incredible triple twist ending by Diretcor Argento that leaves the screen drenched with so much blood & action to the point where even the closing credits of the film are interfered with!