You Shall Not Sleep

A supernatural thriller and dark drama dealing with a young theatre actress agrees to participate in a new stage play of a famous dramatist, without thought for the consequences , including tension , creepy atmosphere , genuine chills and suspense . This bizarre , scary film contains thriller , intense drama , mystery , plot twists and shocks , including decent scares with horrifying sequences especially in its ending segment , in a tense denouement . Stars Bianca Aguilar (Eva De Dominici) , a young and promising Buenos Aires' actress who cares of her schizophrenic father Miguel . After to play in Greek tragedy Antigona, she is tempted by Krasso, assistant of the famous dramatist Alma Böhm (Belén Rueda) , to join Insomnes ("Insomniacs"), a stage play that she tried unsuccessfully produce in 1984 after the main actress Marlene renounced in the mid of the stage due to the several days without sleep and each more unstable state mind. Accepting the job, Bianca realizes that her longtime friend and too actress Cecilia (Natalia de Molina) is in the cast, and both move to an abandoned psychiatric hospital outside Buenos Aires where they meet Alma and the rest of the cast, Fonzo (Juan Manuel Guilera) and Sara (Eugenia Tobal) , but there things go wrong when the experiment with insomnia derives in a series of hallucinations and delusions. Then Bianca, the promising actress, joining the cast, competing for the lead role . She must survive not only the intensity of the work and her cast mates, but the unknown force that is pulling them towards a tragic outcome. All of them start experiencing the terrors of the hospital's past and the spirits that still remained. None of the horror should come as much of a surprise but the story takes a long time to get going , until eventually exposing the dark secrets of the psychiatric and the evil that resides inside . It also contains too many twists and turns that don't quite fit together and just made it way too convoluted than it needed to be. Your fear will keep you awake !. Are you ready to cross the threshold?

This is a passable and acceptable film , full of thrills , suspense , chills , red herrings , creepy twists and turns . Step by step mystery starts to be unfold ; dealing with a young girl , Eva de Dominici , and a mature woman , Belén Rueda , both of whom face off bizarre happenings , including grisly killings , resurrections and fantastic appearances, among others . It packs twisted mysteries , intrigue , emotion and suspenseful events ; these various elements are mingled in an intelligent and balanced style . This is a highly mysterious and cerebral drama , compellingly shot, as well as a supernatural thriller , filled with plot twists , including an unexpected conclusion in its final part . From start to finish the complicated intrigue in slow-moving , thrills , and suspense result to be continuous . The original as well entertaining premise is overspread across the movie adding some brief conventional pitfalls . Resulting to be an adequate and decent movie , but inferior than other Belén Rueda's mysterious films . Belén is deemed to be the modern Spanish ¨Screen Queen¨, an actress expert on mystery and horror films , such as : Julia's eyes , The orphanage , El Pacto , No dormirás , Durante la tormenta , Orbita 9 , and The body . Here she plays a director/actress who's looking for inspiration and deep in the characters to make them as real as be possible to reach new thresholds of perception . The performances are good across the board but with De Dominici's as Bianca being the best. The story may be all over the place but she redeems it and was compelling to watch . Overall, this was a decent Argentine/Spain horror film with an interesting concept but it's convoluted story makes it difficult to follow, however, the lead interpretations from Eva De Dominici , Belén Rueda and Natalia de Molina keep it watchable. This is a haunted movie that contains restless horror and sinister atmosphere when the threatening apperances shows up . Supernatural thriller being filled with scary deeds , thrills , chills and lots of scares ; however , some confusing and inexplicable , the reason for the terms of the covenant are never really explained . Suspense and the tense moments are continued and appear lurking and menacing into hospital , hallway , and rooms . It's recreated with high grade plethora special effects , which are frightening and horrifying the spectator , particularly the spontaneous final appearance . Some reviewers consider the film as a horror movie , but it not has enough terror as expected ; being more like a supernatural drama with some frightening ingredients .

It contains a suspenseful and intriguing musical score by Alfonso G. Aguilar , creating a spooky environment . As well as dark and atmospheric cinematography by Guillermo Nieto . This slow-burn horror drama with mystery/supernatural events was professionally directed by Gustavo Hernández (Lobo Feroz , Virus 32, Dios Local , Adicciones , La Casa Muda) , though it has some flaws and gaps . However , it won various prizes and mominations , such as : Málaga Spanish Film Festival 2018 Winner Silver Biznaga Best Cinematography Guillermo Nieto , Best Film Editing Pablo Zumárraga ; Nominee Golden Biznaga Best Iberoamerican Film Gustavo Hernández ; Spanish Actors Union 2019 Nominee Award of the Spanish Actors Union Best Actress in an International Production Best Actress in an International Production Natalia de Molina. Rating : 5.5/10 .