Sleepless (DVD)

How And Why Sleepless Was Made
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Dario Argento started his working life on spaghetti westerns; his collaboration with Sergio Leone on Once Upon A Time In The West is possibly his best known monie of that genre. Argento diversified his work by focusing on things that interested him, namely horror. Argento enjoyed the fact that he could take audiences a step further than they wanted ...
...There is no doubt that Sleepless is not Argento's best work, but it's a really good contender for a top five of his best. From the moment the movie starts, you feel the tension. The feelings that you have about the plot from the start are usually a good indicator of how a Giallo film will end; not predictable, as the story unfolds the things that initially you thought are dismissed only to return later. All this aside you don't have a clue to the ... more

How And Why Sleepless Was Made
--------------------------------------------

Dario Argento started his working life on spaghetti westerns; his collaboration with Sergio Leone on Once Upon A Time In The West is possibly his best known monie of that genre. Argento diversified his work by focusing on things that interested him, namely horror. Argento enjoyed the fact that he could take audiences a step further than they wanted to go. His horror work began in a phase known as Giallo. Giallo movies are a term used by Italians and horror enthusiasts to define "whodunnit". A Giallo movie must have a strong focus on violence and gore.
Through the 1970's Argento became synonymous with Giallo movies his best known being Bird With The Crystal Plumage, Tenebrae and Deep Red. But come the late 1970's his interest in this topic waned, as did his popularity. He produced a string of horror movies that took him to Hollywood and back again. While his fascination with Giallo faded his popularity began to fade too. By 1998 Argento still very popular with fans was finding it difficult to get his pictures made. He had to do something, and in this case it was time to return to his Giallo roots. When he announced he would return to the Giallo genre movie producers welcomed him back to the fold with open arms, and practically gave him a blank cheque to get the movie made. On the other side of the globe a notorious Swedish actor was also looking for a horror challenge to equal his great role of 1973.

The Story
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As the movie begins we enter a scene where a couple are making love in the dark, as it transpires she is a prostitute and it's apparent that he wants something a little out of the ordinary. Having finished the ritual the male dismisses her with a rather unpleasant tone. Once she has collected her money she prepares for her departure, but in the dark falls over a storage stool. To her horror the stool contains a series of rather unpleasant knives and torture devices as well as some paperwork. She hastily grabs the paperwork and makes her escape.

Having boarded the train the prostitute calls her friend from her mobile phone; she tells her friend that she believes she has just had sex with the killer dwarf. The killer dwarf had been silent for sometime but during the 1970's murdered a horrific amount of people leaving Rome in silence and fear. As she finishes her phone call she realises that she has company. The serial killer has followed her and wants his things back, for in this paperwork is a detailed report on all his victims.

With the knowledge that the Dwarf has struck again legendary Italian Police Inspector Moretti is forced to leave the peaceful retired life he enjoys, for he made a promise that he vows he will keep. He calls in Giacomo with whom he made the promise, for twenty years prior Giacomo witnessed his mother murdered with a clarinet by the dwarf. Back then Giacomo was only a child and the promise that Moretti had made has stayed with him.

As the bodies begin to pile up throughout Rome Giacomo and Moretti are hot on his trail, they are eager to know why he kills, where he went and why he has come back again.

Cast
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Max von Sydow .... Ulisse Moretti
Stefano Dionisi .... Giacomo
Chiara Caselli .... Gloria
Roberto Zibetti .... Lorenzo
Gabriele Lavia .... Dr. Betti
Paolo Maria Scalondro .... Chief Inspector Manni
Rossella Falk .... Laura de Fabritiis
Roberto Accornero .... Fausto
Barbara Lerici .... Angela
Guido Morbello .... Young Detective
Massimo Sarchielli .... Leone
Diego Casale .... Beppe
Alessandra Comerio .... Mrs. Betti
Elena Marchesini .... Mel (the kitten)
Aldo Massasso .... Detective Cascio

Max Voy Sydow became a legend worldwide after his role in The Exorcist as Father Merrin. Then and only then did his fantastic acting career so far come to be common knowledge, many had seen and appreciated movies like the Seventh Seal but Sydow for most had been a nobody. Ever in the knowledge that his career was founded in horror, Sydow was keen to work with the greatest horror director on the planet; and maybe get back some of the notoriety he had earned nearly 30 years prior.

Stefano Dionisi is a well established Italian actor; he has worked consistently throughout Europe in movies since 1986. Best known for his role as the Pharaoh in Joseph he is never out of work.

Gabriele Lavia is an Argento regular with a less than regular lifestyle, it's rumoured that Lavi has not been sober since 1976. Best known as the suspected transsexual killer from Deep Red, Lavia continues to work when he can find someone committed enough to entertain his problems.

My Thoughts On Sleepless
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There is no doubt that Sleepless is not Argento's best work, but it's a really good contender for a top five of his best. From the moment the movie starts, you feel the tension. The feelings that you have about the plot from the start are usually a good indicator of how a Giallo film will end; not predictable, as the story unfolds the things that initially you thought are dismissed only to return later. All this aside you don't have a clue to the Dwarf's true identity, you could not possibly form a view until quite late on in the film.

The thing about Argento is that he provides menace to random things. A marble can be something sinister associated with the outcome, or at the least be a deadly weapon. To develop this style into the film further, Argento turns a nursery rhyme into a thing of great fear. With each murder a different part of the nursery rhyme is revealed. And this has great pertinence in respect of the murder of Giacomo's mother. The nursery rhyme used was actually written by Asia Argento who is now a key Hollywood player on both sides of the camera. In the early days Argento used strange camera shots to build suspense, and for sleepless he dragged these pioneering camera tricks back to the 21st century.

Being Italian, and dubbed into English it's of no surprise that the movie seems wooden and a bit lame, unfortunately there is no Italian soundtrack with this release. Argento's movies actually look far more professional to us uneducated Brits in Italian with English subtitles. It's sad that although the direction, location and acting are spot on it's ruined by the dubbing. That being said Sleepless is by far the best dubbed of any of Argento's works, and with a few exceptions the lip synching is spot on, what lets it down is the tone of the voices, its obvious that they are not on a set but in a sound booth.

The violence is certainly a few keys up from the Hollywood dross horror movies we are inundated with, a newcomer to the world of horror could easily be scared away by any of Argento's works, and possibly horror movies for life. In Italy there are no censorship issues in respect of gore and violence, and there are certainly no taboo issues in cinematography. This is bought home by each and every stab wound, and each totally random act of violence.

But the real key in the horror of this movie lies in its soundtrack. The band Goblin, who performs most soundtracks for Dario Argento came up with a unique device for the soundtrack. The created a score of 12 identical pieces of music created with very different instruments and variations of Tempo. The music, clearly the same every time you hear it varies from soft tones to thumping heavy metal style pieces reminiscent of Metallica's S & M album. And it's in this soundtrack that for me the movie stands out. I would easily say that 80% of the suspense is bought on through the soundtrack and in one particular scene you are left trying to figure out if the murder or the music that accompanied it was what kept you on the edge of your seat.

Special Features
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An Eye For Horror is a fascinating documentary lasting 60 minutes, it takes you from Argento's humble beginnings to the making of Sleepless. Clive Barker, Wes Craven, Stephen King, Tom Savini and George Romero all appear giving godlike worship of Argento's contributions to the horror movie genre.

Making Of Sleepless, focuses on the stunts, the cast and some of those scenes that you cant possibly figure out how Argento did it.

A variety of clips in which Argento himself speaks, and is inter-cut by extracts of worship from John Carpenter and again George Romero.

The original theatrical trailer speaks for itself.

There are a series of Photo's and Biographies also contained on the disc.

The DVD comes in region 0 format and will play on any DVD player worldwide. There are no additional languages or subtitles.

Sleepless is available from Play.com for £14.99 but I'm sure you can obtain this from other places at a reduced price.

Non Ho Sonno translates to I Can't Sleep which is the title the movie is known as in most other countries.
 

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