PARASOMNIA

CONTAINS SPOIL....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I guess it's always dangerous making films about narcolepsy because the obvious gag is that it's contagious and the audience will catch it. Happily Parasomnia isn't dull enough to send you to sleep, but unhappily it is almost wilfully stupid.

It's directed by William Malone, who did that reasonably entertaining, flashy update of the old Vincent Price movie House on Haunted Hill a few years back and the incredibly dark and incomprehensible FearDotCom. This starts off in a clinic where they discuss patients' conditions with complete strangers, and not only do they treat drug rehab in the same building as sleep disorders, but they also keep a bona fide homicidal maniac and mesmerist chained to the ceiling in the next room to cute but narcoleptic teenager Laura. The mesmerist (going by the name Byron Volpe) is already haunting Laura's near-permanent dreamscape and is also capable of remote thought control. A passing art student falls in love with her and, upon discovering that they're going to ship her out to another facility where they can do weird and sinister experiments on her, decides to kidnap her and look after her in his apartment. Sadly she's been possessed by Volpe and starts on a gruesome killing spree....

It is spectacularly dumb but at least if nothing else it does give you a fair amount of blood and gore for your rental fee. Genre icon Jeffrey Combs turns up as a Fed, and he's always good value. But the whole thing is utter nonsense and I really didn't care for the ending. On balance it's a failure, but with the occasional splattery moment of interest.

**