Paralys
2016 · 8m · SE
Directed by John Boisen, Björn Fävremark
Genres: horror
A woman dozes off in front of her TV and wakes into a limbo between sleep and reality, where a dark figure begins its slow approach — a visceral recreation of sleep paralysis.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Someone finally made a horror film where the monster is a neurological condition you can't scream about. The Swedish Film Institute co-production pedigree makes it look polished; the subject matter makes you want to sleep with the lights on. Two directors, one paralyzed woman, infinite dread.
Boisen and Fävremark didn't make a film about sleep paralysis — they built a machine that simulates it, using sound and camera movement as the actual mechanism of dread.
Boisen and Fävremark render sleep paralysis subjectively through camera and sound design — The Entity's interiority distilled to seven Swedish minutes. Effective genre exercise, not much more.
Festivals
- Uppsala International Short Film Festival 2016
- Nashville Film Festival 2018, Honorable Mention