REVIEW: BALAGUERO’S SLEEP TIGHT AKA MIENTRAS DUERMES

by Beatriz Ayllón (*)

Sleep Tight (2011) is a Spanish thriller produced by Filmax, directed by Jaume Balagueró (THE NAMELESS, DARKNESS, FRAGILE, [REC], [REC]2, [REC]4: APOCALYPSE-  ) and written by Alberto Marini (SUMMER CAMP)  who collaborated with Balagueró in his award-winning horror films DARKNESS (2002) and FRAGILE (2005). Marini’s intention was to set the film in New York but when he showed Filmax the first draft, they decided to consult Balagueró and change the shooting location to Spain. In 2011 were also released THE SKIN I LIVE IN, directed and written by Pedro Almodóvar, and THE HIDDEN FACE, written and directed by Andrés Baiz.

MIENTRAS DUERMES is the story of César, the janitor of an apartment building in Barcelona. On the surface, he is a very polite man and always attentive to the residents he works for. But underneath this kindness, there is a man who feels there is something wrong with him because he seems incapable of feeling happiness. The way he finds to cope with depression is by making other people’s lives miserable. He becomes especially obsessed with Clara, a young woman living in the building. Clara is César’s opposite: she is always smiling no matter what is happening in her life. Destroying her happiness becomes César’s goal.

As the film progresses, your uneasiness as a viewer increases, because you are a witness of what sinister César does – things as filling Clara’s face and body care products with an abrasive substance in order to irritate her skin – and his victim is not aware of. You really wish that  Cesar is caught because Clara is an innocent person, but you also want to see how far he could go. Not only do these mixed feelings make the watchers feel uncomfortable, but also suspense is held suspense throughout the entire movie.

The plot takes place in a single location which happens to be a home, the place where you are supposed to feel safe. That’s why much of the horror in the movie, apart from the tension and the suspense lies in the atmosphere. The thought of a stranger lying next to me without me being aware of it, or wandering around my house while I’m not there gives me goosebumps.

It’s not the first time that Jaume Balagueró places the action in a building in Barcelona. In REC, the residents of an old apartment building also suffer the consequences of the chaos a villain living in their own home causes. While in Sleep Tight the evil is represented by a disturbed janitor, in REC it takes the form of a virus that turns them into living dead beings.

I think Luis Tosar (TAKE MY EYES, CELL 211, RETRIBUTION), is a great actor and having been cast to play the role of César is a very good choice because his physical appearance makes him the kind of guy who can make no harm but at the same time, you wouldn’t be surprised if you were told he keeps some skeletons in his closet.

Marta Etura’s acting is good, too. She is the sweet, smiling, and self-confident Clara, someone you simply like because she’s kind and naïve  – too much to be believable in my opinion-. That’s why it feels so unfair that her suffering comes from a man who just wants to create chaos and unhappiness. Besides, he never expresses remorse for the damage he makes. She has worked with Luis Tosar in YOUR NEXT LIFE (2004) and CELL 211 (2009).

César is the villain and she is the character chosen to be tortured by the villain. From the narrative perspective, Clara’s vulnerability is exposed and highlighted by César’s lack of empathy; the same as his politeness serves to heighten his evil.

There are other characters’ lives who are affected, without them knowing, by César’s bad intentions and he even has an assistant, a little girl who knows he’s interested in Clara and takes advantage of it by blackmailing him in exchange for information.

To say something negative, towards the last quarter of the movie it looks like the script starts to run out of energy as if there were some kind of urge to get to an end, which makes the involved characters’ actions to be slightly unnatural. Another not-so-good thing is that although the ending is shocking and coherent with the plot we’ve seen until then, it’s a bit sensationalist I would say but not to the extent of spoiling the entire experience of an entertaining and full of suspense work.

I watched Sleep Tight for the first time about ten years ago, and not only it has aged well but I also enjoyed it very much this time too, even knowing what was going to happen.

SLEEP TIGHT was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2013 and you can find it on some VOD platforms.

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Beatriz Ayllón lives in Madrid. She has a degree in English language and literature. She is a teacher and web developer. She loves horror and sci-fi movies and books and researching narrative techniques. She contributes to a Spanish cinema website writing reviews and has collaborated on some streaming programs talking about true crimes. Currently, she is working on a short story collection.