Five-Legged Iguana

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2012
Candidate # 12

MIENTRAS DUERMES
(SLEEP TIGHT)
(September 2011)


As it turns out, Para Entrar A Vivir (¡Qué Horror! 2012 Candidate #10) didn’t have to tide me over for too long before I luxuriated in my next Jaume Balagueró fix.
In Mientras Duermes, Clara (Marta Etura) is waking up groggy and progressively out of sorts, and is being harassed by text messages, email, and yes, apparently even snail mail.
Clara’s got an obsessed stalker, and he’s a lot closer than she might expect.
Scripted by Alberto Marini (who co-wrote Para Entrar A Vivir with Balagueró), this one has a similar premise to the recently reconstituted Hammer production, The Resident, the difference being, Balagueró and Marini handle the material a lot more intelligently, creating a disturbing portrait of a sociopath who should be quite at home in this day and age of haters and Schadenfreude.

And while this dark little number is yet another Balagueró film that I love, I will admit to missing his collaborating with Xavi Giménez; Pablo Rosso has been Balagueró’s go-to cinematographer since Para Entrar A Vivir.
Of course, Giménez has gone on to directing, and I’ve been trying my darnedest to check out his feature directorial debut, Cruzando El Limite (Yellow), so maybe, everyone concerned is just spreading the love and astounding talent around a little more…
Rosso, after all, is one mean shooter too, what, with all the tricksy stuff he pulled off in the [REC] films.

So, while I eagerly await Paco Plaza’s [REC] 3: Génesis (and, quite naturally, Balagueró’s [REC] 4: Apocalypse), it’s Mientras Duermes’ turn to keep me all warm and snugly…
Allow it to do the same for you.


(Mientras Duermes and Sleep Tight OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)