This Guardian review covers Parasomnia, the debut feature from director James Ross II, a horror film built around a woman's dangerous relationship with sleep. The genre has long mined sleep for scares, and the reviewer notes growing cultural anxiety around the "sleep economy," making the film's premise timely, though the review finds that an overly complicated plot blunts its scare factor despite promising directorial ambition.

The story follows Riley, who as a teenager was paralysed in a sleep state while a care worker committed murder, and who as an adult enforces a strict rule that others must fall asleep before her to keep a malevolent presence at bay. When her boyfriend breaks this protocol, a succubus-like demon is unleashed, plunging the narrative into a disorienting mix of dream and reality that the review says only becomes clear in a clever third-act twist. The cast is all-Black, though the review notes race is not a central theme, and it praises the film's inventive structure while criticising middling performances and a generic monster design. Parasomnia streams on Shudder and AMC+ from 4 September.