Festival Focus - He Murdered Sleep
“What do you get when the Scottish Play is shoved through a cyberpunk grinder? Neon nightmares and laser gun blues.” There is no better description of this aesthetically pleasing nightmare.
Dystopian horrors are nothing new to the genre, we have plenty of broken civilizations plagued by viruses, corrupt governments, and even a yearly legal crime spree to indulge ourselves with. He Murdered Sleep brings something new to the table. It blends the past and the future to create something we both know and don’t know, taking us out of our comfort zone.
Its gorgeous cinematography and colourful palate separates itself from the crowd. Every colour change is so clearly thought out, contrasting with the blood and the violence on screen. The vibrant colours and dynamic lighting lend themselves to the Neon Noir genre, a brand of Neo Noir, which brought the revival of Noir films in the post-World War II era in the US. Making Neon Noir another modern reboot of the genre.
Stemming from German Expressionism and Art Deco, Neon Noir combines morally ambiguous main characters, with themes of revenge and paranoia. Characteristics of the genre include blending trauma, more often than not a form of violence committed by the lead, stylized visuals and colours, all which create a dreamlike state. In this case, the dreamlike quality also includes the themes of sleep and lack of within the writing.
The story of He Murdered Sleep seemed to have found its perfect genre nearly 400 years since its creation.
“The tale of murder and ambition and the supernatural mainlined itself into my soul, where it was catalyzed by my obsession for 80s cyberpunk into a fevered vision of Macbeth as the ultimate corporate climber in a heartless city of the future. The more our world tilted toward actual dystopian corporatocracy, the greater my urge to make this vision real. So here we are, my fever breaking onto the screen like a crack of electric doom.”
Every frame of this film is carefully composed. The set design and positioning of the characters is a visual treat from start to finish. This is a nightmare I would love to live in.
Find out more about director Jeremy Boxon on his IMDB page
