Beyond The Wall Of Sleep (2006)

Synopsis: Sadistic doctors at an upstate New York mental asylum in 1908 take a special interest in a patient with a growth on his back which one doctor believes holds a separate mind. Horror. Directed byt David Buchert and Robert Ziegler.
 

I really do not want to dignify this one with too much talk. My only reason in including it with other real movies is that, if I can stop just one person for falling into the trap of buying/renting it based on the neat box cover or intentionally misleading description, then this blog will not have been in vain.

I can't really even describe Behind the Wall of Sleep. I believe, though I am not positive, that is trying to be a horror movie but its about as scary as watching someone change the oil on a vehicle. I've seen it described as a documentary, but this is pure fiction, supposedly based on a novel by H.P. Lovecraft. The setting is an insane asylum in upstate New York. Although its a period piece, there is no real effort to set it as such, other than the clothing. One of the lead actors has a hair style straight out of the 1970's, a period of time that has the distinction of owning dress and hair styles that had never been seen before or since. The plot is unintelligible, scenes alternating between one doctor's belief that the grotesque growth on the back of a patient contains a separate mind and his sadistic experiment on a female patient who appears throughout the movie with the top half of her skull removed, exposing her brain. Yeah, I'm serious.

There are awkward and inexplicable cuts to a group of children playing ring around the roses in an attempt, I guess, to make this seem like some sort of art film. It does not work.  The acting is atrocious, there is no other way to say it, particularly in the lead roles. I didn't include any of the actors' names in the synopsis just for that reason, I have to wonder if most of them are really actors, as you will find more talent in the middle school play in your neighborhood. This film is an embarrassment to Lionsgate, who backed it, and this is coming from a guy who is a big supporter of small budget and avant garde films. Its hard to believe that something like this gets made, when there are probably thousands of directors and actors out there with talent who cannot get their voices heard, so to speak. I will say something that I have seldom said before in this blog: stay away at all costs. Its that bad.