Non Ho Sonno

Non Ho Sonno

The fever pitch had been building for quite some time, renowned and respected Italian director Dario Argento was back behind the camera and he was going back to his roots by filming a new giallo thriller! And following a spate of lukewarm receptions for his recent films, fans hopes were riding high.

'Non Ho Sonno' (or 'Sleepless' as it is known here in the UK) is indeed an old school giallo movie that follows retired police inspector Moretti (played by Max Von Sydow) who finds himself embroiled in investigating a serial killer case he thought was closed years before. The problem being that the 'dwarf killer' as he was known is presumed dead and buried - so is it a copycat killer or has the original killer resumed his murderous ways?

Yes, Argento fans should probably rightly be grinning from ear to ear with this welcome return to the giallo genre by the Italian Hitchcock but is this the long awaited 'return to form' (as some have been plauding) or is it just a rehashed trip down memory lane? The truth is probably a middle ground of both.

Argento truly does deliver the goods at times in the movie with some great suspenseful moments, in particular the opening scenes are excellent and will grip you on your first viewing. And the script reads like it was written back in the hey-day of the giallo scene and brought out of hiding for this cinematic revival. And all the elements are here for a true return to form for the surviving grand master of Italian horror - great script, Argento directing, long time associates Goblin providing the soundtrack and Sergio Stivaletti delivering the blood in some tasty gory moments - but why did it all leave a bad feeling with me?

The sad truth is that although 'Non Ho Sonno' is indeed a great film I couldn't help feel that it was just a greatest hits 'cut and paste' pastiche of Argento's earlier work. The signs are there throughout the movie with elements/shots/scenes lifted from Tenebrae, Deep Red et al that long time fans will easily pick up on. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing but at times they don't have the impact that the original versions had and seem worryingly like a director that's either ran out of ideas or is just going through the motions to appease the demands of obsessive fans (which is a shame really as films like the vastly underrated 'Phantom of the Opera' showcased Argento's personal development as a film maker in brilliant style).

As I said though, there are many great points to the movie that do make it very worthwhile, mostly Argento's direction is great (if maybe a touch like a low-cal softer version of what we're used to from him), Max Von Sydow steals the show with an excellent performance that outshines the rest of the cast and Goblin's main theme for the movie is great (and happily used often and well throughout the film!) Stivaletti's effects are on the main brilliant (I love this guy's make ups) but I couldn't help but be embarrassed at one scene with Argento's overlong camera shot panning down a hallway rug (complete with two shots of vacuum cleaner in action!) building up to a shot of a pair of ballerina's feet twirling (as she is strangled) only for a prop head to be dropped to the floor! (boy oh boy, that whole scene should have hit the editing room floor!)

Anyhoo, the region 2 PAL disc from Medusa Italy is pretty cool for what it is. The anarmorphic widescreen print looks great - a nice strong image throughout, though some background reds can occasionally look a little lacking. The audio is great too with not only Italian 5.1 and DTS but an English 5.1 audio track also - and whilst the English audio is a touch quieter (and the dialogue is too low in some scenes), the sound comes through great (especially for those of you with surround systems) which is cool especially for fans of Goblins music.

Again, an Argento film is slightly hampered though by the subtitling audio/situation (a complaint made by some of Dragon's Phenomena release). Firstly, you can choose to watch the film in Italian language with the optional English subtitles - the problem here being that not only are the English subtitling translations a bit off the mark at times but using this option you miss out on the great performance that Max Von Sydow delivers throughout the film (which considering the dialogue heavy middle section of the movie this is quite significant). Secondly, you can choose to watch the English language version which means you do get to enjoy Von Sydow's great performance but then you have to suffer the dubious dubbing of the rest of the cast, which isn't helped by the low mix of the vocal audio that will inevitably have you reaching for the subtitles option anyway!

Extras wise, there's a great 15 minute behind the scenes segment with cast and crew funning it up whilst making the movie which is in Italian language only (and no English subtitles), but hey, you can't have everything eh? And I'm sure an English subtitled version will pop up on a later release anyway. There's also the obligatory trailer and bio pages too.

'Non Ho Sonno' is a patchy affair - at times brilliant, at times awkward and derivative of what's gone before - but a nice movie anyway, and no doubt will be very much enjoyed by any fan of Argentos's work. Check it out!

Review by Alan Simpson


 
Directed by Dario Argento
Released by Medusa
Region '2' PAL - Rated 14
Ratio - Anarmorphic widescreen
Audio - English 5.1, Italian DTS 5.1
Running time : approx 113 mins
Extras :
Making of segment, Trailer, Bios
Back