10 Recent Horror Films You Need To Stop Sleeping On

Since the late-nineties, the big Korean horrors have had a loud and visible reception in the West, but while the work of Bong Joon Ho, Kim Jee-woon and Park Chan-wook has been lauded and well publicised, some of the smaller films from the country's new and upcoming talent has slipped under the radar.

Sleep is just that: a film that, despite its inclusion during the Critics' Week section at Cannes, and attempts by the likes of the BFI to give it that extra boost, has not done anything like the roaring trade of its stablemates.

First time writer-director Jason Yu tees up a story of newlyweds Hyeon-soo and Soo-jin (Lee Sun-kyun and Jung Yu-mi) who have just moved into their new apartment, when Hyeon-soo begins to sleepwalk. His initially benign nighttime excursions progress into ever-more dangerous and disturbing behaviours that threaten their peace and the small family’s existence. Thus, to protect their unborn child, Soo-jin does anything and everything she can to keep her husband horizontal throughout the night - including fitting a lock on the bedroom door and sleeping in separate rooms - but it soon becomes clear there is more than just a bit of bad cheese driving this nightmare. 

Crafted with an expert's attention to tension and mystery, Sleep keeps you guessing right until the revelatory third act, seeding a horror that is terrifying because it feels so everyday and real.