Paralysis

This is a low budget indie horror that tackles subjects of grief, guilt and responsibilities along with effects of medication.

It's a slow burn for sure, really only moving quickly in the last 20 minutes or so. But it's worth it. Good slow burn horror movies, to me, need to have atmosphere, interesting characters, intrigue and a satisfying ending which makes you connect with the story and their arcs.

While not a unique story (what is?) its a great achievement on a low budget. I'm really looking forward to their future projects and can see with some additional money behind them movies elevated beyond the indie limitations.

Check it out!

(2022) Paralysis PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR

Edited, co- cinematography, co-associate produced, written and directed by Levi Austin Morris that has Haley Stone (Allison Lobel) interacting with her brother, Nicky Stone (Levi Austin Morris) who happens to be be a painter/ artist. At the same time she is seeing and dreaming about things that are not there, such as a demonic presence sometimes with her brother, Nicky present sometimes not. And although, she takes medication we find out she suffers from sleep paralysis/ nightmares. It is during then she seeks help from a paranormal investigator, Anissa Bradley (Lisagaye Tomlinson) who may or may not be the solution to all of Haley's nightmares.

Self-explainable psychological horror movie that is slow and boring in parts but may have been better if it had a bigger budget.

I'm currently working my way through this one and it's rough, to say the least. Definitely a low budget flick. The acting is the worst part about this so far, making it extremely hard to immerse myself into the atmosphere and genre. The acting feels like what you'd get from a cheap highschool film project, most notably, the wide angel single camera found footage movies that flood streaming platforms such as Tubi and Freevee, to name a couple. They're not all bad, but the acting is generally the worst part in them. I get it, amateurs gaining experience and whatnot... Anyways, I'm going to finish it and then come back to this review and hope that between then and now, I've got something positive to say about it.

I really wanted to like Paralysis. The premise is intriguing, and I'm sure there's a solid story underneath it all. Unfortunately, I found it almost impossible to get into the film because of the acting. It felt more like a local theatre production or a student project than a professional film. The performances just didn't carry the emotional weight needed for this kind of story - they often felt flat, awkward, or overly dramatic in a way that pulled me out of every scene.

I don't say this lightly, but I genuinely believe someone with no acting background could have delivered a more natural performance. That made it hard to connect with the characters or feel any real tension, which is a big problem in a psychological horror like this.

That said, credit where it's due: the team clearly had passion and a vision, and the concept could've worked with stronger direction and casting. I just hope future projects put more emphasis on performance quality, because that alone can make or break a story like this.

I enjoyed this film. Lots of threads weaving around and brought together for a satisfying ending. Very good use of some scary images and it keeps the floating sense of unease and unreality going. I don't like an unresolved "you figure out what happened" ending, and this film avoids that nicely. Good depiction of the distress that family can cause. No time wasted in diving into the story, and a generous amount of creepiness. The main character does a very good job of portraying how debilitating poor sleep/bad dreams can be. This movie digs right into personal horrors without having to resort to a bucket of blood.