In 1983 a serial killer nicknamed the Dwarf embarks of a murderous spree. The detective in charge Moretti (played by legendary Max von Sydow) manages to connects the dots to a mystery novelist Vincenzo de Fabritiis, only for the suspect to die before capture. Almost twenty years later a prostitute by freak accident stumbles upon memorabilia of past murders, whilst leaving a clients house. Before she can pass on the mementos to anyone else she is brutally murdered. Soon after murders surprisingly similar to the 1983 case occur and detective Moretti is called back in to assist...
After over a decade of lingering in the disembowelled remains of his legend Dario Argento returns by resurrecting his giallo cookbook. And make no mistake - Argento does not attempt in the slightest to modernise the genre, instead he follows his own former path of glory making sure the recipe is repeated. This also signals a welcome return of The Goblins and their always hauntingly suitable score. The requisite ingredient of long marauding shots, which follow the blood, murder and atmosphere, is obviously also present. One especially well-done fist-clenching sequence has the camera follow a red (what? you expected any other colour from Dario?) carpet with the unmistakable relentless accompaniment of The Goblins straight to a morbid beheading.
That said Argento seems to have dropped his obsession with coloured lenses and does not seem to attach the same fervorous attention to set-pieces. Unfortunately this does seem to take away some of the Argento magic and can not help but feel the superiority of the 70s giallo. Even more so, that the formulaic repetitiveness of Argento causes "Sleepless" to become all to similar to what the master has already offered us in the past. The script has the feel of being a collage of several other Argento giallo flicks. Nonetheless the movie features surprisingly crisp acting for an Argento movie, even though some of the characters seem unnecessarily overcooked.
There are several other smaller flaws to "Sleepless", as the movie drags on even more than we are used to from the Italian, the dialogue can be ridiculous at times (Moretti dumbfoundedly asks "Who is that? Is this a joke?" after hearing someone break his window), whilst some of the plotting is absurdly unlikely to say the least (i.e. a witness decides to return a gold pen to the serial killer in exchange for money, instead of handing in the evidence to the police).
This movie also has a touch of Argento's self-commentary to it in the shape of Moretti, a detective used to the old ways of solving crime. Now the methods have changed, but Moretti has struggled to adapt, still preferring the traditional art of deduction. One can't help but feel that this is Argento's personal explanation as to his persistent drop in status during the 90s.
Nonetheless a nice movie that shows that Dario Argento still has some spark left in him. Whether or not he will be able to tap into this source to make a spectacular comeback to the limelight remains however to be seen.
