Parasomnia is a broad term that covers a lot of sleep disorders. I even ran into the term in association with restless leg syndrome.  But there is a severe disorder called Kleine-Levin Syndrome, also known as Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, where the sufferer spends a very large part of their lives asleep. In reality, it usually amounts to days at a time. In William Malone's new thriller Parasomnia, we meet Laura, who sleeps about 90% of the time, making her a true Sleeping Beauty. Malone's had a bit of an inconsistent history. He was responsible for the extremely disappointing remake of The House On Haunted Hill as well as the unfairly maligned feardotcom. His style is almost always over the top and often dominates anything that the story is trying to say. Much of that can also be said of Parasomnia, except here there is a wicked sardonic tale that manages to blend perfectly with the overactive style components. Is it possible that Malone has finally found a gene-splicing technique that has created the perfect stylish thriller? After spending some time with this DVD, I have to say that he has.

Laura (Wilson) is a teenaged girl who has spent most of that time asleep. She has no known family, so she spends all of that slumber time in a corner of a mental hospital. Her next-door neighbor happens to be one of the most notorious serial killers ever known. He has a strange hypnotic power that he has used to mesmerize others to do his diabolical deeds. His name is Byron Volpe (Kilpatrick), and the only way he can be safely contained is chained in a room with his face covered by a black hood. His cell looks like something out of a medieval torture chamber. Enter Danny (Purcell), a young artist who is at the hospital visiting his friend who is in rehab there. The two neighboring rooms make quite an emotional impact on the young man whose girlfriend has just left him. Volpe he finds morbidly fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Laura he is drawn to. He develops an overwhelming desire to protect her. When he discovers that an unethical researcher is about to take her away to use as a guinea pig, he swings into action and kidnaps, or rescues, depending on your point of view, the girl from her fate. It's not easy taking care of a girl who is only awakes for minutes at a time. She is pretty much a blank slate, since she's never been awake enough to experience everyday things like a car ride. To make things worse, Volpe appears to have a hold on her, able to dominate her dreams. It is here that she lives a terrifying life taunted and tormented by the killer. When his hold is able to control her few waking moments, the result puts both her and Danny on the radar of the police, particularly Detective Garrett, played by sci-fi genre favorite Jeffrey Combs. Danny decides that the only way to truly free Laura is to kill Volpe, but that won't be easy. Still, there must be a showdown.