When we first meet Cesar (Luis Tosar), he is standing on the edge of a rooftop contemplating suicide. Through his narration we discover that he is not happy, and believes he was never capable of being happy. The only thing that seems to ease the pain of his unhappiness is seeing unhappiness in others, which Cesar is all too willing to leave at their doorstep. The superintendent of a fancy apartment building, Cesar doesn’t need to do much to cause upset in the resident’s lives; giving diarrhoea to the dogs of a nice old lady, not watering the plants of a fussy old man… but then Cesar meets new tenant Clara (Marta Etura), a beautiful, jubilant young woman, and no matter how hard he tries, he cannot seem to cause her to be anything other than joyful. Taking this as a personal affront, Cesar makes it is his mission to bring misery into Clara’s blissful life.
Director Jaume Balaguero has brought horror into Spanish apartment buildings before, being the co-director of the astounding [REC] and [REC]2, but here he brings a much more subtle, foreboding sense of fear. Playing on the ideas that we never truly know who we should trust enough to let into our homes, the first time Clara falls to sleep and the camera pans down to show Cesar waiting patiently under her bed will send shivers up audience’s spines. But while the movie slowly ratchets up the fear levels and has one or two truly nail biting sequences, it also possesses a fantastically dark sense of humour to alleviate the tension.
The incredibly beautiful Etura brings real depth and warmth to her loveable character, but all eyes will be on Tosar after this movie, as his Cesar is one of the great 'boo-hiss' villains in recent times. Fun and creepy in equal measures, just as the movie looks like it can’t put a foot wrong, a disgustingly bleak plot development occurs that the movie never fully recovers from. Which is an awful shame, as it’s this slip up that makes Sleep Tight a good thriller instead of a potentially great one.
