OWEN ROSE
Special to The Leader
This review will contain major spoilers. Continue with caution.
On Oct. 18, 2024, Amazon Prime released its newest original series: “The Edge of Sleep.”
This TV show is based on a podcast created by Jake Emanuel and Willie Block. The show follows Dave, a night watchman with parasomnia — a disorder characterized by a disruption while sleeping such as sleepwalking, night terrors, sleep talking and more — who finds that everyone who has fallen asleep the previous night did not wake up. They all died in their sleep, mysteriously.
The series features Markiplier (Mark Fischbach) as its leading character, alongside Franz Drameh playing Matteo, Lio Tipton playing Katie, Eve Harlow playing Linda, and many other side characters.
The series took the charts by storm as it was ranked #6 on Prime Video’s Top 10 Series in the World when it was released.
The characters and audience do not know how or why falling asleep causes death. Modafalyst, a drug that keeps the user stimulated and awake, is used alongside injected adrenaline to keep the characters alive. These are their only two safeguards to not falling asleep under such awful conditions.
In Episode 5, “The Nightmare,” there is a thrilling shot depicting Katie falling asleep despite the Modafalyst and adrenaline. Unfortunately, later in the series, she does not make it and succumbs to sleep. During this shot, a black border closes in on the viewer, displaying the time left to save Katie. Meanwhile, the introductory song plays, “I Go to Sleep” by Peggy Lee. The speech from the characters becomes progressively distorted while they scramble to find a way to save Katie from her own human needs. The song gets louder and louder, making the viewer increasingly uncomfortable. This specific shot truly illustrates the horrible situation these characters have been placed in, as their friend, and for Dave, his ex-girlfriend, dies due to simply falling asleep.
By Episode 6, “The Dream Warrior,” the group makes it to their final destination, Aristera, an ancient name for what is now referred to as Spetsopoula in Greece. Here, they are told they’d be safe to sleep without the threat of death. This episode is arguably the most chilling, as the characters are at the climax of their sleep deprivation, having gone over 70 hours without sleep. The shots include the characters wandering around the island, crying blood and going psychotic — only to find the place they were looking for.
These two examples are only small sections of the story. The rest is detailed in the series’ six episodes, available on Prime Video. But these examples are incredibly telling of the acting, cinematography and passion put into this incredibly low-budget project. Those involved clearly care a lot about turning this podcast from simply an audio story to a visual medium.
In “The Edge of Sleep,” the acting gets better the longer you watch it. In the first episode, the acting feels a bit choppy and awkward, as expected of a pilot. Some of the lines feel monotone or wooden. An example is when the character Lisa tells Dave and Matteo to call anyone they can think of who could be awake, to warn them to not sleep. The line is delivered in such a dull way and it doesn’t feel like a dire warning in a sleep pandemic.
Once you get past the first episode, the acting truly starts to shine. The four characters experience sleep deprivation for over 70+ hours throughout the show, and you can see them truly understand how drastic sleep deprivation would affect someone. As the show goes on, you watch the four main characters experience debilitating symptoms of drowsiness, hallucinations, psychosis and irritability. The usage of their motivations and tactics gives the audience a chilling understanding of how desperate the situation is.