Kelty Crawford (Abigail Breslin) is thirty years old and troubled. She’s the epitome of almost every Generation Z cliche imaginable. Haunted by a terrible accident and various guilt and mental issues, she currently has few career prospects, little money, and an upcoming wedding that is going to cost her a fortune.
She’s also having trouble sleeping. She sleepwalks and, when she does wake up, she’s doing strange things like eating the toothpaste straight out of the tube. Both to make some extra cash and to try to find out what is at the root of her sleepwalking, Kelty agrees to take part in a sleep study that is being conducted by the rather shady Dr. Baylour (Michael Eklund). Baylour gives her a shot of a powerful drug. Kelty falls into a deep sleep and she immediately has dreams about killing a man that she doesn’t know.
During her waking hours, Kelty is shocked to sees a news story about how the body of the man she dreamed of killing has recently been discovered. Kelty fears that she killed the man in her sleep. Kelty is also shocked when Dr. Baylour vanishes without paying her for taking part in his sleep study. Hey, Dr. Baylour — she’s got a wedding to pay for!
I had high hopes for I Killed Him In My Sleep. Abigail Breslin, who was just ten years old when she was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Little Miss Sunshine, has developed into a good actress and she especially seems to be well-cast as people who are dealing with dark secrets. The film’s premise sounded intriguing. It sounded like I Killed Him In My Sleep would embrace the melodrama, much in the same way that Doug Campbell and Eric Roberts did with the Stalked By My Doctor series. (Remember Stalked By My Doctor: A Sleepwalker’s Nightmare? That was a classic!) And, to give credit where credit is due, this film did feature one twist that actually did take me by surprise.
And yet, with all that in mind, I Killed Him In My Sleep fell flat for me. A lot of it is because, instead of fully embracing the melodrama and cheerfully celebrating the excess that goes along with it, the film moves very slowly and seems to take itself very seriously. With its muted cinematography and its overly talky characters, this is a film that tries so hard to be naturalistic that it instead ends up feeling even more fake than usual. Abigail Breslin is a good actress and she probably does about as well as anyone could have with this role. Unfortunately, her dialogue sounds more like a series of social media posts than an actual human being. Kelty may not be a typical Lifetime heroine but that she’s also just not that interesting.
That said, the plot had potential and the nightmare scenes were well-directed. The film captured the feeling of waking up disorientated and not being quite sure what you’ve just spent the last few hours doing. A few nights ago, I dreamt that I had a job at a retirement community and that I did so well that everyone living there was happier than they had ever been. That was a nice dream and far better than killing people.
Through the Shattered Lens 