He Sees You When You’re Sleeping (2024) - Horror Movie Review

He Sees You When You’re Sleeping (2024)

Chester returns to his home after witnessing his parents’ murders 17 years ago by a killer dressed as Santa. A new Santa killer begins killing his relatives. Chester questions if the killer returned or if a more terrifying truth exists.

Chester (David Lenik) returns to his childhood home for Christmas with his new girlfriend Afton (Nellie Spackman) and a healthy dose of cynicism towards his Aunt (Caroline Williams) and cousin (Cedric Gegel) who are now living in the house his mother and father were murdered in 17 years before. Traumatised by a killer dressed as Santa, Chester has spent much of the previous 17 years in psychiatric care and the return home feels like a final step on the journey in coming to terms with what happened on that fateful Christmas eve.

It’s bad enough when you’ve been through the kind of trauma Chester has experienced but, when you are face to face with the remains of your dysfunctional family for who there is no love lost, it doesn’t look like it is shaping up to be a happy Christmas.

Once Chester starts seeing a mysterious Santa hanging around the house, things go from bad to worse and he, and everyone around him, can’t figure out if he is telling the truth or should be sent back to the institution he has just been discharged from.

Has the evil serial killer from 17 years ago come back to finish the job, or is something more sinister afoot?

He Sees You When You’re Sleeping feels like what might happen if someone watched Violent Night and decided to use it for inspiration, but instead of a grumpy but loveable anti-hero Santa, we get a serial killer and none of the fun. The story about dysfunctional family politics and back-stabbing remains, but I just didn’t care about this lot in the same way.

He Sees You When You’re Sleeping tries to crow-bar some fun into the mix with the decidedly unpleasant cousin Burke and the overly nice, but hiding a secret, Aunt Marion (and Williams plays her in a suitably sour fashion) but Chester is such a whiny shit, that I didn’t care whether he lived, died or had his family fortune stolen from under him.

The only nice character in the movie was Chester’s childhood friend, Eden (Peyton Michelle Edwards) who he strikes up a relationship with when he bumps into her again, seemingly just walking through his back yard with her stepdad. But your interest here may be limited to a mild hope that Chester will take an axe to the back to save Eden from the potential hell of a relationship with him.

I appreciate this seems uncharitable and, as I often say, no one sets out to make a bad movie, but this one just didn’t do much for me.

Trying to be objective about it, He Sees You When You’re Sleeping is a perfectly serviceable slasher with a modicum of blood that takes you through the expected paces of any other perfectly serviceable slasher. It is unfortunately marred by an unlikeable protagonist and some questionable acting – and there will be obvious and unfavourable comparisons to Violent Night.

I suspect you will be able to get some fun out of it over Christmas after a few glasses of eggnog but, unlike Violent Night, He Sees You When You’re Sleeping won’t be making it onto my repeated seasonal viewing list.

He Sees you When You’re Sleeping is streaming now.