Coming soon from Red Water Entertainment, the North American VOD debut of Irish psychological thriller The Sleep Experiment, the first feature from writer-director John Farrelly, who was (at just 17 years old) named Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year 2018 for his short Choice.
The film stars Rob James Capel, Tom Kerrisk, Barry John Kinsella and Will Murphy as participants in the titular experiment. The synopsis for the thriller reads:
Two detectives begin an investigation on the ethics involved in the top-secret research facility, Porton Down. One experiment, in particular, stands out to them as the most horrific, The Sleep Experiment, a scientific experiment that took place during the Cold War. The experiment consisted of five prisoners, deemed Enemies of the State, being locked in a sealed gas chamber. An airborne stimulant was continually administered to keep the subjects awake for 30 consecutive days. The prisoners were falsely promised that they would be set free from the prison if they completed the experiment. Inspired by real events, The Sleep Experiment is a psychological thriller that exposes the horrors of what humanity is capable of when pushed to the brink.
The 'real events' refer to The Sleep Experiment’s setting of Porton Down, a government facility located in Wiltshire, UK. Up to 20,000 people took part in various human testing and trials at the site from 1949 to 1989.
In a statement, Farrelly revealed that he was also inspired by wanting to "...tell a story that explores what a human is capable of when pushed to the brink. I am fascinated by the human psyche and what drives a person do something that would be deemed inhumane. When our primal needs are taken away from us, chaos occurs and the animal deep down inside us all is released."
The Sleep Experiment will be available to rent and stream on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, iNDemand and DISH, starting November 1st. Watch the trailer here before you drift off tonight…
