If humans were to completely lose the ability to sleep, what would be the outcome? Mark Raso’s “Awake” is a suspenseful and disastrous movie, introducing the possibility of various forms of disorder as people slowly lose their sanity without sleep, unless a cure is discovered within a few days. This straightforward yet puzzling movie will keep you thinking for hours behind the myth of the cure. 

The film begins when a young girl named Matilda was in a car accident with her mother Jill and her brother Noah followed by a solar flare that shut down most human technology. Although it  seemed as though Matilda had drowned from their car crashed into a lake, she miraculously survived. Even though the family manages to survive during the initial day of the apocalypse, it is just the start of humanity’s plunge into madness caused by lack of sleep. As more people began to behave out of control, doctors were desperate in searching for a cure. Following  Dr. Murphy discovery that Matilda was the only individual capable of sleeping, apart from an elderly women that was supposed to die several months earlier, she brought Matilda to her laboratory for further study. After Jill discovered that Dr. Murphy was collecting numerous blood samples from the elderly women and her daughter, she learned that the doctors had not made significant progress in finding a cure. The soldiers who were stationed to guard the laboratory were so exhausted from sleep deprivation that they fell into unconsciousness and began killing anyone they encountered. Noah tragically died due to electrocution,but he surprisingly revived the next day. The movie concludes with Matilda discovering that the only way to attain sleep is by dying first. 

The quality of the acting can be one of the main factors that draw the audience’s attention. Rodriguez, the actor playing the role of Jill, portrays her character with such resolute determination that her mental state declines, the transformation is significant. Her body movements changes from that of a trained veteran, exhibiting combat skills, to that of someone on the edge of death, displaying weak limbs and inability to support herself. 

Mark Raso’s “Awake” is a strange and unique movie, evoking a feeling of apprehension and suspicion that allows its horror unsettling and enjoyable. This kind of movie is a must-see if you are the kind of person that enjoys stories about apocalyptic scenarios and psychological thrillers.