Marcus wakes up in a cemetery with no memory of how he got there. He suffers from parasomnia, a sleep disorder which causes him to do things while asleep which he cannot remember, and so is plagued with questions: "Where was I last night? Who was I with?" Hoping to deal with his use of one-night stands to escape his problems, Marcus joins a Sexaholics Anonymous support group, where SA sponsor Derek helps him work through his problems. His disorder takes a turn for the worse when he wakes up and finds himself covered in blood with a knife at his side and the police banging at his door. In a panic he hides the evidence and then learns from the police that Ann, wife of his best friend Justin, was found stabbed to death. Marcus is terrified to put together the pieces of how she might have been murdered. A series of mysterious phone calls make him believe that someone is watching him. Desperate to figure out what happens after he goes to sleep at night, he investigates his own nocturnal activities. His quest for the truth ends in a shocking revelation.
On November 6, 2009, In My Sleep screened at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, where it won the Audience Choice Award. The film has sold to over seventy countries around the world and has been translated into German, French and Spanish.
Box office
In My Sleep has gotten a limited release, screening in more than fifteen cities and still in theatrical release in 2011, earning as much as $9,285 in one screening, becoming the #1 new indie movie of opening weekend in Los Angeles. As of July 2010 the film's total gross has come to $90,093.
Critical reception
Reviews of the film were mostly negative. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a Tomatometer rating of only 12%. While critics conceded that the premise was interesting, they denounced the film as talky, dull, and technically shoddy. Despite that, Duane Burges of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "A well-stirred titillation that will appeal to twentysomething audiences and movie-buff viewers who appreciate the pursued-pursuer, Hitchcockian style of suspenser. "In My Sleep" works because the protagonist, while flawed, is completely likable and honorable. Philip Winchester exudes an integrity, as well as a gritty determination, which makes us root for him. John Anderson wrote in Variety that it "boasts all the cerebral and aesthetic restraint of a West Hollywood dance club," and "Production values are dire, with too much lighting and not enough design." In the Los Angeles Times, Gary Goldstein wrote "Writer-director Allen Wolf loads In My Sleep with so much psychosexual baggage you wish he just focused on one emotional affliction to propel this mediocre whodunit," and concludes "It's ultimately all too contrived and superficial to feel convincing, despite the story's often lurid appeal."
Awards
In spite of negative reviews, the film has won several festival awards: "Audience Award" at Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, "Best Feature Film" at Omaha Film Festival, "Best Narrative Film" at the Las Vegas Film Festival, "Audience Award" at the Kansas City Film Festival, "Gold Kahuna Award" at Honolulu Festival and was a finalist for "Best Feature" at Kansas City Film Festival and the Orlando Film Festival.
