
Sleep Tight (Jaume Balagueró, 2011)
A story Patricia Highsmith might have been pleased to have thought of. Directed by Jaume Balagueró, who has already made three of my favourite horror films - REC, REC 2 and The Nameless. This is a film that rubbed one of my raw nerves for about two-thirds of the 90 minute duration and made me squirm.
On a personal level this also rang my bell for another two reasons: it features some of my own literary preoccupations - exclusion, disappointment and obsession, and how they work in a character's mind. And it's also the story of a concierge in an apartment block. A job I held for close to 5 years in the West End of London. An occupation that is very authentically rendered in the film's Barcelona setting.
A quieter, lo-fi Snowtown in some respects, it also has one of those great scripts that makes me wish it was based on a novel that I could read.
"I've seen your Twitter profile."