The case film that sparked monumental discussions
Unlike other films, Don’t Sleep didn’t make a big debut. The movie,that was directed by Rick Bieber, was treated as a horror thriller film with a lot of them already in the market. Rick was not as popular as the other directors thus, the movie did not get a lot of attention. Regardless, there were specific audiences who were looking for something different and the movie did have the potential to deliver unsettling characters. The best was definitely the complex and sorrowful youth who bled from one state to the other, thus giving the film its central fear and name.
The movie chronicled the life of Shawn Edmonson, played by Dominic Sherwood, and his girlfriend Zach, who both settled in a guesthouse located on a strangely attractive land. But tranquility was short-lived. Shawn begins to suffer from terrifying visions and a reawakening of violent impulses that he thought he had left behind in childhood. What initially felt like some kind of supernatural evil quickly turned into a psychological riddle – was the monster out there or was it him?
Shawn Edmonson: The Monster and the Man
Dominic Sherwood’s Shawn was unlike the horror genre ‘protagonist’. He wasn’t just fighting the demons outside, he was coming to terms with the notion that he could very well pose a threat himself. This motif – the collapse of innocence into suspicion – was the very reason why Shawn was so popular in the context of indie horror. A classic ‘boy next door’ type of character with the possibility of harboring something sinister. He was both relatable and terrifying.
With just the faintest cringe of recognition, something almost haunted, there was a slack incredulity in his body’s tightness which overtook him, and there were the pained efforts to grasp a rubato realness of something vaguely dissolving. There were those who appreciated this nuance. In the more serious corners of the horror fandom, much of the discussion around Shawn focused on him as a more friendlike rather than a villain archetype, a person to whom the real horror was the mental illness stigma.
Life Echoing Art for Dominic Sherwood
When the shooting commended, mer Daddy Sherwood was semi-legitimate still, thanks to his role in the Vampire Academy as well as the Shadowhunter series. Yet those projects were still in the realm of fantasy with their purple pipelines and glass buildings. Don’t Sleep moved him to a less decorated territory.
What bridged the gap for Sherwood with Shawn the most was a certain, er, brutal lack of self. Sherwood was honest and open about his struggles with being as dyslexic, as well as about having heterochromia. Having those disarming traits almost ensured feeling like a negress. That “otherness” was was and is the condition of lohn that Shawn suffered.
Sherwood assumed the role with the consideration that nightmare occurrences and sleep paralysis had to be overly exaggerated. In research interviews, he recounts wanting the visions to feel authentic. In other words, he attempted to grasp the real life accounts of individuals that dreaded their own thoughts and strived to transport that emotion into his performances. In post filming conversations, his co stars noted that he avoided interaction and maintained a still posture as if to shield himself from the thoughts of his character and the world.
Underlying the artefact: Cultural Phantoms
Though Don’t Sleep took place in a still sleepy american suburb, it was rooted in the stills and veins of history. The notion of a child (read: Shawn), who was ‘possessed’, as dangerous an adult is evidential and explored in several cautionary folklore tales of a child with broken bloodlines. Shawn’s storyline is a good example of the freudian notion of ‘perpetuated by bloodline’ and he even taps into the deeper rooted and troubling question that is: are we even free from our history?
Some even noted that Shawn had a resemblance to real life accounts of young males who suffered with extreme violence and trauma during their childhood. The film had a slight touch of true crime and forced the audience to acknowledge the extending borders of fiction and mainstream news.
The performance of Shawn was first introduced in a trailer of Don’t Sleep, which triggered excitement in the horror community. The visuals of Shawn waking up, eyes filled with terror, and mentally waking up in cold sweats, was instantly likened to The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby. Moving further in the film, people’s expectations of a demonic possession film was presented as something completely different, with the story primarily focusing on psychological dread. This divided the audience.
A group loved the ambiguity, and on different social platforms, audience members lauded Sherwood’s portrayal and labeled him as “too good for a film this small.” Others however, felt insulted, lamenting the lack of traditional scare. Even the people who didn’t the film complained. Shawn’s breakdown, and the manner it lingered, was reminiscent of a nightmare people would usually encounter.
The shooting of the short film, Don’t Sleep went with a set of mysteries of it’s own as well. Sherwood, who was still rather new was in thumb with Rick Bieber, with whom they tried to develop an arc for Shawn. Bieber was said to have suggested Dominuc. to focus more on stillness as opposed to more animated elements of the scene. This created a character which was more fearful, and strangely silent the entire time.There’s a story crew members share about one night shoot where Sherwood had to thrash violently during a vision sequence. After several takes, he ended up bruised and exhausted. Instead of calling it a night, he insisted on going again, saying he didn’t want the scene to feel staged. That dedication didn’t go unnoticed—co-star Drea de Matteo later remarked that Sherwood “gave more to that role than anyone could’ve asked.”
The unique dynamics of the set also helped propel the film’s mood. Unlike big studio productions where the resources are abundant, the cast and crew had to do some form of work in pairs. This helped form a bonding and cohesive culture which helped in the telling of the story of Shawn’s world closing in on him.
The Character That Refused to Be Forgotten
Shawn Edmondson is the first and last mentioned character to the film. Even several years down the line, Don’t Sleep has never had the privilege of attaining that cult fame other indie horrors works have achieved, though Shawn remains as the film’s center piece. In forums devoted to characters that balance on the line of both pure and threatening, he is frequently discussed and referenced to by fans. For so many, he embodies the reverse of the typical notion of horror, where the monster is instead the trauma within, and it is formed, nurtured, and released from within, during the unexpected.
After Don’t Sleep, Dominic Sherwood became a part of larger projects, although he still says the film was a rare challenge for him. It made him confront the challenge of being vulnerable, of being terrified without effect and suggestion. For an actor still building a career, the role of Shawn was one that an actor would put in a lot of effort.
And perhaps that is the reason why, Shawn, is still remembered. He transcended being a mere horror character by personifying actual fears, something the actor captured perfectly knowing the importance of dancing between the shadows and the light.
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