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Oneipeyomai to Kako
Dreaming of the Unholy
Greece 2024
produced by George Vouzikis for Cholera Indie Films
directed by George Vouzikis
starring Dimitris Theodoropoulos, Athanasia Karavia, Chrysoula Sgarda, Yannis Zafiropoulos, Theodora Kostakou, Grigoris Kanellopoulos, Manolis Loukisas, Dimitris Mantellos, Yorgos Yannopoulos, Vasilis Kalamvokas, Andreas Klossas, Panagiotis Mantellos, Babis Varvagiannis, Petros Maniatoglou
written, music and special effects by George Vouzikis, visual effects by Nikos Papadimitriou
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Antonis (Dimitris Theodoropoulos) might just be the happiest man on
earth, he's successful at his job, makes a good living, has quite a bit of
money on the side, and only today he has finally chatted up the girl of
his dreams, Maria (Athanasia Karavia) to find out the attraction is
mutual, and she seems to be a very likeable person on top of that. And
nobody could be more deserving than Antonis mind you, he's a humble person
who always cares for other, and is in a likeable way religious on top of
that.But all's not great as on the day of his first date Maria, his doctor
Alexandros (Yannis Zafiropoulos) tells him he suffers from terminal brain
cancer and has mere months to live. Coming home, he's full of rage,
denounces God, and - these evening keeps his date with Maria and acts as
if nothing has happened. Only for some reason, he lies about every aspect
of his life. The date goes very well, but doesn't lead to anythig more as
like Antonis, Maria's very religious (and in fact a virgin). Only later
that night, Maria has a dream that Antonis stops by to rape her, a dream
that feels all to real. And on top of this, it's a recurring dream, only
the more she enjoys the company of the real Antonis, the more she learns
to enjoy her erotic dreams - after all, nothing could be more innocent
than a dream, right? Problem is, this dreams not quite that innocent, as
denouncing God has turned Antonis into an incubus, and he actually visits
her in her dreams, quite physically in a way. Meanwhile, Antonis has also
found another hobby, killing people, including a bun (Grigoris
Kanellopoulos) and the landlord of his favourite pub (Dimitris Mantellos),
all as a part to feed his soul-hungry alter ego. Things go well for
Antonis though ... until Maria's best friend Anna (Chrysoula Sgarda)
invites both her and Antonis over for an Easter dinner hosted by her and
her husband - who just happens to be Antonis' doctor Alexandros, the only
man who knows about Antonis' condition, and knows enough about Antonis'
life and situation to blow his lies to Kingdom Come ...
Dreaming of the Unholy is a pretty clever horror drama,
one that uses its slowburn build-up that even incorporates love story
elements to hit the audience all the harder when terror strikes, that just
gets tenser and tenser the longer it goes, and that really hits hard with
its third act plottwist. And thankfully the directorial effort manages to
match the clever writing, being restrained for the most part but not
looking away when it hurts, while a solid ensemble cast keep things
grounded and relatable, to help make this a very fine piece of genre
cinema.
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