This Irish horror thriller, directed by Ian Hunt-Duffy and penned by Darach McGarrigle, was shot in various locations across Ireland, including Limerick and Dublin. It tells the story of seven young individuals participating in a paid drug trial that goes disastrously wrong, leading to a nightmarish scenario where falling asleep means death.

Ian Hunt-Duffy’s inspiration for Double Blind came from his love for high-concept thrillers and the desire to create a story with a clear and compelling hook. The premise of “don’t fall asleep” intrigued him enough to build a narrative around it, aiming to engross the audience with suspense and tension​. The film reflects on themes relevant to the young generation’s anxieties about the future, particularly the financial insecurities and challenges they face, which are somewhat analogous to the experiences of young people in Ireland today​ ​.

The production journey of Double Blind was ambitious and marked by challenges typical of independent filmmaking, including budget constraints and the logistical hurdles of shooting in a single location. However, this constraint was turned into an advantage, helping to create a suspenseful, pressure-cooker environment that heightened the film’s tension. The casting process was thorough, with a focus on finding the right ensemble to bring the script to life, including Pollyanna McIntosh, who brought her horror icon status to the project.​

One of the film’s notable influences includes John Carpenter’s The Thing, which inspired Duffy with its self-contained horror setting and the dynamics of mismatched characters trapped together. Other inspirations cited by Duffy include Event Horizon, Cube, Green Room, and The Shining, as well as A Nightmare On Elm Street for its thematic exploration of sleep and hallucinations​​.

The decision to shoot in Ireland was organic for the filmmaking team, supported by Screen Ireland. Limerick’s unique set locations offered a fresh and unexplored backdrop for the film, aligning with the creators’ vision of producing a different type of Irish film​. The involvement of Epic Pictures Group and the international sales launch at the Marché du Film in Cannes highlight the broader ambitions for Double Blind beyond its Irish origins​.

The film itself sneaks up on you, wrapping its clinical claws around a story as unnerving as it is, at times, undercooked. It locks its unsuspecting characters in a sleep-deprivation nightmare, courtesy of a totally ethical and above board experimental drug trial​​​​.

Our story unfolds within the cold, sterile walls of a medical facility, which might as well double as a minimalist’s rendition of a horror set. The subjects, draped in garb that I would described as prison chic meets hospital dreary, find themselves in a sinister narrative where the boogeyman is sleep itself. Pollyanna McIntosh delivers a chilling performance as Dr. Burke, a middleman caught between ignorance and impending doom, portraying a character that encapsulates the film’s broader commentary on the precarious bridge between medical ethics and human guinea pigs​​​​.

The movie, with its heart throbbing to the beat of ’80s horror synth, doesn’t shy away from its roots; it’s as much an ode to the era as it is a modern-day scare fare. Yet, amid the nostalgic call-backs and the pulse-raising pace, Double Blind grapples with a script that, while competent, sometimes misses the deeper, darker recesses of its high-stakes premise. The psychological terror inherent in one’s own body becoming the enemy is not explored as fully as it could be, leaving a void where there should have been an abyss​​​​.

However, not all is lost to the drowsy depths. The film’s clear understanding of its genre, combined with confident direction, ensures a concoction that is both familiar and fresh. While some may find the characters lacking depth (with the exception of Millie Brady‘s Claire), there’s enough suspense and sheer survival instinct on display to keep eyes wide open and hearts racing. It feels relatively unique for a pace that continuously ratchets up the suspense without much reprieve.

In conclusion, Double Blind may not be the night terror that forever disrupts your slumber, but it’s a commendable endeavor into the realms of sci-fi and horror. It serves as a potent reminder of the genre’s power to entertain and unsettle, albeit leaving us craving a touch more depth and despair. For enthusiasts of psychological and medical horror, this film might be the right dose — just don’t expect to be up all night pondering the deeper meaning of your own subconscious after the credits roll​​​​.

Director: Ian Hunt-Duffy
Writer: Darach McGarrigle
Released February 9, 2024

I cannot help but draw parallels between this film and the urban legend/creepy pasta “The Russian Sleep Experiment” though I see no reference to it in available interviews with director Ian Hunt-Duffy and writer Darach McGarrigle. I can’t help but think if a little more was pulled from the urban legend, it may have made the film even more effective. Nonetheless, the story is one of my favorites – so let’s review!

In the late 1940s, Soviet researchers embarked on a highly classified experiment to study the effects of prolonged sleep deprivation. They sought to test an experimental gas thought to keep subjects awake, potentially for military applications. Five political prisoners were chosen as test subjects, promised freedom if they could stay awake for 30 days (far more ambitious than in “Double Blind”). The experiment took place in a sealed environment to ensure the gas’s constant presence and to isolate the subjects from the outside world.

The chamber was equipped with microphones and thick glass portholes through which the researchers could observe the subjects. It contained cots, a toilet, water, enough dried food for all five for over a month, and books for leisure. The first few days passed without incident, with the subjects behaving as expected, discussing their pasts and gradually exhibiting signs of stress and paranoia.

However, as the days progressed, the experiment took a dark turn. The subjects ceased communicating with each other, whispering into the microphones late at night, betraying the other subjects’ secrets in exchange for supposed promises of freedom. By the fifth day, they started showing severe psychological disturbances, including paranoia and hallucinations. The researchers observed the subjects mutilating themselves, smearing blood and feces on the porthole windows, and using the torn pages of books to block the view entirely, plunging their environment into chaos and darkness.

After nine days, one of the subjects began screaming uncontrollably for hours until he permanently lost his voice due to tearing his vocal cords. The others did not react to his screams, continuing their silent descent into madness. By the fifteenth day, the researchers attempted to communicate with the subjects, only to receive eerie responses expressing a newfound desire to stay awake and a rejection of sleep as death.

On the thirtieth day, the researchers decided to end the experiment, flushing the stimulant gas from the chamber and attempting to extract the subjects. What they found inside was a scene of unimaginable horror: the subjects had inflicted catastrophic injuries upon themselves and each other, displaying a complete disregard for pain and life. They fiercely resisted efforts to remove them from the chamber, exhibiting superhuman strength and endurance.

The story culminates in a chaotic struggle to subdue the subjects, revealing that they had torn apart the books, their own flesh, and even removed internal organs, all while maintaining a terrifying desire to remain awake. The surviving subjects were nearly unrecognizable as humans, having transformed into something entirely other, driven by an insatiable need for wakefulness and suffering.

The Russian Sleep Experiment ends with the haunting revelation that the subjects were more afraid of sleep than death, preferring the horrific existence they had created in the chamber to the possibility of falling asleep. The story leaves readers with a chilling contemplation of the limits of the human mind and body and the darkness that lies at the heart of human experimentation gone awry.

This is one of the most notorious and chilling urban legends that deals with the horrors of prolonged sleep deprivation. Since its birth around 2010, the tale of the Russian Sleep Experiment has grown to legendary status, circulating through hundreds of websites and becoming a staple of internet horror culture. Its blend of psychological horror, historical setting, and the plausibility of scientific experimentation gone wrong resonates with a wide audience.

While the Russian Sleep Experiment itself is not real, it draws inspiration from actual human experiments and the real consequences of sleep deprivation. The story capitalizes on the fear of overreaching government authority and unethical scientific research. The unsettling nature of the story has sparked debates and discussions about the moral implications of scientific experimentation on human subjects.