Several of 2025’s most talked-about horror films blend traditional genre iconography while exploring deep, meditative themes far darker than their imagery. From Sinners’ musing on colonisation to Bring Her Back’s themes of loss and grief, we’ve had plenty to mull over when leaving cinema screens outside of jump scares and buckets of gore. Somnium, the feature debut from Racheal Cain Stephens, aims for a similar balance between its symbolic and outright sinister elements, leaning into its character-driven narrative to mixed success.
Somnium follows Gemma (Chloë Levine), an aspiring actress who has moved from her small town in Georgia to make it big in Los Angeles. Between auditions, she takes a job at Somnium, a mysterious experimental sleep clinic. Her job as a ‘sleep sitter’ sees Gemma watch over the patients in stasis pods, who are hoping that having positive dreams injected into their subconscious will help them make their everyday dreams a reality. As the trial progresses, however, Gemma believes there is a more sinister motive at play.
While it boasts traditional sci-fi and horror elements, outside of the sleep clinic, Somnium is a poignant exploration of chasing your dreams, imposter syndrome, and the soul-crushing nature of desperately trying to succeed in a saturated industry. More terrifying than any of the standard genre fare on offer here is Gemma’s creeping doubt, as she’s plagued with flashbacks of her former life and dogged with questions over whether she did the right thing moving to LA. The battle between the heart and the mind is at the centre of Somnium, with Levine’s stunning performance giving Gemma a strength and determination that prevents the film from becoming yet another cautionary tale about the pursuit of fame. The sleek set and costume design help the brooding terrors work well within Somnium‘s narrative, which feels both nostalgic and modern in tandem, as Stephens cultivates a skin-crawling premise and atmosphere.
But despite this, Somnium can at times feel muddled, with so many threads fighting for prominence. While Gemma attempts to find herself in the hustle and bustle of LA, Somnium, too, never quite finds its stride, straddling a wide array of topics that mean none feel as thoroughly explored as they could be. It leaves the film feeling surface-level, never delving far enough into its themes to be as impactful as it strives to – it’s less dream-like and more tired. Stephens does a masterful job of creating fully rounded characters and world, but the setup doesn’t pay off as we wind through increasingly cryptic scenes and a somewhat anticlimactic finale.
Despite feeling stuck in a spiral, Somnium is a promising feature debut from Stephens, with strong characterisations and a bold approach to its central themes. Its sleek design is pumped full of life thanks to its character-driven narrative and captivating performances, which prevent the wider story from completely falling flat.
SOMNIUM is available now on digital platforms.
