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Insomnia presents us with high-flying lawyer Emma Averill (Vicky McClure – Line Of Duty) in the unenviable position once described by Faithless as “I can’t get no sleep“, which meant that he could sleep quite peacefully, as it’s a double-negative.
Anyhoo, her daughter thinks there’s a monster in the house, but Joe Biden is nowhere to be found, so it’s off to the hospital where her ill mother currently resides, also currently being visited by Emma’s sister, Phoebe (Leanne Best – Bolan’s Shoes), and there’s clearly not much love lost between them.
I actually started watching Insomnia just after I’d woken up from four hours sleep, having awakened due to the heat, not the condition, but that didn’t help me with this, since when it starts to get going, we’re given jump scare nonsense, a load of weird and/or supernatural stuff going on, then suddenly, Emma’s dictaphone starts being weird for the sake of weird. I once tried to use a dictaphone, but figured it was easier to dial with my finger, instead…
However, it is giving me vibes of Nicolas Cage’s Knowing, in what’s coming out of the device.
After two episodes of watching her hallucinations and sleep deprivation, wondering what is live and what is Memorex, I don’t know if I’ll be proved right, but after two episodes, none of this is gelling with me at all. I just can’t get invested in any of the storylines going on, so I’ll bail at this point. It’ll be interesting to see the reaction to it, to see if it’s worth going back into, but it does have a clichéd type of plot: only by confronting one’s past can you find answers to the present?!
Come on, now, it’s making me drop off…
Also, the dialogue’s muffled at times, and it didn’t help that the previews don’t have subtitles, so any future viewing will be when this goes live.
And, at one point, when I saw a mad woman smacking her head against the wall, I did wonder if that was footage of the writer trying to come up with new ideas.
Insomnia is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Paramount+ from Thursday May 23rd. There are two episodes initially, with further episodes added weekly.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45 minutes per episode (6 episodes)
Release date: May 23rd 2024
Studio: Paramount+
Format: 2.39:1
Director: Börkur Sigþórsson
Producer: Charlotte Essex
Writer: Sarah Pinborough
Music: Hannah Peel
Cast:
Emma Averill: Vicky McClure
Robert Averill: Tom Cullen
Caroline: Lyndsey Marshal
Faisal: Robert Gilbert
Phoebe Bournett: Leanne Best
Young Phoebe: Billie Gadsdon
Michelle: Jade Harrison
Angus Buckley: Anthony Calf
DI Hildreth: Michelle Bonnard
Young Patricia: Amy Marston
Markham: Rachel O’Meara
Chloe Averill: India Fowler
Rosemary: Lara Lemon
Julian Sandford: Dominic Tighe
Pete Stockwell: Marcus Onilude
Dr. Morris: Fiona Marr
DS Caine: Ian Conningham
Young Mrs Mitchell: Nicola Harrison
Young Caroline: Ella Bernstein
Young Emma: Seosaimhin Hennelly
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.