DVD Reviews

Thorne: Sleepyhead (Blu-Ray\DVD Combo)

Director Stephen Hopkins began his career by helming quite a few half-decent action/adventure feature films in the 1990’s with the likes of Predator 2, Judgement Night, The Ghost & The Darkness, and Lost In Space. The filmmaker dabbled in television during the new century, delivering contributions to the likes of 24, Californication, and 2012’s House Of Lies.

In 2010, Hopkins contributed to Thorne: Sleepyhead, the first of two films based on a series of British crime/mystery novels by Mark Billingham that aired as a three part TV mini-series in the U.K. (the second film Scaredy Cat also aired afterward).  It centers on Detective Tom Thorne (Basic Instinct 2’s David Morrissey) - a gifted and highly radical inspector who has become renowned for getting results.

But Thorne’s legacy soon gets thrown a curveball when three women are killed and a fourth is found alive.  A new serial killer has emerged, but one who is intent on physically trapping his victim’s minds in their helpless bodies and has just succeeded after the three previous mistakes.  When Thorne pushes hard to investigate, he uncovers the killer has ties to his past and an infamous case that put him on the map.

The Movie

I didn’t have high expectations for Thorne: Sleepyhead when I watched it, but I will admit it had more going for it than I assumed it would.  The mystery plot and the nature of the crimes are highly intriguing, especially in how the killer functions with putting his victims into a paralytic state that could be considered worse than death.  The movie has other surprising moments as well, as a suspect bites off his own tongue to prevent his interrogators from learning the truth.

The movie is bogged down in other areas though, often getting convoluted with other topics and characters that distract from the main storyline.  Morrissey makes for a pretty convincing investigator - often delivering an on-screen presence similar to Liam Neeson.  The inner dialogue of the fourth victim that viewers can hear also doesn’t help.  The narrative device works wonders in a book, but comes off a little laughable on screen.  Thorne: Sleepyhead isn’t the best work I’ve ever seen out of Hopkins, but it’s not all bad either.

The DVD

Thorne: Sleepyhead comes in a standard definition DVD package, and contains an impressive picture quality for a 480p definition.  The feature image is bright, clear and clean, making it a pleasure to watch even though it’s not high-def.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio is surprisingly strong as well, with an impacting sound effect mix and audible dialogue (which is needed if you’re not used to the multiple British accents).

There are no significant special features attached to the edition, only a couple of trailers for other projects put out by TVA Films.  A commentary by Hopkins would have been interesting, especially considering that the film has been criticized somewhat for deviating from key plot ideas from the novel.

Night Night Sleepyhead

 Thorne: Sleepyhead had the makings of falling hard into a wasteful pile of lower grade crime-thrillers that no one remembers, but the structure of the mystery gives it some originality over countless others.  It’s not going to light any word-of-mouth on fire, but as a viewer you could do a lot worse.  The movie loses its way here-and-there, but if you stick with it you’ll get a pretty satisfying conclusion. 

The DVD presents the film in a very good technical formation, but could have used some more background material attached in the supplemental department to enhance the edition.

Review By Ryan Young