Before I Wake is a movie released by Netflix in 2017. It follows the story of an eight-year-old named Cody who has an interesting ability. When he falls asleep, Cody’s dreams and nightmares come to life. The movie begins with two foster parents, Mark and Jessie who recently lost a child. Looking for a new foster kid, the couple adopts Cody and brings him into their home. It doesn’t take long before they notice that Cody is not the average kid.

The acting in this story is amazing. The story itself wouldn’t have been as exciting had the acting been worse. Jacob Tremblay, who acted as Cody, did a remarkable job. His acting made it seem like he was genuinely scared of his talent and made me feel empathic towards him. There were scenes in which Cody was guilty and had to feel sorry. Tremblay made the character seem older than his age with his amazing acting and made Cody’s character come to life.

The scare factor for this movie really starts to set in about halfway through. The beginning of the movie builds up with background and things to be afraid of. This movie tapped into the strange and disturbing that, at points, almost made me look away. Considering that in current times, horror movies consist of jump scares and excessive amounts of blood, it was refreshing to have a change of pace. It was a truly horrifying film that stole your attention and didn’t give it back.

The special effects in this movie were not lacking. With the pretense of dreams and nightmares coming to life, there are many expectations to live up to. The main ‘villain’ was amazingly animated and after the conclusion seemed scarier than before. With the manipulation of his dreams, Cody created many scenes of both beauty and horror. It seemed like their world was stepped into a dream.

I watched this movie over the weekend and didn’t expect much but a cheap horror movie with cheap jump scares. My expectations were exceeded. It was a gorgeously crafted film that kept me enthralled beginning to end. The special effects were gorgeous and in many moments, horrifying. The storyline continues and finishes nicely instead of the average pointless scream fest. With a very emotional ending, I grew overly fond of the movie I chose to watch to kill time. I highly recommend that you go and watch it on Netflix or other streaming sites. Before I Wake deserves 4.5/5 stars.