Film Review: There Are Impossible Monsters Within Our Dreams

It always takes a punch to the ego for a man to reanalyze his dreams or rather how he dreams. In the case of Impossible Monsters, this is literal. Santino Fontana plays Dr. Rich Freeman. A brilliant, but arrogant professor whose recent loss of a prestigious award leaves him in need of a professional, financial, and, in a way, emotional revamp. Thus, he looks to a study of dreams to gain a new grant, but finds a fatal mystery unfolding. 

Gathering a group of subjects, Donall O Healai as Otis, Natalie Knepp as Leslie, and Devika Bhise as Jo, the film thrives on their fantasies and nightmares; showing how we are all one wrong turn from dreamy to tortured.Written and directed by Nathan Catucci, he completely understands that desire drives human emotion. We are being of “want” that we justify as “needs.”This is seen through the visually stunning and crisp nightmares of the studies’ participants. For however much they try to veil their gnawing passions in their waking life, the minute they shut their eyes, trouble brews in the form of emotional truths. 

IMPOSSIBLE MONSTERS (2019) Clip: Don’t —- This Up

“Dr. Rich Freeman (Fontana), an ambitious and well-liked psychology professor, pursues a sleep study with a focus on nightmares, dreams, and sleep paralysis — the success of which would result in a lucrative grant. As the line between dreams and reality blur, a member of the study is murdered, and everything begins to unravel, leaving Dr. Freeman fighting to make things right.”

On this theme alone, Impossible Monsters thrived as an observance of what people carry within. Catucci makes these characters’ internal worlds so sophisticatedly dark, which is enamoring for the viewer. Thus, when the film becomes a sort of modern noir, when a patient dies, the twist takes you by surprise. We go from a beautiful, rich analysis of dreams to an investigative, “supernatural” version of Dateline. How did this one dreamer’s life end, and when do dreams, actually, become deadly? 

Impossible Monsters – Trailer (OFFICIAL)

Thanks to its cast and their own balances of lightness, darkness, and the rationale we try to have when dealing with both, the film is able to glide through its dual feel. It goes from philosophical to “crime-drama” of sorts, but Catucci makes it work through cinematography, smart dialogue, and the overall hallucinogenic ambiance of the film. While Fontana’s Freeman and Dennis Boutsikaris’ Steven may be highly educated, every characters seems cross the others’ path to pick each others’ minds. There is surreal “chess game” unfolding where everyone trying to see what the dreams we hide, when revealed, say about us. You can see Impossible Monsters On August 15 At the New York Latino Film Festival Thursday, August 15, 2019 at 10:30pm. Click Here  To Buy Tickets.