Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Deep’ On Netflix, A Thai Thriller Where Sleep Means Death For a Group of Students

Sleep – and the lack of it – is the basis for many a thriller. Films like Inception, The Machinist, and even favorites like Fight Club and A Nightmare On Elm Street have explored what can happen to us when we’re dreaming, awake, or not getting the sleep we need. Thai thriller Deep, now streaming on Netflix, makes sleep a life-or-death scenario for a group of medical school students. 

DEEP: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Jane (Panisara Rikulsurakan) is used to going without sleep. The medical student spends her nights studying, caring for her grandmother, and worrying about her little sister June. She’s obsessively concerned with the safety of her house, and checking the locks multiple times only make the nights longer. When she discovers they are extremely behind on their home loan, a professor suggests she sign up for a German pharmaceutical trial offering cash compensation. The project is dedicated to harvesting a chemical from the brain called “Qratonin”, essentially the opposite of melatonin – they hope to use it to wake up coma patients. The catch? If Jane falls asleep, she dies. It may be a terrifying notion, but Jane is so used to sleeping – and so desperate for the money to help her family – that she agrees.

Jane soon discovers 3 more of her classmates are also part of the experiment; dreamy party boy Win (Kay Lertsittichai), influencer Cin (Supanaree Sutavijitvong), and nerdy gamer Peach (Krit Jeerapattananuwong). The students become quite the foursome, supporting each other through the first two phases of the three phase study. When one of the group almost dies towards the end of the second phase, however, the group begins to question if all of this is worth the money. If only getting out – and getting sleep – was that easy.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Deep might remind you a bit of Flatliners, Limitless, and the recent Netflix original Awake.

Performance Worth Watching: The young cast does their best with the script’s cringeworthy dialogue, but their performances unfortunately suffer. That said, however, Kay Lertsittichai is dazzling as Win, lighting up the screen with his million watt smile from the moment he sits across the lunch table from Jane. Lertsittichai plays the tragic backstory of his mother’s suicide without allowing things to get too melodramatic, and he brings some real heart to the classic party boy role.

Memorable Dialogue: The dialogue is far and away Deep‘s weakest element, so nothing particularly memorable here.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Deep could have been great. The premise is one that could easily be taken down any number of roads, and even jumped from genre to genre – there’s some incredible horror potential here. Unfortunately, however, the film’s muddy script, bland performances, and strange pace doesn’t really allow us as viewers to fully engage with what’s happening. The German doctor in particular turns in a performance so cartoonish that it’s hard not to laugh whenever he delivers his sinister lines of dialogue, which is a real shame. He’s the kind of character who should be sending chills down our spines, not eliciting eye rolls or giggles.

In addition to being overwhelmed by its lackluster dialogue, Deep also suffers because of its dragged out scenes and unfocused side plots. I found myself utterly puzzled by some roads the story went down, especially when there was so much else at stake. Had Deep been a tight 90, kept an upbeat pace, and focused a little more on action and a little less on dialogue, it could have been a truly memorable thriller. Instead, we’re left with something overindulgent and forgettable.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Deep‘s intriguing premise is squandered by a cheesy script, bizarre pacing, and forgettable performances.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines, hogging the mic at karaoke, and thirst-tweeting. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream Deep on Netflix