5 Horrifying Films About Sleep Paralysis That Might Stop You Sleeping

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🌙 Written by Stefan Zugor, international lucid dreaming expert and teacher. Learn how to lucid dream in 7 days or less.

Which films about sleep paralysis have you watched?

We’ve made the lucid dreaming movie list, but NOW is the list of movies that are about sleep paralysis!

Sleep paralysis is a scary experience that people will run into at some point or other, where your body can’t move but your MIND is still awake.

There have been a few films that really capture the horror of sleep paralysis, and we’re going to list them here.

This list will be updated over time to show the latest movies, as well as the latest films on Netflix that are about sleep paralysis or sleep demon, etc.

Girl experiencing sleep paralysis

Films About Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis, sometimes known as “night terrors,” is a frightening and surprisingly frequent illness.

Individuals who experience this are in a state that is somewhere between sleep and awake life. So, their brain functions normally but their body refuses to move.

To make matters worse, most sleep paralysis patients sense a frightening presence in the room. They may even see a shadowy figure or sense someone crawling on top of them in some cases.

The incapacity to move lasts only a few minutes, yet it is scary. Needless to say, this state would make superb horror film material. In reality, scores of horror films and television series include individuals suffering from sleep paralysis, and the majority of them will make you cringe.

What Are The Scariest Films About Sleep Paralysis?

Rounding up the list of the scariest sleep paralysis films are The Nightmare, The Conjuring, The Babadook, Anamnesis, and Dead Awake. 

Let’s check out what’s interesting in these sleep paralysis films. 

sleep paralysis films

What Is Sleep Paralysis?

Sleep paralysis occurs when your body paralyzes your muscles to prepare for sleep so that you do not physically act out your nightmares and damage yourself throughout the night.

This is your mind’s built-in safety system to prevent you from kicking your legs out in real life while you’re merely dreaming about sprinting.

If your body didn’t do this, you’d wake up sleepwalking, shrieking, writhing around, and injuring yourself.

On a neurological level, you are in a ‘hyper-vigilant state,’ which is induced by your midbrain. You believe you are prone to assault while, in fact, you are probably totally safe.

Simply said, on a primordial and hormonal level, you believe you are in danger because you are unable to move, and if a threat was present, you would be unable to flee.

As a result, you feel terrified or as if something is in the room with you.

What Triggers Sleep Paralyis?

Occasionally it happens at random, but it usually happens when you’ve altered your sleep routine or tried to remain up when you’re truly exhausted. Here are several factors that might influence and raise the chance of sleep paralysis:

Sleep deprivation: Not getting enough sleep can make it far more likely.

Age: Young adolescents and young adults are the most impacted. Sleep paralysis affects the most people between the ages of 14 and 25.
Irregular sleep patterns are hazardous for you because they confound your normal biological processes, such as paralyzing muscles while you sleep.

Drugs: Some drugs might cause greater sleep paralysis than usual. It might also feel incredibly real. Some say they get the sensation that someone is sitting on their chest, strangling them, or even breathing excessively down their neck. 

How To Lucid Dream Without Sleep Paralysis

Here are some strategies for lucid dreaming without sleep paralysis that you may try tonight. These strategies should work for everyone since the reason we suffer sleep paralysis is that we strive to keep our thoughts awake while our bodies sleep, which these techniques do not accomplish.

So you want to develop behaviors like as:

Every morning, writing down your dreams in detail.
Improving your ability to remember your dreams (dream recall).
Meditating twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.

1: The Nightmare

This is not a film at all, but rather a documentary about sleep paralysis. It goes over the condition and how it works, and why so many people around the world experience it at some point or other. Much like similar films about this condition, it plays it up as a really big, scary experience but when you understand it, it’s not so bad. That being said, great documentary to watch!

2: The Conjuring

I think out of all of these, The Conjuring specifically captures the experience of sleep paralysis. It shows someone who’s possessed, and they have to essentially use astral travel to go and save their child. The guy sits down in a chair in the main scene about this, and finds himself unable to move but then after a while, he rises up and sees his own body.

3: The Babadook

The Babadook is a fairly scary horror movie about sleep paralysis and a ‘dark figure’ or ‘shadow person’ which follows the person around their life and appears in the night. It’s a great idea and the plot is that a cursed book contains a dark demonic figure which haunts the characters.

4: Anamnesis: A lucid web series

This is a great web series about lucid dreams. It’s not ONE film but several short episodes, and it covers lots of assets of lucidity. It talks about sleep paralysis as well, and it’s got a great character development. We interviewed the cast, if you’re interested. If you don’t have much time, here’s the trailer!

5: Dead Awake

The terrifying film Dead Awake is about a private investigator who finds out that a string of unusual deaths are all connected. All the victims suffered from sleep paralysis, and she uncovers a lot more than just their sleep disorders!

Tips And Tricks To Avoid Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis should be noticeable only while attempting a Wake Induced Lucid Dream or WILD technique, so if you have it and don’t want it, consider increasing your sleep quality.

Listen to binaural beats when attempting to experience a lucid dream; it will help! You could start with these!

If you suffer insomnia, try this simple treatment; it works faster than you think and takes very little time.’

If you regularly have difficulty falling asleep, and this is the cause of your sleep paralysis, try this sleep optimization regimen; it’s quite helpful.

Learn more about the sleep paralysis demon that some individuals claim to have seen. So when you do experience them, you’ll know that it’s just a common theme’.

Don’t be alarmed! It’s all normal, and as lucid dreamers, we have to accept that sleep paralysis is a part of it.

FAQs

How To Wake Up From Sleep Paralysis

Slowly move your fingers or toes, whatever is possible. Little motions at first, followed by larger and larger movements. There are other ways as well. If you want to know more ways to do this, check out this article on avoiding sleep paralysis.

What Is A Sleep Paralysis Demon

I hate to break it to you horror fans but the sleep paralysis demon is nothing more than a hallucination that occurs sometimes in sleep paralysis, yet it feels so real. That’s really all it is, but your mind is awake, which makes it a lot scarier.

Several people have seen dark figures such as shadow men or men with hats, or have felt someone sitting on their chest. It’s an intruder’s apparition, a presence that hovers above you and observes you. 

What’s The Scariest Film About Sleep Paralysis?

Well, this depends on which ASPECT of the experience you find the scariest. Some people find the ‘crushing feeling’ the scariest, while others find it scarier to imagine a dark figure looking down on them as they try to sleep. It’s important to really remember that this condition isn’t dangerous and it can actually HELP you to lucid dream.

Horrifying Films About Sleep Paralysis

While the stages of sleep and awake are normally well-defined and distinct, circumstances such as sleep paralysis can put these established borders to the test.

Sleep paralysis is the inability to move immediately after falling asleep or waking up. People maintain awareness throughout episodes, which typically include disturbing hallucinations and a sense of suffocation.

Sleep paralysis episodes include features of both sleep and awake.

That can be a frightening image. Individuals have reported everything, the internet is flooded with horror stories about these hallucinations, and terrible films have been written about the experience.

Several people have seen dark figures such as shadow men or men with hats, or have felt someone sitting on their chest.

There are several accounts telling terrifying nightmares involving this scary apparition. 

Sounds scary, right? There are people comparing the sleep paralysis demon to a “supernatural vision,” yet there is a simple explanation.

It’s a hallucination. But that’s really all it is. But your mind is awake so I understand how it could be 10 times more frightening.

Say whatever you want to say but these lucid dreaming stories have given us something to watch.

It has inspired many artists, and filmmakers, and that’s why we have Halloween as an excuse to move closer to our crushes on the first movie date. 

Now you know our top 5 films about sleep paralysis. Which sleep paralysis film do you want to watch first?