Director
Romain Basset
Cast
Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux - Jessica
Catriona MacColl - Catelyn
Murray Head - Jim
Gala Besson - Rose
Generally, in horror, the last thing a character would want to do is fall asleep. Bedtime is guaranteed death in a horror movie.
"Whatever you do, don't fall asleep" Nancy told Glen in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Sleep is our most vulnerable time. It's the closest we come to the "big sleep" while we're alive.
With 2014's mystery fantasy horror, Horsehead, sleep is crucial for the protagonist, Jessica (Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux).
I'll be honest (not that I'm ever dishonest), I think I should watch this movie a second time before writing a review. I have a feeling I may may have missed a crucial point or two. I don't know for sure. There is visually and metaphorically a lot going on in this movie that it wouldn't surprise me if I missed a plot point or two.
But regardless of that possibility, I'm attempting a review anyways.
The movie begins with a vivid dream in which we see an older women in a bed surrounded with crimson drapes.
A demonic entity with the head of a horse slowly peaks in through the crimson revealing part of its face and razor sharp nails tipping its long fingers. Snorts of mist shoot out its large nostrils.
The woman on the bed is in a state of paralysis. She tries to fight it, and scream, as this horse-headed figure looms over her.
Jessica then wakes up from a vivid dream. She's been having recurring nightmares since her youth, but they don't mean anything to her. It's as though she's having someone else's dreams.
With all these bizarre dreams, Jessica has been studying the psychology behind dreaming, as well as engaging in a therapeutic practice with her mentor and boyfriend, Sean. Her goal is to determine the reason and meaning behind her realistic dreams.
After the maternal grandmother's death, whom Jessica hardly knew, she reluctantly returns to her family home to stay with her mother despite not getting along too well.
When Jessica arrives home, she finds her grandmother's body laid out for a wake in the room right next to hers.
During Jessica's first night home, she has another vivid and disturbing dream involving her deceased grandmother. 
In the dream, she witnesses her grandmother on the bedroom floor searching for a key.
Shortly after this experience, Jessica comes down with a fever and has to stay in bed.
So, she decides to use this time to practice lucid dreaming - dreams in which the person is aware they're dreaming, and therefor obtain some amount of control over their dream.
Per Sean's advice, she learns methods to accomplishing lucid dreams.
While being in a lethargic ill state during most of her visit at home, she becomes good at lucid dreaming and is able to roam and explore her reoccurring dream.
Jessica witnesses the same demonic presence we saw at the beginning, as well as a wolf which she's instructed to follow within her dreams.
These dreams are also inhabited by somewhat warped versions of her mother, grandfather, and grandmother.
Jessica starts learning dark secrets about her family through from her dreaming.
Meanwhile, her mother, whose shocked to hear what Jessica is learning about the family, attempts to give her medication in an attempt to cease those dreams.
But Jessica doesn't take the medication, and continues exploring and learning shocking truths about her family's history.
Like anybody's dream, this movie is surreal throughout.
Reality and dream state are distinct from each other, there's a lot taking place.
Reality and dream state are distinct from each other, there's a lot taking place.
What Jessica is realizing about her family is told through imagery more than exposition.
It's interesting to see how her mother doesn't seemed surprised with her daughter's dreams, but focuses more in attempting to stop them. It's as though she, too, has the same gift of dreaming.
Pointeaux's acting is really hard to judge. Her character is sick, and constantly sluggish when she's not asleep. How can an actor make such a character stand out to an audience? When we see her within her dreams, she's normally acting as an observer along with the audience. I don't mean to insinuate she's a bad actor.
I suppose her portrayal of a sluggish girl trying to embrace lucid dreaming is as best she can do. The effort in portraying a torn young girl is evident.
But despite Horsehead being horror, with peculiar and surreal scenes, the movie leans more towards mystery and fantasy, with scares based on frightening imagery. It doesn't stoop to cheap jump scares and haunted house grotesqueries (not that there's anything wrong with those).
The pace, though, is as sluggish as all the sleeping Jessica does.
It took some effort to become invested in what was taking place. I couldn't grasp certain elements, particularly a few moments of eroticism one dream leaned into between Jessica and a young version of her grandmother. I fail to see its relevance.
Horsehead is a movie that takes itself seriously. I think its pretentiousness works against it. The audience then needs to take it just as seriously. I don't see how it can.
The movie lacks attention grabbing scenarios, and interesting characters. The only character I was really interested in was the dead grandmother. Why was she reaching out to her granddaughter through sleep? What was her intentions and interest in Jessica?
I kept asking myself why should I care about Jessica and her dreams. Her relationship with her mother didn't seem terribly sour, though it was imperfect. Again, I'm willing to watch this film again hoping some missing parts can be filled.
The purpose is to engage the audience's imaginations rather than scare them for over an hour. It's story is thought-provoking to a certain degree. But I would moan and sigh if someone suggested Horsehead for a Friday night scare flick.
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