Eli Roth’s The Horror Section continues its mission to spotlight bold, boundary-pushing voices in genre filmmaking with Dream Eater, the latest feature from Canadian trio Jay Drakulic, Mallory Drumm, and Alex Lee Williams under their Blind Luck Pictures banner. Already an award winner, including Best Feature at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and drawing comparisons to The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, the film will arrive digitally on November 18, 2025, making it a timely addition to horror fans’ late-fall watchlists.
Dream Eater follows documentary filmmaker Mallory (Drumm) as she retreats to a remote cabin in the snowy Laurentian mountains with her boyfriend Alex (Williams) to document his violent parasomnia. As his episodes intensify, Mallory begins to suspect a sinister force lurking beneath his sleep disorder. Her investigation into Alex’s shadowy past unravels a decades-long mystery tied to trauma, occult history, and something ancient that may be awakening right in their midst.
The film’s premise is instantly compelling, and even without context, the poster alone gives off an unnerving, raw vibe. Podcasts and early buzz have repeatedly mentioned the film, with many calling Dream Eater a found-footage evolution rather than a simple imitation. In many ways, the team delivers: the sleepwalking sequences are genuinely disturbing, with Williams giving an exceptional performance that shifts from warm and goofy to deeply unsettling in seconds. When he is unconscious, he is terrifying. When he is awake, he is almost disarmingly normal. That contrast fuels much of the film’s dread.
Drumm matches him with a committed, emotionally grounded performance, even as the film occasionally paints the couple as frustratingly abrasive. Their dynamic, annoying yet believable, feels authentic, capturing the claustrophobia of two people trapped in fear, denial, and each other's bad decisions. Still, the question remains: if your partner is exhibiting increasingly violent nocturnal behavior, is the solution really to drive him into the middle of nowhere with a camera?
Stylistically, the trio leans into a polished approach to found footage. Scenes are often better lit than expected, and an eerie score of whistles and tones heightens tension but also softens the "raw documentary" illusion. At times, this slickness undermines the movie’s handmade realism. Nonetheless, the atmosphere, snowy woods stretching into ink-black infinity, creates a sense of isolation that is both beautiful and terrifying. There is something uniquely hopeless about sprinting through the snow at night, and the film exploits that feeling well.
The narrative unfolds as a slow burn in the spirit of the first Paranormal Activity. Daytime sequences feel almost romantic, even light, before nightfall brings escalating horror. Some exposition arrives late, particularly through a second-doctor subplot and the reveal of Alex’s adopted-child-with-ex-cult-member-parents backstory, giving the film a tendency to hold most of its cards until the final act. The reveals are fun, occasionally surprising, and help elevate the final stretch into something more mythic and Lovecraftian.
The standout moments come from the film’s commitment to its nightmare imagery. Sleepwalking scenes are crafted with care, capturing unnatural physicality and escalating unpredictability. The “Unresolved Mysteries” style vignette about Alex’s mother is a highlight, stylized and eerie, and it deserves more screen time. The finale is strong and delivers a satisfying payoff that rewards the slow build, although the last ten seconds feel like an unnecessary stinger added to hint at a possible continuation.
Dream Eater is not without its flaws. The script leans on familiar found-footage tropes, the couple’s choices stretch believability, and the polish occasionally works against the intended realism. But the film’s atmosphere, escalating dread, and especially Alex Lee Williams’ mesmerizing performance make it hard to shake. Even when the formula shows, the trio’s passion for horror and their DIY roots give the film a distinct voice within a crowded subgenre.
For fans craving a return to primal, slow-burn, watch-through-your-fingers found footage, Dream Eater offers a chilling, sometimes uneven nightmare that waits for when the lights go out. It may also have you side-eyeing whoever you are sharing a bed with.
Jessie Hobson