For the entirety of its hour and a half runtime, Jason Yu’s “Sleep” maintains the perfect balance between horror and comedy. Add to this balance the incredible acting talent of Jung Yu-mi (“Train to Busan”) and Lee Sun-kyun (“Parasite”), and “Sleep” is well worth adding to your yearly horror watch list.

With successful careers, a chirpy dog, and a baby on the way, young couple Soo-jin and Hyun-su seem to have the perfect marriage. But when Hyun-su begins acting strange in his sleep, resulting in behaviour that goes well beyond the average sleepwalking effects, the couple’s relationship is tested to the extreme. Tormented by her husband’s condition, Soo-jin must decide how far she is willing to go to save everything that matters to her the most.

Together We Can Overcome Everything

“Together we can overcome everything” reads a handmade sign that hangs in Soo-jin and Hyun-su’s living room. This declaration, which serves as a lifeline for Soo-jin throughout “Sleep,” also serves as the foundation upon which the film rests. Though Hyun-su’s sleepwalking inspires the horror element of this story, it is Soo-jin and Hyun-su’s relationship. And their individual roles in that relationship — that truly sets the theme. It’s also what allows the comedic elements to flourish.

The trap some horror-comedy films risk falling into is an over-reliance on comedy that more often than not distracts from the overarching story rather than complementing it. What helps make “Sleep” such a good addition to this genre is its avoidance of such a trap. The best comedic moments circle around the audience’s understanding of who Soo-Jin and Hyun-su are as a couple. Used in this way, the comedy becomes something recognizable and relatable instead of forced. With comedy building the relationship, horror is given room to quietly and efficiently dismantle it.

“Sleep” Is A Universal Horror

The horror elements in “Sleep” also work incredibly well. Yu utilizes jump-scares sparingly and efficiently, allowing the silence of a moment and the actors’ facial expressions and movements to display the true horror. Yu’s consciousness of place and setting only adds to this. The film largely takes place within the confines of Soo-jin and Hyun-su’s small apartment. Creating a familiarity with the setting that increases the tension as we notice how things begin to change.

For me, though, the best example of horror in this film exists in how it disrupts Soo-jin and Hyun-su’s relationship. I don’t know much about Korean culture and film — something both “Sleep” and “Parasite” have encouraged me to change. But I think there is a kind of universality in the understanding of the dynamics in a romantic relationship. Especially one that starts as loving and sweet as Soo-jin and Hyun-su’s. A universality that doesn’t take much to see the bolstering of one half of a couple happening at the expense of the other half.

Soo-jin and Hyun-su believe that together they can overcome everything. But what is ‘everything,’ exactly? And what happens when ‘together’ isn’t as easy as they once thought? What happens when one decides to give more than the other wants to take?

There is, perhaps, no better recipe for a horror story.

“Sleep” is available now at select theaters and digitally.