I am a fan of Mark Gatiss, the actor and the writer. I thought his Robot of Sherwood last series was delightful and had the perfect tone after Deep Breath and Into the Dalek. The premise of Sleep No More was interesting, as was the found footage format. Both had potential, but I felt they didn't reach it.
It felt like there was a lot of running around that didn't help bring depth to the story. I never felt connected to anything in the episode. The found footage format and the different camera angles, especially upon the realization that they weren't helmet cams, could have been scarier. I wanted it to be scarier. Maybe that was as far as they could push it to keep it family-friendly? I also became confused when we saw things from the point of view of Chopra after the Doctor said his POV was the only one we didn't have because he had refused to use Morpheus. Or did I miss something?
The sandmen monsters weren't scary either - psychologically or physically. I think I understand that the point of the film was to get us to watch it to perpetuate the monsters, so the story in the film doesn't really matter in a way. But in reality, it's still a TV show, so we do need to be interested and feel some fear when we find out that by watching it, we have allowed the monsters to spread.
I did like the "twist" in the end. A little bit "The Ring-like." But I wanted the whole episode to have the intrigue of the end, taken a step further. Reece Shearsmith was also good casting. Immediately he set the tone of something off and made me feel uneasy, but I didn't know exactly why, yet.
Apologies if my comments were difficult to understand. I find it difficult articulating things that don't sit well with me. Overall, this episode had elements that could have been brilliant (mysterious circumstance and monsters, a creepy not-what-he-seems baddie, and found footage format) but they missed the mark for me.
And then next week . . .
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