rogueslayer452 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rogueslayer452) wrote2026-03-13 03:49 pm
rogueslayer452) wrote2026-03-13 03:49 pm
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The Edge Of Sleep
I recently watched The Edge Of Sleep, a television series from Mark Fischbach (a.k.a. Markiplier on YouTube) which was adapted from a fictional podcast series he did of the same name. It's only one season since that's all what the podcast has, although I read that a second season of the podcast is written and ready to go, but it hasn't been recorded yet. For the show, it premiered on Amazon Prime in 2024 and then was later made available to watch on Tubi, you can also watch it for free on YouTube which is where I ended up viewing it.
The Edge of Sleep centers around a guy named Dave Torres (played by Mark) who suffers from parasomnia his entire life. One night he and his friend Matteo leave work to go to a party, only to discover that some remaining people from the party who fell asleep aren't waking up, and are in fact dead. They go to a nearby hospital and discover that this has become widespread, people are dying as they fall asleep. Dave, Matteo, a hospital nurse named Linda, and Dave's ex-girlfriend, Katie, are seemingly the only survivors of this deadly epidemic and force themselves to stay awake to survive and figure out what is happening and why. Dave suspects that he is somehow connected to everything due to his parasomnia and his recurring nightmares.
So yes, I watched this because I'm a fan of Mark, however even if I wasn't this is the kind of psychological horror mystery that is totally right up my alley. Although it's only six episodes, the story is very well-paced. It's a slow-burn, interweaving moments from the past to Dave's childhood and his nightmares that affected his relationship with Katie to the present to connect what is happening. Visually, it's stunning. I'm a sucker for good imagery and The Edge of Sleep features this a lot, especially with the dream sequences and mindfuckery moments. I was very impressed by the quality, particularly in the dreamscapes and the use of special and practical effects. I like that there's a lot of world-building with what's going on, the "dream people", the whale, who "the elephant" is, what Dave's connection to it is and what is planned for him, it's surreal in such a fascinating way. The season ends on a cliffhanger, since the implication that there's more to come with this upcoming war that Dave and the other survivors that the "dream people" have been in contact with are going to fight, and seeing all the dead people all across the world "wake up" and being controlled by this evil entity is quite chilling. Nevertheless, even if this does leave more questions than answers in terms of what's happening and the final confrontation, I do like open-endings. And the season gave us an interesting look into the prelude to whatever this upcoming war is going to be like.
The story concept in general is very fascinating, it reminds me a bit of A Nightmare On Elm Street where an entity is killing people in their dreams. It's not just the act of falling asleep, but these people in The Edge of Sleep are dying in the middle of a dream. So Dave and the rest of them have to force themselves to stay awake, which seems simple at first, but as the hours go on the more sleep deprived they are and the threat of just dozing off looms over them. Katie dying because she was unable to keep herself awake due to being so sleep deprived that even using the adrenaline to wake her up didn't work is quite tragic. It's a real fear that, regardless of how resilient you believe you are, you cannot outrun the inevitable of the human need to sleep, and how deep that sleep will be. And that makes the threat of something stalking you in your dreams, killing you when you're asleep, so utterly terrifying.
Now, I want to talk about Mark. I've only known Mark through his YouTube, he's done mostly Let's Plays and some skits with his friends over the years, but he's also created several characters throughout his online career and featured in several projects on YouTube. So I knew that he could do some acting, but this was the first time I really saw him really doing something on a very serious dramatic scale, playing a quiet, stoic yet vulnerable character. I was impressed with his performance.
I haven't listened to the podcast, though I read a bit of what the show leaves out so I'm interested to see what the differences are and how the narrative works between the two mediums the story is told in. There's also a novel based on the podcast too, so that'll be on the list as well. In addition to all of this, Mark recently had a movie come out in theaters, Iron Lung, based off of a video game of the same name, which is something I'm also curious in checking out. Needless to say, his career trajectory is going incredibly well and I'm really proud of him.
The Edge of Sleep centers around a guy named Dave Torres (played by Mark) who suffers from parasomnia his entire life. One night he and his friend Matteo leave work to go to a party, only to discover that some remaining people from the party who fell asleep aren't waking up, and are in fact dead. They go to a nearby hospital and discover that this has become widespread, people are dying as they fall asleep. Dave, Matteo, a hospital nurse named Linda, and Dave's ex-girlfriend, Katie, are seemingly the only survivors of this deadly epidemic and force themselves to stay awake to survive and figure out what is happening and why. Dave suspects that he is somehow connected to everything due to his parasomnia and his recurring nightmares.
So yes, I watched this because I'm a fan of Mark, however even if I wasn't this is the kind of psychological horror mystery that is totally right up my alley. Although it's only six episodes, the story is very well-paced. It's a slow-burn, interweaving moments from the past to Dave's childhood and his nightmares that affected his relationship with Katie to the present to connect what is happening. Visually, it's stunning. I'm a sucker for good imagery and The Edge of Sleep features this a lot, especially with the dream sequences and mindfuckery moments. I was very impressed by the quality, particularly in the dreamscapes and the use of special and practical effects. I like that there's a lot of world-building with what's going on, the "dream people", the whale, who "the elephant" is, what Dave's connection to it is and what is planned for him, it's surreal in such a fascinating way. The season ends on a cliffhanger, since the implication that there's more to come with this upcoming war that Dave and the other survivors that the "dream people" have been in contact with are going to fight, and seeing all the dead people all across the world "wake up" and being controlled by this evil entity is quite chilling. Nevertheless, even if this does leave more questions than answers in terms of what's happening and the final confrontation, I do like open-endings. And the season gave us an interesting look into the prelude to whatever this upcoming war is going to be like.
The story concept in general is very fascinating, it reminds me a bit of A Nightmare On Elm Street where an entity is killing people in their dreams. It's not just the act of falling asleep, but these people in The Edge of Sleep are dying in the middle of a dream. So Dave and the rest of them have to force themselves to stay awake, which seems simple at first, but as the hours go on the more sleep deprived they are and the threat of just dozing off looms over them. Katie dying because she was unable to keep herself awake due to being so sleep deprived that even using the adrenaline to wake her up didn't work is quite tragic. It's a real fear that, regardless of how resilient you believe you are, you cannot outrun the inevitable of the human need to sleep, and how deep that sleep will be. And that makes the threat of something stalking you in your dreams, killing you when you're asleep, so utterly terrifying.
Now, I want to talk about Mark. I've only known Mark through his YouTube, he's done mostly Let's Plays and some skits with his friends over the years, but he's also created several characters throughout his online career and featured in several projects on YouTube. So I knew that he could do some acting, but this was the first time I really saw him really doing something on a very serious dramatic scale, playing a quiet, stoic yet vulnerable character. I was impressed with his performance.
I haven't listened to the podcast, though I read a bit of what the show leaves out so I'm interested to see what the differences are and how the narrative works between the two mediums the story is told in. There's also a novel based on the podcast too, so that'll be on the list as well. In addition to all of this, Mark recently had a movie come out in theaters, Iron Lung, based off of a video game of the same name, which is something I'm also curious in checking out. Needless to say, his career trajectory is going incredibly well and I'm really proud of him.
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