Open Your Eyes To New Clip From Sleep Paralysis Horror Movie 'Dead Awake'

05/09/2017 05:54 pm EDT

Sleep paralysis horror film Dead Awake hits select theaters and VOD platforms this Friday, with a brand-new clip documenting the terror of an entity taking control of you while you sleep.

The film's synopsis is as follows:

"Dead Awake centers on Kate Bowman (Jocelin Donahue), a young woman who discovers an ancient evil stalking people who suffer from sleep paralysis. As Kate finds herself besieged by this terrifying entity, she teams up with a local artist (Jesse Bradford) to try and stop it. With a skeptical doctor (Lori Petty) questioning her sanity, Kate turns to an eccentric expert on sleep disorders (Jesse Borrego) who opens her mind to the horrifying truth: Kate has unwittingly opened the door for this evil to enter our world and has put the lives of her friend Linda (Brea Grant), her father (James Eckhouse), and everyone else close to her in danger."

The concept of sleep paralysis has previously been explored in the film The Nightmare, but that film documented real-life sufferers of the phenomenon, allowing them to share their stories of waking up, unable to control their bodies, and having strange visions of figures in the room with them.

UP NEXT: Sleep Paralysis Horror Film 'Dead Awake' Gets May 12 Release Date

Filmmaker Phillip Guzman, however, goes a slightly more fictional route, projecting the idea that maybe there really is something supernatural occurring during these intense episodes.

Jeffrey Reddick serves as one of the Executive Producers, who also created the Final Destination franchise.

Following The Nightmare, the stigma around sufferers of sleep paralysis dropped, allowing those who experience the bizarre occurrance to know they weren't alone in having the affliction or in undergoing terrifying experiences.

Although sleep paralysis only recently came to the forefront of popular culture, the phenomenon dates back hundreds of years, with explanations for the behavior resulting in terrifying mythology. The phenomenon earned the legend of the "night hag," in which a creature would come and sit on your chest, preventing you from being able to move, even though you were awake.

Different interpretations of this legend resulted in the phrase "night mare" or "nightmare," which is now the widely recognized term to describe a terrifying dream.

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[H/T Coming Soon]

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