Obviously stung by mounting criticism on his more recent works like the understated Trauma and The Stendhal Syndrome, the Italian maestro Dario Argento has set out to win back those disillusioned within the ranks of his fan base. His movie Non Ho Sonno, literally meaning ‘I can’t sleep’ and internationally released in 2001 under the title Sleepless, marks his return to his traditional giallo roots. The million-dollar question is whether or not this movie also marks his return to his glorious form. Read on to find out.

Max Von Sydow (The Exorcist, Needful Things, Dreamscape) plays Moretti, a long-retired Turin cop who some 17 years earlier came close to catching a vicious killer known as the 'Killer Dwarf', whose murders were inspired by a children's nursery rhyme. When the main suspect was found dead, the killings stopped, and the case was closed. Now in the present day similarly slain bodies have been piling up, and Moretti finds himself drawn back to the case, as does Giacomo, the son of one the original victims. Now a grown man, he persuades Moretti to allow him to contribute to the investigation. Both men dismiss the idea of the dwarf and believe the killings to have been committed by a copycat. What follows is a stylish thriller reinforced by a script that thunders along at breakneck speed.

Most of the usual Argento-isms are here. We’re getting bloody murder sequences (some of which are pretty gruesome) with a variety of stylish devices, tools and objects. We’re getting swooping camerawork from British lenser Ronnie Taylor who previously shot The Phantom of the Opera and Opera for Argento, as well as working with Richard Attenborough. We’re also getting half-remembered clues and tangents, and a large cast of characters from which the killer will inevitably emerge. Moreover, Argento managed to reform his former musical collaborators Goblin, who provide a suitably rowdy score.

The strengths and weaknesses of this movie become soon apparent. The murder scenes are executed with considerable flair, but perfunctory writing, awkward dialogue and shallow characterization hamper some of the procedural and investigative sequences. In other words, it's back to business as usual, we’re dealing with a typical Dario Argento giallo here. Many critics will regard such weaknesses as inherent to the genre and its director, while apologists will point to constraints imposed by dubbing, conscious intent on the filmmaker's part or to the fact that giallo movies have been playing the same reflexive, postmodern games since Mario Bava's The Girl Who Knew Too Much.

Unlike much of Argento's other work, his leading cast delivers a mostly solid and reliable performance here. Max Von Sydow transcends the material with a wonderfully judged performance as the aging cop who believably seems to take delicious pleasure in helping to track down the killer after spending so many years in retirement. Whether this is Von Sydow rising above what Argento gave him, or Argento having a great actor and peer to work with, remains unclear but I suspect the former, considering that Argento generally provides his actors little dialogue to go by –- or are given lots of room for improvisation, depending on how you feel about his particular brand of filmmaking. Whatever the case may be, more partnerships like this would probably eventually benefit his films, especially considering the awkwardness of the younger and less experienced actors. Still, co-lead Stefano Dionisi is satisfyingly convincing as Giacomo, but the rest of the supporting cast doesn’t really fare all that well. Argento's decision to have his predominantly Italian actors and actresses deliver their lines woodenly in English seems to make little sense when they end up being evidently dubbed anyway.

But whatever issues one may raise against this movie, the whole delivery of the plot and its subsequent development smacks of a director returning to a form that may not be the best he’s ever had, but is still quite acceptable. He doesn’t present a surreal dream world like he did in Suspiria, Phenomena or Inferno, the viewer is treated a mental image of the killer instead which slowly develops as the mystery unfolds. With every twist of the plot, the reality that Moretti and Giacomo are close to unraveling the mystery becomes increasingly terrifying. Argento succeeds in building the movie up to a climactic crescendo, then pulling the proverbial rug from underneath the unsuspecting viewer.

I’m not sure whether this movie could be deemed a horror film in a strict traditional sense. It’s rather a highly charged suspense thriller with some gore in it. It also has some of the hallmarks of the genre-defining pieces Argento has produced over the years such as Deep Red and Bird With The Crystal Plumage. Although it can’t be placed within the same confines as those two legendary movies, Sleepless is still a solid effort and recommended viewing for those who like their horror with style.