The therapist cautions her that not sleeping isn’t heathy.  Panicked, she says she knows, but that she can’t slept because of the man.  This man, who she says is wearing a disguise, wants to show her his real face.  And if he does, she knows she’ll die.

Oddly, the therapist relaxes and closes his notebook.  He asks Laura why she is there, at his office.  She is confused by this question.  He asked her why she chose his office and how did she get there.  The camera starts to tilt as he asks her, “Am I your therapist?”  Laura is even more confused as the room darkens and turns a sickly blue-green hue.  He then asks her, “Are you certain you’re not dreaming now?”

The room starts to morph and deteriorate, the windows darken, the bookshelves collapse and the therapist grins a twisted smile as he takes off his glass and his eyes roll back into his head.  

“I have just the thing to help you sleep,” says the mutating therapist.  Laura flees to the doors only to discover a brick wall behind them. 

The therapist calls out to her.

Laura turns to see the monster begin to pull the skin off his face.  She turns away and refuses to look at this horror, trying to convince herself that it isn’t real and to wake up.  As the monster calls her name he yells, “Look at me!”, she covers her eyes and screams, “You’re not real!”

Silence.  Laura slowly pulls her hands away and opens her eyes.  She’s alone in the deteriorating room. She looks around.  No one is there.  She looks out the windows and sees pulses of light trapped in web-like masses.  Drawing back Laura looks around the dark, destroyed room again and suddenly, with a stunning SHREEK!, a skinless, red horror of a head with large dirty white eyes, no nose and a gapping mouth of yellow teeth jumps into her face.  We are left with Laura screaming.

In interviews director Parker Finn explains that he has clear rules for making an effective horror film, one of which is: start with an empathetic character then put them in a worst-case scenario.  In Laura Hasn’t Slept, we understand Laura and feel for her situation.  Then we see that her worse nightmare has begun which, ironically, is a nightmare and Finn has pulled us in without us even knowing it.

This award winning short would go on to be the basis for the most successful feature horror film of 2022 and then spawn two sequels.

So, does this mean dreams do come true after all?  For Parker Finn, it would seem so.