Movie Review: THE CURSE OF SLEEPING BEAUTY
Classic fairy tales often have dark themes that seem perfect for a horror movie adaptation. But for some reason they often miss the mark. When I first saw some of the images for The Curse of Sleeping Beauty I assumed that it was going to be a film that targets teenage girls as it’s main audience. Well it’s not that, but it is kind of a mess.
Directed by Perry Reginald Teo, The Curse of Sleeping Beauty follows Thomas Kaiser (Ethan Peck), a secluded artist who is haunted by the recurring dream of a sleeping woman. He learns that he has inherited a mansion, Kaiser Gardens, from his distant uncle. Thomas leaves the city after reading an unusually foreboding letter from his deceased uncle telling him that Kaiser Gardens has been in the family for centuries and that their bloodline serves as the protectors of the property. After spending a night in the mansion he finds out that the woman in his dreams is Briar Rose (India Eisley) and she is being held prisoner by The Veiled Demon somewhere in the house. Thomas teams up with local realtor, Linda (Natalie Hall) to unravel the mystery of the mansion and rescue Briar Rose from captivity.
Still from THE CURSE OF SLEEPING BEAUTY
The Curse of Sleeping Beauty feels like an odd mix between a bad cop drama and Silent Hill, which the director stated as one of his inspirations. In fact, the nurse scene from Silent Hill: Revelations is basically recycled here. The stand out issue with The Curse of Sleeping Beauty is the writing. There are just too many things the film is trying to juggle at the same time and none of them get enough attention to really mean anything for the overall story. The main character’s backstories serve almost no purpose to the film. Thomas can’t spend a long period of time away from the mansion without getting a bad stomach ache and that doesn’t really impact anything. The film spends its entire 86 minutes getting to the climax and then it’s over. There is NO ending. I’m not going to say that filmmakers should always stick to the standard three-act structure. That would turn making movies into an assignment instead of an art form. I don’t think artistic choice is at work here though. There isn’t anything that resembles a resolution. There is probably a 3 hour cut of this film somewhere, but I’m not interested in seeing that. The score seems to be in a constant battle with itself as well. Going from a dark, serious theme to campy and lighthearted at times. Followed by a montage of people walking around set to off the shelf electronic music. I didn’t dislike everything about the film though. The character design for The Veiled Demon looks great and I think the overall set design and cinematography are actually really well done. But since I feel cheated by the lack of an ending I can’t recommend it. Apparently there are plans to follow this release up with a television series. Details are vague as to whether it will tie in directly with the movie or not.
