Shi mian

I happened to stumble upon the 2017 horror movie titled "The Sleep Curse" (aka "Shi mian") from director Herman Yau. I hadn't heard about the movie prior to getting a chance to sit down and watch it. But given the fact that this is a Hong Kong horror movie that had Anthony Chau-Sang Wong in the lead, I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch it.

I found the storyline in "The Sleep Curse" to be interesting, and I liked how writers Eric Lee and Erica Li managed to jump between the present and the past in the storyline with such efficiency, because it really suited the movie quite well. And it was done in a very satisfactory manner.

While "The Sleep Curse" was fairly light in the horror department, the storyline more than made up for that shortcoming, because this was more of a psychological story that gets under your skin and sinks in slowly but surely. So the lack of jump scares and cheap tricks to get a reaction was more than justified by the storyline and the execution of it.

It should be said that the effects in the movie were quite good, and that really helped the movie along quite nicely. It wasn't a movie that was flooded with special effects, as it was used when necessary and put to good use when it was there. Thumbs up to the special effects department on their achievement in "The Sleep Curse".

The movie did have a good cast with a great lead by Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, and also with the likes of Ka Tung Lam and Michelle Wai.

I am rating "The Sleep Curse" a six out of ten stars. I was wholehearted and adequately entertained by this movie.

3 stars here! Watch the movie and figure it out yourself, that is if you can last all the way through. I watched it with 2 friends, all of us begging for the movie to hit its climax and finish.

And that was a mistake right there. Because when it does so, it goes full on gore, jumping from history lessons about the war to lets cut some organs, eat some flesh and be as disgusting as possible. The movie focuses on two time periods, both equally boring and gross when the time comes. I have no idea how this got into production but if it will go without people noticing it, I won't act surprised.

Sorry but they failed here. Bad! Really bad ghost story, mostly about vengeance, told in the worst possible way. I won't recommend it. Stay away.

Cheers!

If you love The Untold Story or Ebola Syndrome two of the best CAT III movies ever made both directed by Herman Yau and starring Anthony Wong you gonna have a blast with The Sleep Curse.The movie is cliché and rely heavily on flashback scene but over the top element of a proper CAT III still there like over the top gore and long disturbing sequence.I enjoy the movie for what it is but at the same time disappointed when it not go all the way like i expected

A nice pass time movie but not scary type. Worth to watch at home online but not worth going to cinema.

This is a very good horror about a man who loses it from the knowledge of what went down in the military-sponsored brothels the Japanese army forced the local women into during WWII ala The Pawnbroker. They were raped to death; and though he saves one he is unable to save her twin and she leaves a curse on him. This is a thoroughly modern horror in that one can't really tell if he loses his mind or if he's cursed.