The Curse of Sleeping Beauty

I went into watching this movie thinking it would be one of those movies that would be so horrible that it would make me laugh. It was not one of those. I found it quite compelling for what it was, and rather enjoyed it.

It's obviously a lower budget film. If you watch this knowing and accepting it for what it is, not expecting high quality effects, then it is enjoyable. I felt they did well at creating the suspense and creepiness with what they had.

The actors really brought this to life. They made it more believable. The main actor was great. He portrayed the pain and confusion well. Even when the sets were a touch lack-luster and less believable, he conveyed the emotions to make it seem more real than it looked.

The ending seems to be where most people have an issue. I won't go into detail as I would rather avoid spoilers. I can see how people would find it rushed. The beginning of the movie moves slower and builds suspense, then the end moves a bit faster. However, I liked the ending. I found it to be different, if this were a Hollywood movie it would have a Hollywood ending, it is not that, do not expect that.

Addition observation: The house was beautiful, imagine what that place looks like all cleaned up.

There was a great idea for 'The Curse of Sleeping Beauty', one of the more intriguing ones for a less-than-high-budget film, and there was a good, or at least halfway decent, film in it somewhere that had great potential to come out and should have done.

Which is why it is so frustrating and such a big shame that 'The Curse of Sleeping Beauty' was so disjointed and uneven, as someone who was really rooting for the film to work. Do have to agree with the general consensus that 'The Curse of Sleeping Beauty' started off well and promisingly, was really thinking that it would be surprisingly good, but fell apart completely in the second half and kept getting worse. There are definitely far worse wastes of potential and good concepts, but 'The Curse of Sleeping Beauty' was definitely a definition of a waste of potential and a waste of a great idea.

It, as aforementioned, starts off well. Throughout the production values generally were atmospherically Gothic and nicely shot with eerie make-up. The music also has a haunting eeriness that doesn't feel intrusive, one-note or repetitive. Mostly the acting was better than average, having seen some very bad to terrible acting in modest to low budget films recently so that was refreshing.

Atmosphere generated is genuinely creepy, wonderful mysterious and suspenseful going at a deliberate but assured pace.

Sadly, again as already said, the second half sees 'The Curse of Sleeping Beauty' falling apart. And not just slightly, we're talking significantly. Not that the film was perfect already. There was some choppy editing, cheap costuming and Ethan Peck doesn't always look comfortable or engaged in his role.

Really, it is frustrating that the more the second half progressed, the duller, more confused, more clichéd and more predictable it got, and the mystery, creepiness and suspense got lost and instead was replaced by dreariness, ridiculousness and a draggy pace. All capped off by an ending that was far too abrupt and incomplete.

Overall, good first half, disappointing second half with a bad non-event ending. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I was a bit hesitant to watch this one but my GF insisted and hence the review. I was quite surprised with the initial plot which was a bit mysterious and had a touch of fantasy to it. The acting was great and I was really enjoying it but half way through the movie they just threw everything away.

The plot just gets weird around the last quarter of the movie and seemed like either the director was in a rush to wrap everything up and go home or one of the actors wanted to quit early or something. It just felt incomplete, leaving you with tons of questions and a poker face wondering what just happened .....

'THE CURSE OF SLEEPING BEAUTY': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Another B-horror flick based on a classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale. This one is a dark modern update of 'Sleeping Beauty' (written by the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault); it deals with an art painter, who inherits an ancient curse (which involves dreams of a 'sleeping beauty'). The film was directed by Pearry Reginald Teo; and it was scripted by Teo and first time feature film writer Josh Nadler (based on the comic book by Everette Hartsoe). It stars India Eisley, Ethan Peck, Natalie Hall and Bruce Davison. The movie received harshly negative reviews from critics, and a large percentage of viewers as well. I hated it at first; but then I grew to enjoy it more, as it went on.

The story centers around an art painter, named Thomas Kaiser (Peck), who keeps having dreams of a beautiful sleeping woman (Eisley). He continuously tries to wake her, but is unsuccessful. Thomas later learns of his uncle's suicide, and the mansion he left him; which had been in his family for generations. While investigating the property, for appraisal reasons, Thomas also learns of an ancient curse there, and his role as the 'protector'. He must keep the demons in his new home imprisoned there, while also trying to awake the sleeping beauty. He finds help from a friendly realtor (Hall), and a paranormal investigator (Davison).

For the first 45-minutes of the movie, I was completely bored (and falling asleep). The acting and writing were atrocious; and the film was really repetitive, and uninvolving. Then, about halfway through the movie, it got a lot more interesting, and entertaining. Once it got to the story, it became filled with more tense, and very gruesome, imagery (and stunningly beautiful women). At that point, I enjoyed it a lot more. It's still mostly a bore, and a misfire, but a sequel could be a lot better (which the end is completely set up for).

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Given the title of the movie, then I must admit that I didn't really have much of any expectations for the movie. Believing it to be another mass produced low budget movie.

But it turned out that the 2016 "The Curse of Sleeping Beauty" from director Pearry Reginald Teo was actually surprisingly good. Just goes to prove that the cover, and by that I mean the title, of a movie doesn't necessarily reflect the contents of the actual movie.

I like this twist on the classic faerie tale, and I liked the fact that the movie wasn't all rosy red and happy days ever after. That was definitely a nice thing that the writers put into the storyline.

Ethan Peck, playing Thomas, actually carried the movie quite well with his performance. And I must admit that seeing Bruce Davison and Zack Ward on the cast list also did excite me somewhat. Bruce Davison was of course a very nice addition to the movie, just a shame that he didn't have a bigger role. And Zack Ward, well he was hardly there, which I think was a shame.

The movie actually had pretty good special effects and CGI, which definitely helped to carry the movie and added to the atmosphere very nicely. And speaking of the atmosphere, then director Pearry Reginald Teo did a phenomenal job of building up suspence and this was nicely accompanied by the dark and rundown atmosphere that the movie had, given the old house. The movie was nicely layered by adding more and more suspense and creepiness to it, and that was something that I tremendously enjoyed throughout the movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed "The Curse of Sleeping Beauty", and the twist to the tale was really nice. So I can warmly recommend that you take the time to sit down and watch the 2016 movie "The Curse of Sleeping Beauty" if you haven't already seen it. My rating for the movie is six stars out of ten.