The Curse of Sleeping Beauty
The Curse of Sleeping Beauty is a 2016 American fantasy horror film directed by Pearry Reginald Teo and written by Teo alongside Josh Nadler. The film stars Ethan Peck, India Eisley and Natalie Hall. It is based on a comic book of the same name by Everette Hartsoe and the story Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault.
| The Curse of Sleeping Beauty | |
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| Directed by | Pearry Reginald Teo |
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| Based on | The Curse of Sleeping Beauty by |
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| Music by | Scott Glasgow |
| Cinematography | Christopher C. Pearson |
| Edited by | Damian Drago |
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| Distributed by | XLrator Media |
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Running time | 86 minutes |
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| Language | English |
Filming took place in Los Angeles, California. The film was released by 2B Films on May 13, 2016.
Plot
Thomas Kaiser, a painter, regularly has recurring dreams in which he sees a beautiful sleeping girl named Briar Rose (India Eisley), but is unable to wake her. When he attempts to kiss her he is awakened by searing headaches. While painting he sees an elusive apparition of Rose and receives a phone call from a law firm informing him of an inheritance from his uncle, Clive.
Thomas goes to the law firm and is informed his uncle left him a letter and property known as Kaiser Gardens before committing suicide. The letter tells him to never go to the lower levels of the building and that the family is cursed. Thomas has no interest and desires only to appraise the value and sell the property. While at Kaiser Gardens, Thomas runs into a realtor Linda (Natalie Hall) who gives him the keys and asks him a series of questions. That night while sleeping at the property he dreams of Rose and is able to kiss and awaken her. She tells him her name and that he can wake her now that they are close in the physical world. He has a false awakening to an attack from the Veiled Demon. He wakes up from the nightmare to Billings (Scott Alan Smith) an appraiser knocking on the front door. The appraiser tells him many people went missing in the house, but the police found nothing. Thomas explores the house and finds mannequins and an unmovable door shrine.
Later, while researching the property, Thomas collapses. He discovers a note from Linda regarding a prior appraisal attempt. He confronts her and she informs him her brother went missing in the house. Thomas collapses again and dreams of Rose. She tells him he must awaken her and the property belongs to his bloodline. Thomas awakens, Linda informs him that based on her research he is bound to the property supernaturally and will die if he leaves Kaiser Gardens too long. They return to the property and open the shrine door using Thomas' blood revealing a room. They open a book with seals and are attacked by the mannequins in the house. They escape the house with the book and are rescued by Richard Meyers (Bruce Davison), a paranormal investigator who is friends with Linda.
Richard tells Thomas they were attacked by a djinn and that the djinn can possess inanimate objects. Thomas believes he must wake Rose in order to break the curse. They hired Daniel (James Adam Lim), an acquaintance of Linda to decipher the book found in Kaiser Gardens. Billings returns to the property and is killed by the Veiled Demon. They discover that the family curse dates back to the Crusades and a djinn put Rose in an eternal sleep. The group deduces that Iblis wants her and they must kill the Veiled Demon and awaken Rose.
Thomas, Linda and Richard return to Kaiser Gardens and open a second door behind the shrine room. Linda and Richard distract the Veiled Demon while Thomas finds and attempts to wake Rose. Unable to wake Rose with a kiss, Thomas uses his blood. Rose awakens then kisses and attacks Thomas. Rose kills the Veiled Demon, but before doing so it tells them that Thomas' bloodline stores many demons which Rose will summon to unleash upon the world. Rose states she will not kill them so they can see the darkness to come and begins to awaken the demons in Thomas' bloodline. Meanwhile, after the full text from the book is deciphered Daniel reads the curse that awakening the demons in Thomas' bloodline will trigger the Apocalypse.
Cast
- Ethan Peck as Thomas Kaiser
- Natalie Hall as Linda Coleman
- India Eisley as Briar Rose
- Bruce Davison as Richard Meyers
- James Adam Lim as Daniel
- Zack Ward as Nathan
- Scott Alan Smith as Billings
- Cyd Strittmatter as Dr. Wessley
- Mim Drew as Katherine Braxton
- Dallas Hart as Luke Coleman
- Madelaine Petsch as Eliza
- Ryan Egnatoff as the Veiled Demon
- Elizabeth Knowelden as the voice of the Veiled Demon
- T.J. Vindigni as Mannequin
- Anna Harr as Young Briar Rose
- Olya Lvova as Assistant to Katherine
- Jacqueline Goehner as Female Clerk
- Pearry Reginald Teo as Shadow Djinn
- Marc Bowen as Doctor
- Alexandra Bard as Sunken Woman
Release
The film was released on May 13, 2016 (Friday the 13th) in the United States.
Reception
The film has been received mostly negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 15% based on 13 reviews and an average rating of 3.9/10.[1] The film holds a 4.2/10 on iMDb. Luke Thompson of Forbes panned the film stating it "fractures more than a fairy tale".[2] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter reviewed the film as a "cheesy horror film ... enough to put anyone to sleep".[3]
Television series
In October 2017, a television series based on the film was announced is in development.[4]
References
- "The Curse of Sleeping Beauty". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
- Thompson, Luke Y. (May 13, 2016). "Review: 'The Curse of Sleeping Beauty' Fractures More Than A Fairy Tale". Forbes. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
- Frank Scheck (May 13, 2016). "'The Curse of Sleeping Beauty': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
- Moore, Debi (October 24, 2017). "XLrator Media Launches XLrator TV Division; The Curse of Sleeping Beauty Series in the Works". Dread Central. Retrieved October 24, 2017.