A unique take on a fairy tale that steers away from the traditional in favor of a Penny Dreadful take, although not as satisfying.
“The Curse of Sleeping Beauty” centers on Thomas, the Prince Charming of the story, played by Ethan Peck. However, this version of “Sleeping Beauty” plays out in modern times and Thomas is just an ordinary guy with a really bad curse passed down to him through his bloodline. Proving, this is one family you don’t want to be born into.
Thomas is haunted by dreams of this beautiful woman, albeit with too much make-up, who he feels compelled to kiss. Doesn’t sound too bad—except there’s this evil entity pestering him as well.
Soon into the story, he inherits a home and things take a turn for the worse. This house has a life of its own and he goes from having a tough time when he sleeps to having a tough time when he sleeps and when he’s awake. Some inheritances just aren’t worth it.
Up to this point, the story had me curious. I wanted to know more about this curse… how it started, how it related to him and what would that mean for sleeping beauty in this period of time.
But then things slowed down. Not much happened with Thomas meandering between dreaming and trying to figure out what it all means. A couple of characters are added into the mix, though one in a very convenient way.
The film is only ninety minutes and yet it’s not dense at all. There is very little story & character development stretched over this modest time frame. Thomas doesn’t even expand his search too far from a couple of rooms in the house, which shows the lack of budget. But they do use the dim lights and shadows well enough. It’s always dark but it works to effectively create a sense of edge to the creepy scenes.
I’m fifty-fifty on the ending. I appreciate that it looks to do something different and I’m all for originality. But it renders some of the previous events questionable, as well as highlights one of those annoying tropes:
Characters who purposely leave out really important information to make things harder for the hero.
I’m looking at you, Thomas’ uncle.
Many films of this genre tend to take the route of isolating characters by having them rush into dumb decisions. And “The Curse of Sleeping Beauty” followed this trend as it fell victim to the curse of the horror genre tropes.
Score: 5/10
