''The Curse of Sleeping Beauty'' is a 2016 American fantasy

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

Pearry Reginald Teo Pearry Reginald Teo Zhang Pingli (born 23 July 1978) commonly known as Pearry Teo, is a Singaporean filmmaker. He is considered the first Singaporean movie director to make a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film. Biography Teo began his ...

and written by Teo alongside Josh Nadler. The film stars

Ethan Peck Ethan Gregory Peck (born March 2, 1986) is an American actor. He is the grandson of actor Gregory Peck and Greta Kukkonen, the elder Peck's first wife. In 2019, he played a young Spock in '' Star Trek: Discovery'' (2019), a role he has reprised fo ...

India Eisley India Joy Eisley (born October 29, 1993) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Ashley Juergens in the ABC Family television series ''The Secret Life of the American Teenager'', Eve in the 2012 film '' Underworld: Awakening'', Sawa ...

and

Natalie Hall Natalie Elise Hall or Natalie Melinda Hall (born January 25, 1990) is a Canadian actress and singer. She has appeared in various Broadway, film and TV productions. One of her first TV appearances was when she portrayed the role of Colby Chandler ...

. It is based on a comic book of the same name by Everette Hartsoe and the story ''

Little Briar Rose ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

'' by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

and

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...

. Filming took place in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California. The film was released by 2B Films on May 13, 2016.

Plot

Thomas Kaiser, a painter, has recurring dreams in which he sees a beautiful sleeping girl (

), but is unable to wake her. When he attempts to kiss her, he is always distracted by a vision of a strange building and wakes in

sleep paralysis Sleep paralysis is a state, during waking up or falling asleep, in which one is conscious but is completely paralyzed. During an episode, one may hallucinate (hear, feel, or see things that are not there), which often results in fear. Episodes ...

. One day, he receives a phone call from a law firm informing him of an inheritance from his estranged uncle, Clive. Thomas is informed his uncle committed suicide, leaving him a letter and a property known as Kaiser Gardens. The letter tells him to never go to the lower levels of the building and that the family is cursed. Thomas is startled to find out the inherited property is the very same building from his dreams. While at Kaiser Gardens, Thomas runs into a realtor Linda (

) who gives him the keys and asks him a series of questions. That night while sleeping at the property he dreams of the sleeping girl and this time is able to kiss and awaken her. She tells him her name is Briar Rose and that they can communicate now that they are close in the physical world. He has a

false awakening A false awakening is a vivid and convincing dream about awakening from sleep, while the dreamer in reality continues to sleep. After a false awakening, subjects often dream they are performing daily morning routine such as showering, cooking, cl ...

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

mannequin A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles. Pr ...

s 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 now 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 and, 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 Bruce Allen Davison (born June 28, 1946) is an American actor and director. Davison is well known for his starring role as Willard Stiles in the cult horror film '' Willard'' (1971) and his Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning perfor ...

), a paranormal investigator, who is friends with Linda. Richard tells Thomas they were attacked by a

djinn Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...

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 A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...

dates back to the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

and a

put Rose in an

eternal sleep ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

. The group deduces that

Iblis Iblis ( ar, إِبْلِيس, translit=Iblīs), alternatively known as Eblīs, is the leader of the devils () in Islam. According to the Quran, Iblis was thrown out of heaven, after he refused to prostrate himself before Adam. Regarding the o ...

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 Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...

Cast

as Thomas Kaiser *

as Linda Coleman *

as Briar Rose *

as Richard Meyers * James Adam Lim as Daniel *

Zack Ward Zacharias Ward (born August 31, 1970) is a Canadian actor. Early life Ward was born on August 31, 1970, in Toronto, Ontario, the son of actress Pam Hyatt. Career He is best known for his character Dave Scovil (Titus's stoner half-brother) on the ...

as Nathan * Scott Alan Smith as Billings * Cyd Strittmatter as Dr. Wessley * Mim Drew as Katherine Braxton * Dallas Hart as Luke Coleman *

Madelaine Petsch Madelaine Grobbelaar Petsch (born August 18, 1994) is an American actress and YouTuber. She is known for portraying Cheryl Blossom on The CW television series '' Riverdale'' and Marissa in ''F the Prom''. Early life Petsch was born on August 1 ...

as Eliza * Ryan Egnatoff as the Veiled Demon ** Elizabeth Knowelden as the voice of the Veiled Demon * T.J. Vindigni as Mannequin *

Anna Harr Anna Harr is an American actress. She is known for her work on the films ''Stasis'', ''Bethany'' and ''Krampus Origins''. Life and career Anna was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She has four sisters and two brothers. She is a gymnast and a dancer. In ...

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 Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has a rating of 15% based on 13 reviews and an average rating of 3.9/10. Luke Thompson of

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

panned the film stating it "fractures more than a fairy tale". Frank Scheck of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' reviewed the film as a "cheesy horror film ... enough to put anyone to sleep".

Television series

In October 2017, a television series based on the film was announced is in development.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curse of Sleeping Beauty 2016 films 2016 horror films American dark fantasy films American supernatural horror films American haunted house films Supernatural fantasy films Demons in film Religious horror films Films about curses Films based on American comics Films based on Sleeping Beauty Horror films based on children's franchises Films shot in Los Angeles Live-action films based on comics 2010s English-language films Films directed by Pearry Reginald Teo 2010s American films