The Curse of Sleeping Beauty (2016)

I thought, with a title like this it's got to be a horror story but by two thirds into the movie I had convinced myself how wrong I was. An evil Jinn puts a curse on a beautiful princess and keeps her away from a world of possible Princes that may awake her. Well you just can't get anymore Disney than that can ya? But I'm older these days and had forgotten how scary Disney movies could get. Even with the dead giveaway at the base of operations, just before the ending, l was still rooting for Rose. My only question now is, will they finish it?6 stars, not scary, to me at least, minus 1 star for the Crypt Keeper's cousin's cameo. For a total of five stars

When we saw the trailer, my husband and I thought it looked very promising. I had this nagging feeling that the movie is going to be a huge disappointment and it was.From the absurdly annoying trope of protecting the secret of the evil better than the evil itself through avoiding any sort of explanation or reasoning that a human being would understand all the way down to rushing into action before getting the full story, the characters in this movie are painfully stupid. They are also extremely half-dimensional and the tl;dr backstory dialogue(that feels so forced, it broke through my window and stared me down) does not help build any sort of connection with the viewer. as each and every one of them is a walking stereotype(from the smart jackass to the tortured artist) There are so many attempts at jump scares, even the characters in the movie stopped caring towards the end. The "gore" is awkward at best and the most horror I felt was when I realised I paid money to see this movie. The "twist" wasn't even remotely surprising as it follows a very common horror movie trope and became apparent within the first half of the movie. There is no real villain, no protagonist, no resolution, no plot The ending has a distinct Rose Red vibe to it. As in, this should have been a TV mini series with 2 more episodes instead of a standalone movie. I guess they seriously thought they were getting a sequel. If there is anything good to be said about this movie, it'd be that it creates a rather beautiful world with a Gothic feel to it. The visuals(excluding *cough* blood) and the music are quite good and it's a shame they ended up in a movie so shallow an ant would have a hard time drowning in it.

I was more than intrigued by this take on Sleeping Beauty, and it showed a lot of promise. It wasn't fancy or big budget, and the acting had some not-so-great moments, but I still highly enjoyed it. Until the end. It doesn't end, it just stops. It sets up for a sequel, but you can do that without having such an unsatisfying ending. And if no sequel is planned that makes it even worse. There is no resolution, no conclusion...it just stops. And leaves you angry. I liked it otherwise, but I just can't get past the end.

I've seen a couple of other reviews that seem to be less than favorable , so as someone who enjoyed the hell out of the movie,I felt i had to defend it somewhat. Lets get any of my negatives out of the way 1. There are a few conveniences, especially in regards to additional characters that pop up with the exact skills needed. 2. The twist is fairly obvious 3. The last 5 mins or so of this movie does feel a little rushed 4. Nit pick , i would have liked to see a little more of a horrified reaction to the events that unfolds from our protagonists Now lets talk about the good stuff1. Pearry Reginald Teo is a talented director. Has a James Wan feel about his style. He makes great use of camera work , with some good scares that are earned 2. The acting is pretty good .Ethan Peck at first I was like, ' Oh just another typical pretty boy lead' But I thought he really did a good job of selling the vulnerability of the character of Thomas , but still someone you can root for 3. Great location and set design. This house and the sets are super creepy. Nuff said 4. Some great scares. Some truly great moments involving mannequins. Great looking effects and some jump out your seat moments.I think the title doesn't do this movie any favors , as the Sleeping beauty part is so minor until the end. I feel Fantasy and fairy tale fans will pick this up thinking it's the classic story and be disappointed it's a horror film and horror fans will may miss it completely as they think it's just a Sleepy beauty movie I'd give this 8/10