Sleeping Beauties

My first reaction was that the Indonesian actress, Intan Kieflie, was just too short and too pregnant to play a part, especially a physically active one, in a horror movie. I'm happy to report that I was wrong because she did an excellent job. After the murder of her husband, she's desperate for money to pay her mortgage and accepts a job as a maid serving a weird brother / sister couple out in a remote ranch somewhere in Australia. What could go wrong? Actually, a LOT if their residence is loaded with ghosts and the couple is a lot weirder than one might imagine!

Actionwise, this movie tends to move slowly up until the last ten minutes or so. Then things get rather gory.

It's an okay horror movie and I was impressed by the makeup and special f/x used for the ghosts. Worth a view, imo.

Struggling to find tenants, a pregnant woman decides to find some extra funds by taking a nanny job working at a farmhouse to keep herself afloat, but the longer she stays there a series of ghostly incidents steer her towards a deadly secret about her employers that put her and her baby in jeopardy.

Overall, there's quite a lot to like about this one. One of the better elements here is a fantastic setup that lets an intriguing and chilling enough storyline for what's happening. Managing to showcase the need for her desperate state of drowning in debt, dabbling in black magic to talk with her husband, being unable to find a suitable patron to rent out her home and about to give birth, the desperation to take the job in her condition is established nicely. Once there, getting to see the run-through of the tasks and training for the job to get an idea of what's expected compliments everything nicely as this tends to introduce a sense of normalcy in her life while also hinting nicely at the uneasy nature of the host family. It all provides a generally likable and immersive means of finding out the true nature of what's going on. This setup allows the film a fertile playing field for its supernatural antics. Already given a big berth with her resorting to black magic spells to contact her dead husband, the discovery of ghosts in the house is not that far removed at the new house when she arrives. These scenes are built-up quite nicely as well where she comes across the ghosts of previous nannies reaching out for help, but unaware of their true purpose and reacting more to their ghostly presence and unexpected appearance contorting themselves unnaturally to get her attention in some genuinely chilling setpieces. The big finale, offering a fantastic series of encounters with the big ghosts around the house as well as a demented version of a Nativity Scene that takes this to great lengths in the big finish to everything, all make for a lot to like that holds this up. There are some issues with this one that bring it down. Among the biggest factors is the seemingly cliched means of how this treats the ghostly inhabitants of the house throughout the first half. By giving away a big reveal as the cold open to everything, this takes a lot of the suspense out of the events surrounding her employment there which is distressing. Hardly any of this works in terms of setting up a unique feel to the hallucinations and dreams that turn out to be the source of the ghostly interactions and serves up a rather cliched notion of events that takes place. In addition, this one manages to undo a lot of the goodwill that had been built up by having what should've been a great effect ruined by a downright lousy and laughable CGI effect that is continued quite heavily throughout the film as well. These all give this one its few issues.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

No spoilers. This film has serious DERANGED vibes mixed equally with J Horror ghost visuals. The plot seems fairly straight forward at first, but takes a crazy twist mid way. The lead actors do a great job in the 'crazy' department and get more and more unhinged as the film progresses. Kooky doesn't describe this film well Enough. The location of the film and surrounds are all creepy rural Australia which is used really well in hovering drone shots setting up the isolation of the area. While obviously shot on a budget the cinematography, lighting and set design are all top tier. There's some blood while not being an overly gory film the practical and cgi effects are used to good effect. This film has many different layers and was entertaining rather than scary. It takes a fairly well used haunted house type story and turns it on it's head taking to places you wouldn't expect, so it expounded upon those clichés and turned the story into something more. There are multiple storyline's happening in this film and sometimes that felt overwhelming, but once I was in the groove I enjoyed the characters motivations more which helps to swallow the crazy ending! Highly entertaining and something truly original while very familiar at the same time.

Sleeping Beauties (2023) is a new Indonesian Tubi original that I watched this past week. The storyline follows a young lady who is pregnant, recently widowed and needs a job to ensure she doesn't lose her home. She takes a job as a maid in a remote countryside mansion. The couple who resides in the mansion take her on reluctantly. She is tormented by the loss of her husband and once in the house she develops a unique spiritual bond with him. This spiritual bond stirs other spirits within the house ready to come to the surface and unveil some disturbing truths about the owners of the house.

This movie is written, directed by and stars Stuart Simpson (Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla) and also stars Intan Kieflie (Petrol), Jeffery Richards (The Devil's Elbow), Mark Adams (We Deserve Better), Candice Leask (Bullied) and Carolyn Masson (Time Apart).

This is a plot that is fairly straightforward and common within the horror genre. The cinematography is top notch and very clean and the settings are well selected. The cast delivers outstanding and authentic performances (both the good and bad guys). The feeling of isolation is very well done and the horror elements were better than I anticipated. The ghosts felt like The Ring girl, just a bunch of them. However; the scenes with the other nurses and what happens to them are perfectly executed. There are some good kill scenes and gore sprinkled in here or there. The conclusion is fairly predictable.

Overall, this is a fairly average addition to the horror genre with some worthwhile elements. I would score this a 5.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.