Review | Film review: The Sleep Curse – Anthony Wong, Herman Yau reunite for grotesque horror that made them cult movie heroes
A captivating opening, featuring an insomniac psychopath, a stolen brain and a durian gives way to excessive flashbacks, so that by the time the horror kicks back in again, this film’s become a gore bore
2.5/5 stars
The Sleep Curse begins in truly captivating fashion, as we discover from raw video footage how a Malaysian Chinese family patriarch gradually transforms into a violent psychopath after he’s been struck with a curse that puts him in a perpetual state of insomnia.
The audience is then introduced to Hong Kong neuroscientist Lam Sik-ka (Wong), who is approached by the man’s younger sister (Malaysian actress Jojo Goh) to find the cause. The early appearances of a scar-faced woman in Lam’s vicinity hint at the film’s supernatural roots, while the utterly ridiculous manner in which he steals the victim’s brain and smuggles it back to his laboratory – with the help of a durian – promises much exploitative fun to come.
It’s unfortunate that this 1990s-set segment soon gives way to a lamentably drawn-out back story, set in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong during the second world war.