Now available on VOD (Video on Demand) and digital, is the psychological thriller, Sleepless Beauty. The film will be available on Blu-ray towards the end of this month.
I do believe this is a Russian film. I don’t recognize any of the names (sorry).
Mila (Polina Davydova) is a young woman who was abducted by unknown assailants. She wasn’t kidnapped to be a sex slave or human trafficked. Instead she was kidnapped to be used as part of an experiment.
Mila is taken to an unknown location where she is tortured and subjected to various things in order to keep her awake.
The abductors are known as Recreation. The goal of their experiment is to see if they can break a person down so much that they become mindless and will do anything that they are asked to do. They also think they can turn ordinary people, like Mila, into violent people for purposes we really don’t know.
Mila is not allowed to sleep. If she does, she will be subjected to some form of torture. She is also forced to do other things, including wearing a head piece (similar to those 3D Google goggles) which shows he a lot of violent and questionable material.
As time goes on, Mila’s mental state quickly falls apart. Is there any hope for her to get rescued, and if she does, will she ever be the person she used to be, or will she become the person the Recreation created her to be? To find out, you need to purchase or rent Sleepless Beauty. Look for it on platforms such as iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, Amazon, Xbox and On Demand.
This is a very weird film. It looked interesting from the trailer I viewed, but the movie was a lot “darker” and more violent that I thought it would be. My husband said the film was “too much” for him as far as the weirdness and violence. He stopped watching it about half way through and opted to play on his phone.
I’m sure that there are situations such as this that are actually going on in the world, which is terrifying to say the least.
I knew the film was dark. Just watching the trailer you can tell that it is. But this film dived deeper in the darkness than I expected. I actually found some of it cringe-worthy. I think at times it went a little too overboard.
Kudos to actress Polina Davydova. She was very convincing as the tortured Mila. She pulled off insanity very well. I really felt for her and her situation. She was very believable and I wanted nothing more than for her to turn the tables on her captures and do to them what they did to her.
Mila is spoken to by a voice over a speaker. I think that added to the eeriness of this film because it’s just a voice that is forcing all this horrible stuff on Mila. You don’t know what the person on the other end of the speaker looks like. I had a vison in my mind’s eye what she looked like and to me, she looked downright ugly and evil.
The other actor in the film wears a mask. I think that is one of my worse fears – to be abducted like that and not know what the abductors looks like.
When everything is happening to Mila, it is being watched over the internet as well (I neglected to mention that in the synopsis). It makes me sick to my stomach to think that there probably are scenarios out there similar to this, where people watch other people get brutally tortured just for the “fun” of it. Sick! Sick! Sick!
This movie stayed with me for a long time. I found myself feeling “drained” and stressed. Watching the film really did a number on me too! I think it was because I became invested in Mila and what was happening to her, as well the disgusting and horrendous things I watched happen to her.
The virtual reality portion of the film was something nightmares are made of!
Sleepless Beauty is not for the “weak at heart.” Its definitely not a film for everyone. While its an interesting storyline, the violence is hard to watch at times – even for a horror move fan such as myself.
Sleepless Beauty was released by Epic Pictures (Epic-Pictures.com). They are also found on social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
Below is the film’s trailer for your entertainment.
*I received a free screener link to review this film. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.