{{Short description|2017 Hong Kong film by Herman Yau}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}} {{Use Hong Kong English|date=October 2022}} {{Infobox film | name = The Sleep Curse | image = Shi-mian-hong-kong-movie-poster-md.jpg | alt = | caption = | native_name = <!-- {{Infobox name module|language|title}} or {{Infobox name module|title}} --> | director = [[Herman Yau]] | producer = {{plainlist|*Albert Lee *Jason Siu *Yao Qinyi<ref name="thr-review" />}} | writer = | screenplay = {{plainlist|*Erica Li *Eric Lee<ref name="thr-review" />}} | story = | based_on = <!-- {{Based on|title of the original work|creator of the original work|additional creator(s), if necessary}} --> | starring = {{plainlist| * [[Anthony Wong Chau-sang|Anthony Wong]] * [[Michelle Wai]] * Jojo Goh * [[Gordon Lam]] * Bryant Mak}} | narrator = | music = [[Mak Chun Hung]] | cinematography = Joe Chan<ref name="thr-review" /> | editing = Azrael Chung<ref name="thr-review" /> | production_companies = {{plainlist|*Emperor Film Production Limited * Stellar Mega Films Limited<ref name="thr-review" />}} | distributor = <!-- or: | distributors = --> | released = {{Film date|df=yes|2017|||[[Hong Kong International Film Festival|HKIFF]]|2017|5|18|Hong Kong}} | runtime = 102 minutes<ref name="thr-review" /> | country = | language = {{plainlist|*Cantonese *Japanese *Malay<ref name="thr-review">{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/sleep-curse-sut-min-film-review-hong-kong-2017-994405|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|title='The Sleep Curse' ('Sut Min'): Film Review Hong Kong 2017|date=April 21, 2017|first=Clarence|last=Tsui|access-date=January 16, 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425013718/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/sleep-curse-sut-min-film-review-hong-kong-2017-994405|archivedate=April 25, 2017}}</ref>}} | budget = | gross = }}
'''''The Sleep Curse''''' is a 2017 Hong Kong horror film directed by [[Herman Yau]]. Wong announced that ''The Sleep Curse'' would be his last performance in horror and thriller films, stating he no longer enjoyed making them.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/anthony-wong-sleep-curse-last-091200977.html?src=rss|work=[[Yahoo! News]]|title=Anthony Wong: "The Sleep Curse" is my last horror film!|last=Hsia|first=Heidi|date=May 8, 2017|access-date=January 16, 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117132305/https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/anthony-wong-sleep-curse-last-091200977.html?src=rss|archivedate=17 January 2018|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref>
==Plot== The film alternates between the years 1942 and 1990, between a family, with neuroscientist Lam Sik-ka, and his father Lam Sing, who was a translator for the Japanese occupational forces in Hong Kong. Sing has hidden the fact that in his past, he did not save a [[comfort woman]] from persecution by the occupiers. Sik-ka later learns that his father's death was caused by a curse the woman placed on him, and that the curse will eventually haunt him as well.
==Themes== At the Far East Film Festival in [[Udine]], Erica Li spoke about the themes of the film, stating that the film was to "speak for the women, [...] Especially for those who cannot speak for themselves, like the victims of the war. This topic was trying to tell the world that some justice is still undone."<ref name="atimes">{{cite web|url=https://asiatimes.com/2017/05/sleep-curse-not-just-revenge/|work=[[Asia Times]]|title=The Sleep Curse is not just about revenge|access-date=January 16, 2018|first=Megumi|last=Arita|date=May 9, 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250409201959/https://asiatimes.com/2017/05/sleep-curse-not-just-revenge/|archivedate=April 9, 2025}}</ref>
==Release== ''The Sleep Curse'' had its premiere at the [[Hong Kong International Film Festival]] in 2017.<ref name="thr-review" /> It had a wide release in Hong Kong on May 18, 2017.<ref name="atimes" />
==Reception== ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' compared the film to director [[Herman Yau]] and Anthony Wong's previous collaborations ''[[The Untold Story]]'' and ''[[Ebola Syndrome]]'', stating that "There may be no way for the film's director and star to regenerate the manic energy and social fury that made ''The Untold Story'' and {{Sic|''The Ebola Syndrome''}} such genre-benders more than two decades ago." noting Wong strives for depth in the role, while Yau "struggles to rein in all the sprawling elements — the nondimensional characters, the visceral violence, Brother Hung's bombastic music — into a tight, coherent movie."<ref name="thr-review" /> The ''[[South China Morning Post]]'' gave the film a two and a half star rating out of five, noting the screenwriters placed "excessively long flashbacks to explain the origin of the curse" and that "The film only snaps back to life with an avalanche of decapitation, mutilation and cannibalism in its last reel. For those expecting a gory good time throughout, as in Yau’s extreme horror classics from the ’90s, that is too little, too late."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2094684/film-review-sleep-curse-anthony-wong-herman-yau-reunite-grotesque|work=[[South China Morning Post]]|title=Film review: The Sleep Curse – Anthony Wong, Herman Yau reunite for grotesque horror that made them cult movie heroes|date=17 May 2017|access-date=16 January 2018|last=Lee|first=Edmund|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250119152840/https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2094684/film-review-sleep-curse-anthony-wong-herman-yau-reunite-grotesque|archivedate=January 19, 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|6754750}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sleep Curse, The}} [[Category:Films set in 1942]] [[Category:Films set in 1990]] [[Category:2017 films]] [[Category:2017 horror films]] [[Category:Hong Kong supernatural horror films]] [[Category:Hong Kong horror films]] [[Category:Films directed by Herman Yau]] [[Category:2017 Hong Kong films]] [[Category:Films about curses]] [[Category:Hong Kong splatter films]]