Sleeping Beauty (2014)

“The beautiful Aurora is cursed into everlasting sleep by an evil witch for a crime she didn’t commit. The brave Commander of the Guard, William, embarks on a quest inspired by both love and loyalty to free the doomed princess”

– Anonymous, IMDB.

Sleeping Beauty is brought to us by Director Rene Perez, known for Playing with Dolls: Havoc, Death Kiss, and Alien Showdown: The Day the Old West Stood Still. In addition to being the Director, Perez is also the Cinematographer, Editor, and Writer of his films. Gemma Donato, who plays elf maiden Alondra, also receives a Producer credit on the film. Jenny Allford, who plays Princess Aurora, has previously played small roles such as “Bikini Girl” (HottieBoombaLottie, 2008), “Party Chick” (Ted, 2012), and “Hot Socialite” (Taming the Wang, 2011). Robert Amstler, who plays Commander William, and has appeared on the TV show South Park voicing Arnold Schwarzenegger (With whom he shares an Austrian heritage).

The film does not appear to be distributed in Region 1 DVD format (U.S. and Canada).

Some thoughts from me (Potential spoilers below)…
It was a bit of a chore tracking this particular version of Sleeping Beauty down. I kinda laughed at the title for Beauty and the Beast: A Dark Tale, but despite sounding dorky the unique title helps the movie show up in searches! In particular, this movie kept getting confused with the Asylum’s Sleeping Beauty, which also came out in 2014. The Asylum version, by the way, does not meet my qualifications for being a Princess movie, it’s much too focused on non-Princess characters. For a while I wasn’t 100% convinced whether or not Rene Perez’s Sleeping Beauty was a separate movie, but that orc-ish looking guy on the front cover kept me going! (That certainly didn’t appear in the Asylum version!).

Eventually I managed to track this one down. As mentioned above, this movie does not appear to be available in a Region 1 format, which is a shame because it does have some very giggle worthy moments worth sharing. That said, there are some stretches of dullness in between those hilarious scenes. Personally, I think the funny scenes are worth the wait.

Do take note that there are some instances of gratuitous nudity in this one! Amusingly enough, one of these instances of nudity is used as a somewhat important plot point (Touche filmmakers!).

Remember that note I made earlier about the Asylum’s Sleeping Beauty not focusing enough on the princess character? You may watch this one and think “Wait, this one isn’t focusing on the princess either!” Well, spoilers for anyone who wants to watch this movie blind, but this one falls under the “Character becomes a Princess” category of Bad Princess Movies.

I’d recommend this one for those who can tolerate some dullness for the sake of a good few scenes. Personally, the ‘twist’ ending makes up for any and all dullness. Specifically, if the characters communicated information to each other like normal human beings, the ‘dramatic’ ending (and in fact, a lot of interpersonal conflict in the movie) would have been completely avoidable. Again, just be aware that this movie seems to exist only as a Region 2 DVD, so you will need to find some way of converting it or playing it if you’re in North America. 

References

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