The state of streaming services in the last few years has exploded, filling in nearly every niche imaginable with not just platforms to appeal to mainstream film lovers or select genre fans. While Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, Apple+, Paramount, and the newly-launched Max have served those who are looking more for a general smorgasbord of content, those looking for more indie fare are left with little choice beyond specific platforms that are tailored for those looking specifically for that type of material. One service looking for a chance to offer up under-the-radar content in that mindset is the free-with-adds platform Tubi, which has originally served as the home for the bottom-of-the-barrel fare but is looking to upend that with originally-licensed material including this new Indonesian feature from Australian director Stuart Simpson.
Sleeping Beauties is screening on Tubi
Trying to make ends meet, the pregnant Cahya (Intan Kieflie) decides to look past the behavior of her eccentric hosts Alfred (Jeffery Richards) and his sister Francesca McKay (Mandie Combe) to work for them as their nanny. Working with Nia (Candice Leask) for her tasks, she takes over her duties only to be continually interrupted by a series of ghostly incidents around the house which point her towards a ghastly secret that holds deep within their walls. The more she tries to understand them, though, the more Cahya realizes that there's a darker reason for the ghostly hauntings tied to her past, and must try to solve everything to put an end to them and save her child.
One of the better elements here is a fantastic setup from writer/director Simpson that lets an intriguing and chilling enough storyline for what's happening. Managing to showcase the need for Cahya's desperate state of drowning in debt, the dabbling in black magic to talk with her husband, 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 Cahya needs for the job to get an idea of what's expected, compliments everything nicely. That tends to introduce a sense of normalcy in her life while also hinting at the uneasy nature of the McKay's. It all provides a generally likable and immersive means of finding out the true nature of what's going on.
This setup allows “Sleeping Beauties” a fertile playing field for its supernatural antics. Already given a big berth with Cahya 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 Cahya comes across the ghosts of previous nannies reaching out for help. Unaware of their true purpose and reacting more to their ghostly presence and unexpected appearance contorting themselves unnaturally to get her attention, these all become 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.
There are some issues with “Sleeping Beauties” that bring it down. Among the biggest factors is the seemingly cliched means of how this treats the ghostly inhabitants of the McKay house throughout the first half. By giving away a big reveal as the cold opens to everything, this takes a lot of the suspense out of the events surrounding Cahya's 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.
A solid enough if somewhat flawed genre effort, “Sleeping Beauties” is an overall enjoyable tale that does get brought down by its issues to prevent it from being better than it should be. Those who are generally fans of this style or intrigued by it will be the main target for the film.
