“The Sleepless Beauty” movie has lots of torture. Films like Hostel, Saw, Jigsaw, and of course Martyrs are extremely disturbing horror movies that many horror fans like to recommend. Mother of Movies has seen a lot of these sorts of films and I like many of them. For me though, I like the violence in my torture movies to be provided within the confines of a grand tale. Either that or put forward in a way that isn’t gratuitous. Sleepless Beauty has a combination of sleep deprivation and torture techniques, none of them new, and much of it disconnected from the premise at hand. Its victim is seemingly a random candidate taken from her home in the opening scenes.
Once inside her concrete cell, located in what looks like an underground garage, Mila is subjected to taunts about her past. A loudspeaker gives instructions from time to time. She is given visual stimuli via a VR headset, beatings, and tests held in captivity. At no time is she permitted to sleep but she passes out a lot so that counts right? A comment window is often seen to the side of the screen which shows there is an audience of both scientific administrators and voyeurs.
Extremely Disturbing Horror Movies In The Right Setting
More impressive than the story itself, is where Sleepless Beauty is filmed. The perfect setting for a film like this, it’s dark, dingy, and dirty. Cinematography is especially memorable as is the score that accompanies what’s happening in front of you. There are some amazingly atmospheric scenes both underground and once Mila is allowed some daylight. However, the film overall is uninteresting. There are moments of intrigue as her father is shown on the outside frantically searching for his daughter and using a private detective. I was curious as to who her abductors were and what their end game was. But there is simply not enough happening for the majority of the story to keep you glued to events.
The Final 15-Minutes
The final 15 minutes could easily be described as quite the turn of events. However, the experiment’s agenda would have been much better utilized to increase the tension if presented long before this. There was no connection between the keyboard warrior voyeurs and in turn, they seemed an unnecessary detail for the storyline. Their presence is counterproductive to Sleepless Beauty’s final moments as they would prove to be quite the loose end. I did like the big reveal that finally shows itself though. The scheme and what the kidnappers ultimately are after is cool and a novel approach to this style of torture and horror movie most of us hounds like.
Sleepless Beauty is not a complete write-off, but with more precise storytelling, this could have been a fascinating movie. Release details are below, or you can purchase the DVD.
I give Sleepless Beauty
2.5 Poor Man’s Martyrs out of 5
- Directed by Pavel Khvaleev
- Screenplay & co-written by Aleksandra Khvaleeva, Evgeniy Gagarin, and Elena Gagarina.
- Sleepless Beauty cast includes Polina Davydova, Evgeniy Gagarin, Sergey Topkov, and Andrey Tereshenko.
Release Details for Sleepless Beauty 2020
Sleepless Beauty was provided to Mother of Movies as a screener. The film itself comes in Russian or dubbed with subtitles for the deaf & hard of hearing in English instead of subtitles. I was provided a screener dubbed in English. You can watch the new torture movie on VOD and digital platforms from November 10, 2020. A Blu-ray can be purchased from, November 17, 2020. The original title is Ya ne splyu [“I Am Not Sleeping”].
