"The Sleeping Room" is the type of film for which I honestly regret only being able to give a mediocre rating 5/10. Not out of malice or just to be different, but because it sadly doesn't deserve any better. The basic plot idea is good and original, the filming locations and set-pieces are terrific and it does contain a handful genuine moments of fright, but overall speaking the film doesn't have a proper pacing and the screenplay severely lacks coherence and logic (particularly towards the ending). I specifically regret my rather low rating because I absolutely love British horror movies set in the Victorian era or referring to the Victorian era, and because director/co-writer John Shackleton is a very sympathetic guy! He was present at the Brussels Festival of Fantastic Films and explained that the inspiration for "The Sleeping Room" came almost spontaneously when he was walking around in Brighton and witnessed the entire authentically creepy Victorian legacy. He's definitely right about that! Whilst renovating an old Victorian brothel, the timed handyman Bill and the troubled prostitute Blue find an antique movie projector that shows an unorthodox little home video made by the original brother owner Fiskin. When exploring the mansion further, because sex didn't work out anyway, they find more sinister things like a double-sized mirror and a secret sleeping room, which was used by the prostitutes to rest in between shifts and where the pioneer snuff-movies where shot. Blue discovers there's a blood link with her own macabre family history, while Bill gradually gets absorbed by the powerful influence of Fiskin's ghost. Oh, and in the meantime they also have to fight off Blue's loathsome pimp Freddie! The mystery Fiskin mansion truly had me captivated and focused, even though it unfolds terribly slow, but then suddenly everything nearly gets ruined because the script reverts to dreadful clichés, like shape-shifting and hallucinations. The primitive snuff footage is unsettling and the killer wears a horrifying mask (although it's just a simple cloth bag, like Jason Vorhees wore in "Friday the 13th Part II") and I counted two or three noteworthy "jump"-moments, but still "The Sleeping Room" left me behind unsatisfied and slightly disappointed. The acting performances are more than adequate, with a strong performance of the ravishing Leila Mimmack and a joyously sleazy part for David Sibley.
Review of The Sleeping Room
