The Sleep CurseMovies like The Sleep Curse
- Key Features:
- Supernatural horror, Curse, Family curse, World War II, Medical thriller, Historical trauma, Revenge, Mystery, Hong Kong cinema
- Tone:
- serious, suspense-driven, dramatic
- Target Audience:
- Horror fans, Asian cinema enthusiasts, Mystery lovers, Viewers interested in historical dramas
- Emotional Arc:
- Intrigue → Dread
The Sleep Curse

In 1990, Neurologist Lam Sik Ka and his former flame suffer from the generational sleep curse that rooted in their both families war engagement during World War Two. Lam tries to save her flame from the grudge.
The Sleep Curse
A sleep doctor tries to protect a family from a demon that feeds on people in their nightmares.

After suffering a family tragedy, a widower named Thanh moves his two daughters to a centuries-old ancestral home. Both daughters fall prey to sleep paralysis and night terrors. Their father seeks the help of a local psychologist, but chilling secrets and visions eventually prove that all is not what it seems in the old family house.

When a social worker is sent to check on a traumatized elderly woman whose family have moved in at the site of a notorious murder case, she unwittingly unleashes a cycle of terror that transmits via its victims.

Thomas Kaiser inherits an ancestral mansion that has been in his family for generations — only to learn that he has also inherited an ancient curse stemming back to the Crusades. Forced into his new role as “protector” — the guardian appointed to keep the evil demons in the house at bay — Thomas teams with an ambitious local realtor and paranormal cleric to unravel the mystery of the house, while struggling to awaken the beautiful Briar Rose, held captive in a terrifying netherworld seen previously in his dreams.

On his request, the sensitive sister of a real estate agent visits a house he intends to put up for sale, only to cross paths with its resident curse.

A young pathologist seeks answers to the mysterious death of a friend and soon comes into contact with the same cursed videotape that caused the death of the friend's wife and son, which is haunted by the curse of Sadako, a relentless spirit.

When Dr. Yuen attempts to rescue a girl about to be sacrificed by the Worm Tribe in the middle of a jungle in Thailand, he is damned with seven deadly "blood curses" and must return there to find a permanent cure.

A blind concert violinist gets a cornea transplant allowing her to see again. However, she gets more than she bargained for when she realizes her new eye can see ghosts. She sets out to find the origins of the cornea and discover the fate of its former host.

After his brother was crippled in the ring by a cheating Thai boxer, Chan Hung goes to Thailand to avenge his brother, and finds the key to an omen which may release their family from an ancient curse. He is then caught up in a spiraling web of fate, Buddhist curses, and black magic.

Pil-ju, an Alzheimer's patient in his 80s, who lost all his family during the Japanese colonial era, and devotes his lifelong revenge before his memories disappear, and a young man in his 20s who helps him.

In a hospital, ten soldiers are being treated for a mysterious sleeping sickness. In a story in which dreams can be experienced by others, and in which goddesses can sit casually with mortals, a nurse learns the reason why the patients will never be cured, and forms a telepathic bond with one of them.

Kate Bowman (Jocelin Donahue) is an average social worker who, after the sudden death of her twin sister, is investigating the mysterious deaths of other people who died in their sleep. Shortly before their deaths, the victims all reported a supernatural force that appeared to them while they were suffering from sleep paralysis. When Kate investigates further into the case, she opens herself up to the creature's wrath and soon finds herself and her family suffering from an ancient evil.

After a young mother murders her family in her own house, a detective attempts to investigate the mysterious case, only to discover that the house is cursed by a vengeful ghost. Now targeted by the demonic spirits, the detective must do anything to protect herself and her family from harm.

A young woman seeks help from a sleep clinic for her insomnia, but soon deals with her entire life being turned upside down.

A story about director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s parents who were both doctors, and his memories of growing up in a hospital environment.

A family discovers that dark spirits have invaded their home after their son inexplicably falls into an endless sleep. When they reach out to a professional for help, they learn things are a lot more personal than they thought.

King Sky, the sole disciple of the Kun Lun Sect, falls in love with his master Dawn. Dawn is killed when Insomnia destroys the Kin Lun Mountain. King Sky waits for two hundred years and meets Enigma, who is the reincarnation of Dawn, and in love with her again. However, Insomnia's Blood Clouds is ready to destroy Zu...

Criminal psychologist Kate Fuller is assigned to the murder of a man who has seemingly been strangled in his sleep by his wife and the only witness is their eight-year-old daughter, Sophie. As Kate digs into the mystery of an ancient demon which kills people in their sleep, she experiences the same petrifying symptoms as all previous victims and spirals through a chilling nightmare to save herself and Sophie before she dares fall asleep again.

When elementary school teacher Kobayashi investigates the absence of one of his young pupils from the classroom, he finds himself at the doorstep of an anonymous suburban house that harbours a horrible secret, and into which all who enter are doomed.

In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.

Inspired by the true story of a family who believed they were possessed by spirits. This film follows a woman who must protect her child from a curse.

After moving into a cottage together, two young lovers confront horrors of a forgotten childhood.

A young couple go on an adventurous vacation to Thailand only to find themselves haunted by a malevolent spirit after naively disrespecting a Ghost House.

In the aftermath of a car crash, a man discovers his dreams are tied to a stranger's sleepwalking.

Three years after his sister's death, Yak relentlessly searches for the dark spirit that killed her in hopes of seeking revenge.

A college professor wakes up to find his wife has not returned home, then struggles to understand her disappearance.

When a former actor moves into an apartment building with the intention of commiting suicide, he is saved by a Taoist priest who used to specialize in hunting Chinese hopping vampires: or Jiāngshī. Elsewhere in the building, a woman turns to a specialist in black magic to bring her husband back to life.

An American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.

A vengeful witch, Asa Vajda, and her fiendish servant, Igor Jauvitch, return from the grave and begin a bloody campaign to possess the body of the witch's beautiful look-alike descendant: Katia. Only a handsome doctor with the help of family members stand in her way.

Still scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook Hotel, Dan Torrance faces the ghosts of the past when he meets Abra, a courageous teen who desperately needs his help -- and who possesses a powerful extrasensory ability called the "shine".

A young Englishman is dispatched to Sarawak to become part of the British colonial government. He encounters some unorthodox local traditions, and finds himself faced with tough decisions of the heart involving the beautiful Selima, the unwitting object of his affections.

Hyun-su and Soo-jin are newlyweds. Seemingly out of nowhere, he starts talking in his sleep. "Someone's inside." From that night on, whenever he falls asleep, he transforms into someone else with no recollection of what happened the night before. Soo-jin is overwhelmed with anxiety that he'd hurt her family while she sleeps and can barely sleep a wink because of this irrational fear. Despite sleep treatment, Hyun-su’s sleepwalking only intensifies, and she begins to feel that her unborn child may be in danger…

A woman wakes up every day, remembering nothing as a result of a traumatic accident in her past. One day, new terrifying truths emerge that force her to question everyone around her.

During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as his wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.

After being diagnosed with dementia, an elderly war veteran is forced by his estranged family to hire a live-in nurse, only to find she harbors a sinister secret.

Jason and his wife, Sarah, leave their adopted home of Shanghai and travel to Vancouver, British Columbia, for his uncle's funeral, staying with his Aunt Mei. Already disoriented, Jason and Sarah are unnerved when their son, Sam, begins seeing ghosts and violent deaths. After Sam is hospitalized, Sarah consults with a pharmacist who's well-informed about Chinese mythology and who tells her that supernatural forces threaten her son.

A private detective is drawn into a complex murder mystery when he is hired to track down a missing young woman.

When the cast and crew of a paranormal TV reality program decide to shoot in the house of the original Saeki hauntings, a series of strange events unfold at the location.

While treating a policewoman for smoking, hypnotherapist Michael Strother has a telepathic vision of a young girl floating beneath the surface of a stream. The escaped victim of a ritualistic serial killer, the girl has become mute, and Michael is called upon by Scotland Yard to unlock the secrets she holds in order to catch a man who believes he has discovered the key to immortality.

In the late 19th century, a brutal land baron slaughters a Roma clan, unleashing a curse on his family and village. In the days that follow, the townspeople are plagued by nightmares, the baron's son goes missing, and a boy is found murdered. The locals suspect a wild animal, but a visiting pathologist warns of a more sinister presence lurking in the woods.

In a city of love and prosperity, a city of lost hope and premature death, veteran detective Hei feels it all: the hurt, the helplessness, the horror. When his father-in-law, the billionaire benefactor Kim, is gruesomely murdered in his palatial mansion, he enlists the assistance of his former partner turned private detective.

After struggling to start a family, Julie Rivers becomes pregnant and moves into a new home with her husband. She's ordered to mandatory bed rest, and begins seeing ghostly happenings throughout the house.

Working in the morgue, a hardworking forensics expert and his assistant are suddenly accosted by masked intruders who demand access to a body involved in a recent crime.

Five police officers in Hong Kong are kidnapped. The police commissioner is on a business trip overseas. Two vice commissioners, Sean Rau and M.B. Lee, then take over the case. The two vice commissioners are rivals who both vie for the police commissioner seat. At first, M.B. Lee takes the lead in the case, but comes to a dead end. Sean Lau then takes the lead, but he falls into a trap. Both men are then investigated by the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption).

Jake Kimble, the sole survivor of the Chicago massacre, is killed while in solitary confinement. His doctor begins investigating the claims he made about a long-haired woman in white, as a mysterious Japanese woman arrives at his old apartment building to help them get rid of the curse.

Pregnant Joey teeters on the brink of madness after several fruitless suicide attempts. She's the unwilling recipient of an influx of shadowy images that haunt her pervasively. In an attempt to quell this disturbing phenomenon, she looks up with her secretive ex-lover Sam, who may be able to shed some light upon the mysterious twilight world descending upon Joey.

Four years after five students mysteriously committed suicide after taking part in a courage test on the ghost bridge in Donghu university, a reporter and a cinematographer are back to that place and try to get everything clear.

In an abandoned psychiatric hospital, a theatre group experiments with insomnia for the preparation of a stage play. With the passage of days without sleep, they reach new thresholds of perception that expose them to the secrets of the place and the energies that inhabit it. When Bianca, a young, promising actress, joins the cast, competing for the lead role, she must survive not only the intensity of the work and her cast mates, but the unknown force that is pulling them towards a tragic outcome.

Based on True Events: Suffering from sleep paralysis, a medical student falls prey to a demonic force that wants to rip her apart from within. Torn between sanity and the unknown, she's left with no alternative but to contact a local priest for help.

When new parents Alex and Penny retreat from the city and move into a place outside town, the stress and massive sleep-deprivation caused by their infant has both of them seeing things in the house that may or may not exist. Persistent sightings of a strange woman has each of them wondering if they are suffering from hallucinations, or if their new home holds a dark, supernatural presence. As their fragile grasp on reality spirals into delirium, Alex and Penny find themselves nearly helpless to deal with the horrific truth of what is really going in this house.

After dying from a strange illness that she suffered for three years, a mother returns home to pick up her children.

A documentary filmmaker explores seemingly unrelated paranormal incidents connected by the legend of an ancient demon.

When a British archaeologist violates an Egyptian queen's tomb, her evil spirit enters his daughter.

A cash strapped student who starts working the night shift at a Museum suspects that one of the exhibits, a creepy vintage doll named Robert, is alive and wreaking havoc after hours.

When a remote village is plagued by a deadly curse, one brother must fight to save his family from a terrifying supernatural threat.

After one thousand years, three vixens transform into humans. They seduce a poor young scholar who soon finds himself in a horrifying situation.

Dr. David Marrow invites three distinct individuals to the eerie and isolated Hill House to be subjects for a sleep disorder study. The unfortunate guests discover that Marrow is far more interested in the sinister mansion itself — and they soon see the true nature of its horror.

The Sheffield family reveal and go through some home truths as their middle child inherits the Foxworth mansion. The family's ghosts looming over, and more tragedies are in store as the curse lives on.

While searching for a solution to his serious health condition, David, a renowned neurosurgeon, discovers a sinister secret hidden in the past.

Ting-yin, a young novelist, is struggling to come up with a followup to her best-selling trilogy of romance novels. After drafting her first chapter, she stops and deletes the file from her computer. She then starts seeing strange, unexplainable things and finds that she is experiencing the supernatural events that she described in her novel-to-be.

A woman will go to whatever lengths necessary to obtain her dream home with a view of the sea. This includes driving down the property value and decreasing the occupancy rate by killing her potential neighbors.

In the 1930s, a young reverend and his family are forced to confront their worst fears when they discover their new home holds a horrifying secret.

After separating due to his unpredictable alcohol infused temper, Frank try to win his wife Laura back by giving her a beautiful antique necklace he finds in an old 1938 evidence bag at the station. Unfortunately, the necklace is a conduit for the tormented soul of an evil boy from long ago, and Laura and her daughters find themselves in terrible danger from a little boy who no longer exists.

Four insomniac med school students are lured into a neuroscience experiment that spirals out of control and must find a way out before it’s too late.

After a gifted musician inherits a mansion after her long lost father dies under mysterious circumstances, she discovers his last musical masterpiece riddled with cryptic symbols that unravels an evil secret, triggering dark forces that reach beyond her imagination.

In this installment of a phenomenal saga of the super natural, four young people are caught in a tug-o-war of evil between an Imperial Wizard and a corrupt General. Outrageous special effects galore.

The 19 years old Thomas wakes up in a hospital after three years in a coma. He doesn't remember anything. The psychologist Anna tells him that his family has been murdered and that he is the only survivor of the massacre while his sister Laura is still missing.

The son of the inventor of a matter-transporter, which turned him into a monster when he tried to transport himself along with a tiny housefly, continues to pursue his father's experiment, while his own two sons attempt to extricate him, themselves and the family name from further disaster and scandal.

Ichiko works as a private nurse for a family she almost became a part of. While Ichiko cares for the grandmother, she is also a confidant to Motoko, the eldest sister. But one day, Motoko’s younger sister disappears. And the media soon reveal the kidnapper to be Ichiko’s own nephew.

In a rambling, isolated house, Emily’s first night-shift as carer to an elderly dementia patient turns into a nightmare as she is tormented by a vengeful spirit and uncovers the house's dark secrets.

Bun, a schizophrenic, former police inspector comes out of retirement to help a rookie detective solve a complex murder case involving a missing colleague and a suspected policeman suffering from a multiple personality disorder.

A brother and sister learn their biological grandfather was a kamikaze pilot who died during World War II. During their research into his life, they get conflicting accounts from his former comrades about his character and how he joined his squadron.

A suspected criminal mastermind escapes from police custody, throwing the city into turmoil. With the police department now divided, rival police chiefs are forced to take their fight to the streets of Hong Kong with deadly consequences.

After suffering life changing injuries in the line of duty, bomb disposal officer Fung turns his back on the police. But when a devastating series of bombings sweep Hong Kong, the police suspect their former ally may be involved after he is found unconscious at a crime scene. Now faced with memory loss and recalling only fragments of his former life, Fung sets out to uncover the truth and find out who he really is.

The famous psychologist Xu Ruining has a raising career, when he met the troublesome patient Ren Xiaoyan. The meeting is not easy as feeble-looking Ren is point by point against him.

Eight people experience sleep paralysis, a condition which leaves them unable to move, speak or react.

For generations the Zhao family has wielded power, until their mortal enemy TU’AN GU slaughters the entire clan, determined to wipe out their influence forever. But one Zhao baby survives hidden by CHENG YING the doctor who delivered him. When Tu’an Gu learns of the baby’s escape he seizes every infant in the city, vowing to kill them all unless the Zhao baby is surrendered. As the tyrant’s soldiers arrive at Cheng Ying’s home the frantic doctor hides his wife with their own baby whilst surrendering the Zhao child as his own. But his family is discovered; his baby is presumed to be the Zhao heir and murdered along with his wife for harboring the infant. Now set on revenge Cheng Ying enrolls the Zhao orphan into the service of the Tu’an Gu household, plotting to use him as an instrument of vengeance when he comes of age.

An apparitions of a young schoolgirl in a yellow rain hat, a family massacre, and a law student's suicide after he fails his bar exam are linked by the ominous recordings discovered on an audio cassette.

Ip Man's peaceful life in Foshan changes after Gong Yutian seeks an heir for his family in Southern China. Ip Man then meets Gong Er who challenges him for the sake of regaining her family's honor. After the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip Man moves to Hong Kong and struggles to provide for his family. In the mean time, Gong Er chooses the path of vengeance after her father was killed by Ma San.

After moving back to her family home to care for her dying mother, a nurse haunted by her childhood memories must struggle with an evil force in the house.

A new mother discovers a lullaby in an ancient book and soon regards the song as a blessing. But her world transforms into a nightmare when the lullaby brings forth the ancient demon Lilith.

Dae-ho, an investigative journalist, seeks to track down the whereabouts of his son who was abducted three years ago. With the help of a detective and a psychiatrist friend, he will retrace his memory of the incident through the use of lucid dreaming techniques.

In an abandoned hospital in Tainan, a group of people came to try to communicate with the souls of their loved ones, only to be haunted by ominous supernatural phenomena.

A self-styled accident choreographer, the Brain is a professional hitman who kills his victims by trapping them in well crafted accidents that look like unfortunate mishaps. When the team's next assignment goes disastrously wrong, Brain begins to suspect that someone else has planned an ‘accident’ on them.

The supernatural grudge manifests itself by way of a strange cyst growing in the body of a young woman, slowly draining all life from her in revenge for... what?

The story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror," the Kuomintang government's anti-communist political repression that was wrought on the Taiwanese people from 1947-1987.

A woman inherits a house in her ancestral village, but she's unaware that members of the community have been trying to locate and kill her to remove the curse that has plagued them for years.

At a Thai hospital, a doctor and his seven nubile nurses engage in the sale of dead bodies. Jealousy causes one of the nurses to threaten to blow the whistle on the practice, so the others murder her. Soon the spirit of the slain nurse seeks revenge. In flashbacks we see the events leading up to the murder, and realize the full range of relationships between the main characters.

A cardiologist tries to pinpoint the cause of her mother's sudden death, while her sister, a witness, claims malevolent demons are at play.

A corrupt magistrate subjects a innocent young bride to inconceivable physical punishments after convicting her of killing her husband.

Germán, an honest family man, sees how his whole world wobbles the night when, driving home, accidentally runs over two teenage girls. From that moment, Germán will have to do everything in his power to prevent his life from being destroyed forever.

Hale attracted attention with its different appearance and strange behavior. She lives in a historical and eerily house in Nevsehir with her mother, a depressed grandmother and her aunt Azra. Hale's father had disappeared before she was born and was never seen again. Hale sees a nightmare of a terrible night; her father, whom she never saw, invites her to an old and uncanny home.

Dr. John Markway invites three distinct individuals to the eerie and isolated Hill House to be subjects for a sleep disorder study. The unfortunate guests discover that Markway is far more interested in the sinister mansion itself — and they soon see the true nature of its horror.

Adnan and Hicran are happily married however when their son die as a result of a mysterious accident Adanan becomes distant from his wife. Hicran starts investigating her past to see how it could connect to the death of her son.

Five years have passed since the events of Sadako 3D. Akane is pregnant with a child with her boyfriend Takenori. However, Akane dies after giving birth to her daughter. When Takenori's sister Fuko takes up the task of caring for Akane's daughter, the infamous cursed video resurfaces. During her investigation, Fuko learns about the legend of Sadako's daughter...

A Japanese restaurant cook/owner dies after answering his daughter's cellphone. Other people are getting strange, same ringtone calls as well and dying painfully. It happened in Taiwan as well. Can the police stop it if it's a ghost?

When his mother's untimely death quickly follows his father's, a doctor begins to believe a killer may be targeting him and his amnesiac wife.

Two projectionists discover a disturbing film featuring the lynching of a woman. Not only are they troubled by the content of the movie, but strange events befall them following the viewing.

Shanghai gangsters grapple with lust and loyalty on the eve of war with Japan as they try to navigate an alliance with the enemy's army.
