Perhaps Sleeping Beauty was asleep for a reason?
Scríos is a 2019 Short Film produced by No WiFi. It is written by Bobby Calloway and directed by Rian Mahood-Gallagher.
Hidden away in the ruins of a castle lies a beautiful lady. Possibly a princess? She lies in a seemingly enchanted sleep. And when a young soldier comes to wake her, she seems grateful. Or is she?
The film is Inspired by… the short story The Lady In The House of Love by Angela Carter.
Can be watched here
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Tropes:
- Asshole Victim:
Word of God is that The Knight and The Soldier saw The Beauty as a trophy wife and sex object respectively. - Black Cloak: Both The Knight and another former victim are shown wearing them.
- Chromatic Arrangement: The Soldier wears red, The Beauty wears a purple substituting blue and The Boy wears green.
- Dance of Romance: Between The Beauty and The Boy.
- Dark Fantasy: Quite a dark take on Sleeping Beauty.
- Discovering Your Own Dead Body: The Soldier finds his. After he's discovered The Beauty eating his heart.
- The Dulcinea Effect: Presumably the reason so many men keep going to wake this woman they've never heard of.
- Fairy Tale Motifs: Sleeping Beauty features prominently here. Likewise The Soldier presents The Beauty with a necklace, while The Boy gives her a flower which is straight out of the original Beauty and the Beast - where Beauty's sisters ask for expensive jewels and Beauty asks for a rose.
- Flower Motifs:
- The Beauty's headdress has red roses on it, which symbolises lust and the blood of Christ.
- The Boy gives her a white rose, which symbolises virtue and chastity.
- The white rose turns black at the end, which has long been associated with death and dark magic.
- Forced to Watch: It's implied the ghosts of The Beauty's victims have to watch her first devouring them, and then luring in a new one.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: The Beauty wears a gorgeous purple gown, showing her as graceful and feminine.
- Green and Mean: Inverted. The Boy wears green and he's a Nice Guy.
- Grimmification: Sleeping Beauty is a vampire whose victims are forced to wait as ghosts forever.
- Hufflepuff House: Among the former victims include a long haired man in a black cape, who never gets any focus or attention.
- I Am a Humanitarian: The Beauty appears to eat people's hearts.
- In the Hood: The Knight wears a cloak with the hood up.
- Mildly Military: Used to show The Boy's youth and naivety.
- Morality Pet: The Boy functions as this for The Beauty.
- No Name Given: Everyone is credited as The Beauty, The Soldier, The Knight, The Boy etc.
- Only the Pure of Heart: The Boy is allowed to survive because of his purity.
- Our Vampires Are Different: She appears to be a Daywalking Vampire that goes into a long sleep - waking only to feed.
- Purple Is Powerful: The Beauty's purple gown also signifies she's not a Damsel in Distress.
- Really 700 Years Old: Given that the victims include a medieval knight, The Beauty has to be at least a thousand years old.
- Rule of Three: We see three potential victims of The Beauty.
- Shirtless Scene: The Knight is shirtless in the flashback to him being bitten.
- Sinister Silhouettes: The flashback to The Knight being bitten is shot this way.
- Something about a Rose: The Boy brings a white rose to give to The Beauty.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the Angela Carter story, the vampire died at the end and the soldier she couldn't feed on was said to die in the war. Neither die in this.
- The Three Faces of Adam: The Boy is the Hunter, The Soldier is the Prophet and The Knight is the Lord.
- Time-Passes Montage: Waves crashing on rocks after The Soldier is killed signal that a hundred years or so have passed.
- The Tragic Rose: The white rose given to The Beauty turns black in the end.
- Virgin Power: A male example. The Boy in the original story was a virgin, and his purity made the vampire unable to feed on him.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: The Beauty appears to be charmed by The Boy and lets him go, unable to feed on him.
- "What Now?" Ending: Unable to feed on The Boy, The Beauty can only sit and wonder what to do now as his rose turns black in her hands.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: The Beauty goes into an enchanted sleep to lure victims to rescue her.
