Review of The Awakening (2011) by Panta O — 09 Jun 2013

Enchanting British horror directed by Nick Murphy, starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, and Imelda Staunton. Well directed, perfectly acted with a cinematography bringing us the dark tones, this story of Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) was simply adorable to watch. In the movie, the main character is a published author on supernatural hoaxes who works with the police to expose charlatans and debunk supernatural phenomena. When Robert Malory (Dominic West), a teacher from a boarding school, pays her a visit with a request to investigate the recent death of a student Walter Portman and to determine if and how it is related to sightings of a ghost of a child - her life changes forever!

Very finely crafted work of art which will make the back of your neck tingle, offers everything you could expect from a high-calibre ghost-story. I had to say: Wow... did you know that this is a debut feature for the director Nick Murphy!? He was very smart using Rebecca Hall - five years after her breakthrough in The Prestige, in her first lead role. I will highly recommend this mix of a school movie, a haunted-house movie and a historical treatise, because it is very unusual to see every bit well done and working together without too much hassle.