Review of The Awakening (2011) by Spangle — 06 May 2015

An interesting film, The Awakening is not exactly what I was expecting, but still wound up delivering some good stuff. Firstly, from a horror aspect, there are some truly terrifying scenes that really get the juices flowing.

There are not many, but there are some and damn are they effective. The film also sports some great acting from Rebecca Hall and Dominic West who really dominate the screen every time they are shown. The mise en scene is gorgeous, especially the production design.

Really beautifully put together all-around. The mystery/thriller portion of this one is interesting and really opens the door for interesting discussions on loneliness, death, and the afterlife. However, the film simply tries to do too much, which is ultimately its undoing.

Though ravishingly beautiful and well-written, it overreaches and would have been best served narrowing its focus and really digging deeper into one particular issue. Ultimately, the first three quarters of this one are quite strong, but then comes the lackluster final quarter, which really could have been done better.