Review of Wake Wood (2011) by Matt S — 28 Feb 2012

An unique spin on the evil child subgenre that has its disturbing and graphic moments and just enough suspense to keep you glued that has a old fashioned and atmosheric atmoshere. The film is so eccentric yet so familiar that I'm stuck in the middle of saying it's really good to fair and ok and by the time this year is over it will be blurred in my memory by other horror efforts.

Wake Wood gets pretty graphic with gore here and there but doesn't shove it in your face and has a slow burn approach to shock and discomfort you that I could see this film coming out in the early or mid 1970's and wears its Hammer film logo well.

The acting from the the leads who played the parents were strong yet subtle and their story heartbreaking and grim and their new ordeal is like straight out of a nightmare or a The Twilight Zone episode that gives them new hope of moving on after the freak death of their only child but has devilish consequences.

The movie is quite similar to films like Pet Cemetary, The Children, Plague Town and The Wicker Man but has a couple of new tricks as well making it enthralling in its wackness but in the end for me there wasn't enough distinctive aspects about it to make it stand on the top of the genre but I can say that Hammer films are on a role of putting out quality horror films and hope they are even better ones in the future.

Overall there are plenty of horrible direct to dvd horror flicks out their and ok plain ones but this little gem is not one of them. Rent it! 6.5 out of 10.