Dark Awakening (2014) Reviews

• Worth a watch but don't expect anything great.

  katzcrazy19842015-11-21

  I am a big fan of thriller and horror, and I love a great haunted house story. I'll be honest, I turned this film off after 15 minutes and watched another film but decided it wasn't fair to a film that I had been pretty keen to see so I started it from my left off position. The acting seemed a bit... sketchy from the get go, with little to no facial expression and pretty terrible dialogue. It wasn't until about 20 minutes in that I believed the actors were actually trying. It felt like a 1990s horror TV show ( maybe because Lance Henriksen was in it... and the lighting.) The antagonists* of the story are very well done with make up etc. Although I felt they really seemed/looked more like zombies than ghosts. The music really helped the movie immensely. I was epic in proportion to the rest of the movie. Dark and mysterious. Beautifully done. There are parts that to kick and scream the film into being something well done and enjoyable. Try and ignore the vast amount of obvious issues and stupidity of some of the characters. So much martyring, so much weakness. It really made me hate most of the characters. The end is appalling in so many ways (and not one of them a good one) All in all, worth a watch but don't expect anything great. Still its not a D rated piece of goza so that is something.

• Fooled by good reviews

  HolidayPete2015-09-29

  I made the mistake of not watching the trailer first. It's pretty disconnected and I couldn't convince myself, not once, that I had made the right decision in purchasing this film. I cringe even now. Sigh. The acting was simply not up to par. Lance Henriksen was the only reputable actor out of the cast of four--does that make you feel good about this? And if you don't guess the ending I'm worried about you. So often did this feel like a made for TV movie. The scenes were awkwardly pieced together and the cinematography was not genre appropriate. It looked like a soap opera. And I don't know what was going on with the music and the sound. Even the house was boring. The makeup on the kids was decent. But the ghost kids fail to deliver and were a contrived vehicle. I knew by the end, when a particular minor character was killed off by her own bad driving, that this movie was the biggest mistake I've made in a while--in terms of paying for it. The rating on this one will surely drop. I wouldn't even recommend watching this on Netflix--if it goes.

• Seen before; But executes flawlessly.

  rosesomethingz-698212015-05-18

  The premise of this film has been seen before, but dose that mean it's flawed? Or bad? No. "Dark Awakening" shakes up that fact, coming out meaningful, and simplistic, making this an enjoyable film on many levels. The movie kicks off quite nicely, I like how the movie executes the characters coming together, offering some chemistry. Honestly, though, that said chemistry goes on and off- the characters seem as if they don't belong together in some sequences of the movie. But never the less, the movie overall executes the said motion nicely, and solidly. The story, also, pays off. I personally liked it. I felt as if the plot / story was unique for what it was, giving a nice, refreshing take on the genre of horror. The story also gives the audience a unique sense of terror, and suspense. [ Me at least ] . . adding to its fresh, new take. With that being said, this horror movie takes on a unique take, instead of letting down. The ghost / paranormal execution of the children was great too. I liked it. The makeup / execution filled with a sense of dread, and terror, something other movies tend to actually miss. In this case. "Dark Awakening" was a unique take, it had a plot seen before, with common clichés. But fortunately, the movie refreshes, giving the audience more then what they bargained for. It also has good, solid visual effects, along with a scary atmosphere that hits the audience head-on. I'd recommend it to horror fans when it hits theaters. [ For a personal record, I'm not the biggest fan of horror, this was a pleasure for a 2015 horror flick. I liked it. ]

• Flawed but still overall enjoyable .

  avalonjoyous2016-03-21

  I just saw this movie this morning and my verdict would be that it wast half bad . I've always liked Jason Cooke since his role as Shawn on Days of Our Lives and he did a great job with the material he was given as did the actress that played the wife and of course the always reliable Henriksen. The little boy however looked like he was half asleep throughout the duration of the film and his ACTING was definitely not up to snuff . The twist at the end was sadistic and dark it's kinda obvious if you pay close attention . No the movies not perfect there is a scene with some older people that is never fully explained especially why they react the way they do to the son . The end was also illogical considering what had just happened to one of the characters moments later . The end made sense to me considering what had happened that I won't spoil for those who wish to view it yourself . It's a good movie but not great it even dragged in some parts winding up boring me from time to time . Some of the effects were also extremely cheap looking to say the least .

• Bloody Good

  beorhhouse2018-02-23

  This may be Lance Henriksen's best role yet since he starred in the TV series Millennium. The film itself is shot with a filter that mutes bright tones and gives a richness to every color. The actors outside of Henriksen are also quite good at their craft, even if the lead male thinks he's Jack Nicholson toward the end of the story. The pacing is done well, but the opening courtroom scene was unnecessary to the plot of the story. The film ratchets up rather quickly in its last minutes, turning into quite a Slasher film comparable to The People Under the Stairs and The House of the Devil. Henriksen, by the way, plays a real Christian just as Edward Woodward did in The Wicker Man (a character that backfired on the director who made the film to be antichrist instead of Christian, with the opposite result). I'd like to give this film higher than a 6, but the Twilight Zone stares and small-town weirdness provides a factor not suitable to this ghost story. Like most of the films Henriksen stars in, this one is a mish-mash of ideas that don't finish percolating before the story is finished.