I hate having to review a film like 'The Wake' because I want so badly to like it, but have to be honest and admit that it is highly flawed. It's obvious that the people behind the camera are new to the industry and have a steep learning curve ahead of them. So some hopefully helpful advise I would give to them on this occasion would be:
1) Scrap the opening the credit sequence. I suspect it was only put there to pad the run time a little, which would be acceptable if you'd put some effort into it. Instead it may as well have been a black screen with names very slowly cropping up one by one. You certainly don't want to start your film on such a down-note as that created.
2) Review the dialogue you have written. As you are writing it ask yourself whether in that actual situation anyone would say anything remotely like that. If not, go with something else. A lot of the dialogue in this film was so cringe-worthy it made for a very uncomfortable viewing experience at times.
3) Make sure characters are reacting realistically to things. When there's a killer with a knife standing two metres away from a group of people, is it likely they would all just stand there calmly discussing their options? Of course not, and watching it happen in a film looks nothing short of ridiculous.
4) Try to show less characters actual moment of dying. It doesn't matter how good you are at film making, it is a very difficult thing to make look realistic. Even in the 'The Dark Knight Rises' there is a particular death scene (Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about) that looks unbearably fake, and that's Christopher Nolan who was responsible for that. Proof that it is a very hard thing to get right.
So there's just a few ideas to work on for the next project you endeavour yourself to. There were actually some elements of the script I kind of liked, and with just some simple (or perhaps not so) tweaks I can see you making a very enjoyable film to watch one day.
