User reviews

Wake The Witch is one of those indie horrors easily viewable on Youtube and I gave it ago expecting the worst.

I immediately was drawn in, the characters were good, it looked the part and the musical score was deeply creepy.

The trouble is this didn't last, the plot makes very little sense and this becomes evident before the half way mark.

Again to it's credit the score is great, but sadly it's repeated throughout the film and becomes a bit much.

The lead was excellent, she made the film bearable but this is her only movie credit which is a shame.

The ending is dreadful and really is the cherry ontop of this mess.

The Good:

Memorable haunting score

Excellent lead

The Bad:

Memorable haunting score gets very repetitive

Loses steam early

Plot makes no sense

I gave it 2 stars 'cause one has to recognize that someone, somewhere, put a fair amount of work into this turd, but I'm sorry to say their work was in vain. The acting was really bad, with odd pauses and at best, mediocre writing. Throughout most of the film it feels like it was put together with a meat cleaver, so kudos to the editor.

Now, it does have it's interesting moments, like the way the ghosts or whatever they are move through the forest--the four legged running like primates was cool. Other than that, it's hard to find something that's worth mentioning.

save your time and money. Even if it's free, toss it. I paid 10 pesos for it and it was too much money.

It's hard to write about this film without sounding like you're picking on the filmmakers. Obviously they were working with a shoestring budget and non-professional crew/actors, and you have to admire the ambition and hard work necessary to undertake the often herculean task of finishing a feature film under those conditions. Even taking those limitations into consideration however, this isn't really much of a movie. The script is rather aimless and contains vast amounts of padding. It seems the filmmakers were more concerned with simply producing a movie than they were with telling any particular story. This is reflected in the technical craftsmanship of the film as well. Scene after scene rolls by without any hint of style or artistic conviction. It doesn't seem like a passion project, but rather a generic product designed to take advantage of the notoriously low standards of the direct-to-video horror niche. Watch something else.

This is the longest student film I've ever seen. The script is episodic and loses its self in random teen drama; and it does not carry the elements of a well structured horror movie. The acting, music, and photography are mediocre at best. Maybe the acting could have been better if there was actual subtext in the dialogue, because everything the characters say is exactly on the nose. That just makes some bad cheese. Not a good thing.

With the budget and production values they could have made a scary movie. But this just looks like a bad MTV teen dramedy with a witch. All the reviews that gave this high stars are honest liars, or they are blind, or have never seen a movie and this was their first.

I feel bad for the Florida Independent companies because they keep making crap like this. And for the sites who praise the fact that the director is a woman and she made a horror movie; should actually watch the movie because this actually makes the stereotype that women can't make good horror movies even more true. I really hope another women is able to prove this stereotype wrong...

If anything the script is the root to the failure of this script. Young directors should learn to see a good script from a bad one, and study the elements that make a good film fall in its genre. Once again, the script was episodic, and loses the horror elements with the saturated teen drama. Netflix is getting desperate, because they actually picked this up. This at least gives hope to all independent movie makers.

Wake the Witch is a carefully crafted pile of crap, fabricated in my home town of Lincoln, Nebraska. I went to the first screening of Wake the Witch, expecting to see a sincerely and locally made, low budget, horror film. What I got, was an honest to God obligation to channel Tom Servo, Crow, Mike and Joel to make the film even the least bit tolerable.

As even a devout Troma fan, I can say that I can, at the very least, appreciate a bad film. This goes beyond anything ever seen before. Characters that DEFY you to like them, a plot that changes when ever it was on the verge of being coherent, and music that lacks any sort of atmosphere. I truly believe that if Ed Wood were with us today, he would tell these people to stop making movies all together.

I will sum up my Wake the Witch experience with this anecdote. Within minutes, I realized what garbage this movie was, and loudly berated it with the people sitting around me as we sat in the front row. After our unrelenting assault on this film, and the lights went up, I saw the lead "actress" and her parents behind me, all three well aware of what I had been doing, and not only did I truly feel no remorse, I expected an apology from them for what I was just subjected to.

In summation, it is worth a rental. The best case scenario for Wake the Witch is that in 20 years it gets the treatment that Troll 2 gets now.

In short this is one of the worst indie films I have ever seen if not THE worst. The above review was actually written by one of the films crew members. So, with that said, the fact they had to trump up a "glowing" review will tell you how sad this "horror" film really is. Slow, boring, and filled with painfully bad actors, confusing shots, and a wretched score. This "movie" is more like a visit to the dentist for a root canal than a clever stylized horror film. Gaudy, stupid, and just plain irritating. Don't waste your time. Get the perfect popcorn, turn out the lights, but watch something else. Figure skating will have you more on your seat than this piece of crap.

This is not a real movie, this is someone's idea of a joke. First of all the quality of the film must be someone's camcorder with the sound quality in accordance. There are no special effects unless you count Halloween Spider webbing and Fake Blood and even that has no relation to the scenes involved. The acting, (if you can call it that), is worse than a school play. There is not one good thing about this movie and believe me when I tell you I've even liked movies that received bad reviews.

I watched this so called movie to the end and the more I watched the madder I got at the lying reviews of anyone who said anything positive about it.

NOT WORTH EVEN A RENTAL!

By far the worst movie that I have encountered in my life, wake the witch lacked even the humorous awfulness that Assualt of the Sasquatch possessed. The fact that this was shot in Lincoln is not only embarrassing to the university, but to me personally. This movie had absolutely no plot and 95% of the scenes could have been cut. You are in no way informed of what the movie is even about of where it is heading until the last minute, and even then it is confusing and not really explained. Luckily for the viewer, this movie is 114 minutes long, yep, thats right, close to two hours of absolutely worthless cinema. The scenes that they set up to be scary with the music, lighting, and camera angles, are all cut short before anything even happens. Its like the first few scenes of a paranormal activity movie, without the suspense. The acting is terrible and the cast is not what I would call ....competent The special effects were non existent, and the zombies, for 200 years old, sure were well dressed in their Aeropostal hooded sweatshirts. Its good to see that all of the money for costume and design went to the purchase of fake spider webs at hobby lobby. Which despite popular belief, do not really make movies scarier, just trashier. Overall, this is by far the worst movie I have ever seen. Save yourself 2 hours of distress and watch Frozen instead, at least that has wolf attacks.

Production quality aside, which was very basic but not awful, definitely not good, the story is very scattered and nonsensical. The first 45 minutes of the film are completely boring and appear to just be filler to make this a feature length film. Oddly, the film attempts to set up a mythology of the witch at the beginning but it quickly loses that thread and once something does actually happen, it is completely unrelated to the original premise. This is not the worst movie I've ever seen, not by far. But it is pointless and there is no reason to watch it. It isn't even bad enough to where you can watch it and make fun of it or enjoy the camp on an ironic level which would at least be entertaining. This film provides no entertainment value on any level. Do not waste your time.

Watching this movie made my eyes bleed. Every moment that passed caused much needed brain cells to erupt. The acting was horrible. The props, camera work, music score, storyline, direction, were garbage. The kindergarten keyboard playing during the "intense" scenes was more than annoying. The dialog between the characters were stupid and nonsensical. These people couldn't act their way out of plastic bag. Who's idea was it to put them in front of a camera? So much is wrong with this film, that it is almost ridiculous to keep going. Shout out to the guy who did the credits! It helps to know who is responsible for such crap.

I think that this film was great fun to watch.

Did it have flaws? Yes. Was it garbage? No.

Was I involved with it? Not in the slightest.

I had the pleasure of seeing this film after hearing glowing reviews. I think that it lived up to the hype moderately. Again, the film had flaws, but for being in independent film, it really was well made.

It seems to me that someone was really bitter when they wrote the review absolutely scathing it. Why bother making accusations that because someone loved the movie that they had to have been in some way involved with the film? Even if it's true, I can say with all honesty that I've worked on films that I absolutely hated, and have publicly said that.

To me, the film was gripping, and while the style wasn't really my cup of tea, I can respect that and still view the film as a whole.

Wake the Witch starts innocently enough. Two models and one female photographer are out in the woods taking pictures when one trips on a heavy chain hidden in the ground. The girls believe the chain could be part of town folklore about a woman who was labeled a witch a hundred years before. The legend tells of a woman who was captured and hung by the townspeople who believed she was responsible for a rash of local murdered children. The mob then wrapped her body in chains and buried her deep in the woods and now, if you find the end of the chain turn in a circle three times then kiss your left hand, the witch just may appear and tell you your future. The girls follow the chain with the intention of playing out the childhood ritual on the witch's grave, but the results turn deadly when friends and family begin to turn into beings that are less than human. Wake the Witch follows the life of the photographer Debbie (Stefanie Tapio) from the opening chapter. After the adventure in the woods that opens the film, we learn more of Deb's character through her encounters with her immediate family and her soon to be estranged boyfriend. Deb is revealed to have both a playful and a bitchy side that gives her character some depth in a film genre that doesn't usually delve into the deep end of the character development pool. Deb's friend Trixie (Rachel Lien) is the first to experience changes. A massive headache is the precursor to uncontrollable bleeding and eventually a fainting spell. Trixie is brought home where her symptoms are dismissed as being that of a strain of flu. Also affected by symptoms are Deb's brother Mark (Martin Kenna) and mother (Barbara Elias) which alienates Deb leaving her alone to piece together the connections between the mysterious events occurring around her and the infected illnesses of others. As is our curse when reviewing most horror/thriller films, we have to stop short of further explanation of the plot in an effort to leave subsequent screeners with the joys of a film's reveals. So as Deb combats wicked dreams, evil presences in the woods that chase and grab her best friend and a brother that continues to somehow be connected to all the plot developments, we exit here for the purpose of your screening pleasure. Wake the Witch is a valiant effort from writer/director Dorothy Booraem. Dorothy does seem to have a keen eye for framing scenes and she knew her limitations and didn't try to push the envelope with gore or special effects that would have seemed alien to the production structure. Instead, she keeps it simple. The witch's physical presence is in fact unnecessary and Booraem recognizes the non-importance of this reveal. Booraem does let the scenes run longer than necessary – which is common for writer/directors. The film clocks in at a hefty 114 minutes which is a long sit through for a film that could have easily scaled down some of the non-essential scenes to tighten the film into the more standard 90-minute range. The story is interesting enough and does introduce some original ideas to a classic formula. The inhabitants that chase Deb in the woods are freakishly effective and the script develops more atmosphere than it requests blood and gore. The acting doesn't stay consistent throughout the feature. Tapio, at times, shows brilliance as an actor but then might look out of place seconds later. Her co-stars (namely, Kenna, Lien and Karis Yanike) provide brilliant support which unfortunately overshadows Tapio in some of the stronger punctuated scenes involving emotional outpourings. Although the ending was somewhat of a disappointment we can safely recommend Wake the Witch – even if it is just a moderate acceptance. We receive multiple independent films on a weekly basis for which to review and Wake the Witch is neither the worst nor the best of the bunch. But considering the challenges it takes to bring an independent feature together (there is a Making Of ..as part of the bonus features of the disc), Booraem does well in her first feature length film to at least provide valued entertainment. And when you get right down to it – that's what it's all about, isn't it?

It was filmed in 2010 but the quality is on par with a Canadian college students film from 1992.

The lead and her two friends are pretty decent and believable.

The supporting cast is mostly awful, especially Deb's mom... How was she cast? Is it one of the crews actual mom?

The lighting, shot frames, and sound quality are pretty terrible. It kind of reminds me of a highschool safety video.

It's 2010 but they use flip phones? The funniest scene was a piece of paper glued on to the screen of the same flip phone I had in 1999. It was supposed to be a message on the display... Hilarious.

It might have worked better as a found footage.

This is an unbelievable film...not only is the storyline weak but the acting is just awful and, wait, it's not over yet!

I can only think that the film was such low budget (staring to question my own sanity by rationalizing that the film cannot possibly be as bad...but it is!) that they could not afford a decent camera to shoot the film and they definitely could not afford any decent music! Absolutely shocking and awful!

I cannot believe that anyone would give this movie any consideration at all and to attempt to talk about the plot...what plot!!!

Man i hate to write negative stuff about anything...but man you have been warned...almost as bad as Troll 2!

I agree wholeheartedly with the previous post. This movie was a lot of fun to watch. I fell in love with the horror genre while studying film at university, and I was excited to see a new horror film that reminded me more of the old school genre pieces than the current gory slasher flicks produced by the big studios.

The quality of production of Wake the Witch was high - the cinematography, the score, and the story all worked really well together to build tension and anxiety in this very creepy, suspenseful story. I was dying to find out the mystery by the end!

As a side note, one of my favorite parts was the repeated use of the basement. Much like not being able to shower for a week after seeing Psycho, I did not want to go in my basement for a while after watching Wake the Witch.

No film is perfect, and I'm not saying that Wake the Witch is perfect. But flaws don't have to detract from the movie watching experience.

Wake the Witch is a great horror film, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend it!

This cleverly written indie film takes notes from Sixth Sense, leading you on a enjoyable chase with a well executed sense of foreboding and that healthy shock of fear to keep your interest. As a horror and thriller fan, I was on the hook with the intriguing story that unfolded. The actors was first rate for a low budget horror movie (I've seen plenty of low budgets, as well as turned off quite a few only ten minutes in..), the story well laid out and the effects superb. If you want the perfect popcorn, lights out movie that will make your skin crawl and give you the creeps, this is it!

This movie... I was worried when I first started watching it if it was going to be a piece of crap. It was not. This movie is low budget but don't get me wrong, but it is very well written.

If you like a good slower paced horror movie then you will enjoy this movie. There are some plot holes I a'int gonna lie but over all this move is worth watching. It's not a "film" by any means, but it is very entertaining and engaging.

If you like horror movies where the end is not obvious then you too will like this movie. But I do have to say that this movie will not satisfy gore fans. this movie is low on the gore factor.

i seriously cannot understand all the negative reviews of this Gorgeous Work.

it's almost as if those "reviewers" either haven't actually watched it or are simply too used to the usual banal "hollywood" gore-fests & "subtle-as-a-brick-to-the-face" clichés that they couldn't cope with the intrinsic Dreaminess & slow-building momentum of this quite deep Gem.

& as for the "lack of continuity" & "incoherent scene changes" alluded to in those reviews?

well i can only surmise that those viewers either simply have short attention spans or limited deductive reasoning, (or some "ax to grind"), as i thought it held together wonderfully, & that the vast majority of the acting throughout was both sincere & warmly portrayed, with even quite exploratory character depth & relationships that were more "intuitive" than blatantly "walk-through elaborations", Beautifully filmed, & generally all round an Artistic (not "arty") offering. Really worth curling up in front of & just allowing the movie to take you along on it's eerie journey, & i'll watch it again no doubt, something i hardly ever do. :)