Wake Wood

And I am utterly delighted to say this is exactly the sort of movie I hoped Hammer would produce when it rose from the ashes. Last week, I laid into The Resident which was hopelessly feeble. This is anything but. A gory, edge-of-the-seat cracker which also has a fabulous psychological edge. From the start it grabbed me. Which is not too surprising because in the first three minutes a young couple's daughter is torn to death by an angry Alsatian. This inspires the pair, Patrick (Aidan Gillen) and Louise (Eva Birthistle) to start a new life, deep in the Irish countryside, at a village called Wake Wood (what a great name). Louise senses there is something a little odd about the locals, who are led by a squire, played with perfect gravitas by Timothy Spall. Many other reviews have given the game away at this point. I am going to avoid doing that and just suggest supernatural jiggery pokery. Patrick and Louise get involved and the consequences are bloody but rather brilliant. I have read that Wake Wood has echoes of the Whicker Man and I sort of understand this thinking. Certainly, the villagers share a secret and are involved in behaviour which outsiders are unlikely to understand. Gillen and Birtwistle are rather splendid as the fraught interlopers. They succeed where Hilary Swank failed so hopelessly in The Resident. And then there is Spall. I've been enthralled by Spall, so to speak, since the days of Auf Widersehen Pet. He gets better with age. But the real hero is director David Keating who was also on the writing team. With a limited budget he has created a movie with levels of horror and suspense which would make the heroes of Hammer proud.

After the death of their beloved daughter Alice (Ella Connolly) by a savage dog, the veterinary Patrick (Aidan Gillen) and the pharmacist Louise (Eva Birthistle) move to Wake Wood, a small town in the countryside. Patrick befriends the local leader Arthur (Timothy Spall) and the couple grieves the death of Alice.

Sooner Louise witnesses part of a bloody ritual in the woods and they learn that the villagers practice a pagan ritual to bring back to life the beloved deceased one for three days for a better farewell within the first month of the casualty and within the village limits. Patrick and Louise accept the conditions and lie to Arthur about the date that Alice died. They succeed in resuscitating Alice but something goes deadly wrong.

"Wake Wood" is an interesting film that has a storyline very similar to "Pet Sematary" with desperate parents using a weird ritual to revive their beloved nine year-old daughter. The dramatic and creepy story is supported by good performances and worth watching this Hammer film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Despertar dos Mortos" ("Awake of the Dead")

I was happy when I heard that Hammer studios was back in business. So far they delivered 2 flicks, The Resident (2011) and this one. Wake Wood leans more towards the Hammer style then The Resident although both do have their own thing. Wake Wood has more red stuff. But that doesn't make a flick. My only point of negativity is the use of CGI. There is one scene that I didn't like, when they make a close-up of the child's neck and we see her wounds disappear. It was done 100% CGI and I hated it. I guess one shot is also CGI, when blood sputters out of a neck.

But luckily the film has a good atmosphere. It takes place in Ireland and let that be the country of Paganism and Witchcraft. And that is what it's all about. Bringing back the death by old rituals. As I stated it do contain a lot of blood but it never becomes too gory. It was David Keating his first attempt to make a real horror. And he succeeded. Some shots were typical seventies style , even hammer style and the way it was edited was also a return to the seventies. The acting was okay. Only Eva Birthistle we knew from the horror The Children (2008). She even has a small nudity in Wake Wood.

If I must choose which one, Wake Wood or The Resident, leans most to the old Hammer I would say wake Wood.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

I watched this film a few weeks ago and i found it to be a very good horror film. i found it to be a very gripping sort of film with some nice views of the Irish countryside. It is about a young couple whose daughter is torn to death by an angry Alsatian not very far from their home. To get over the terrible loss of their daughter they decide to start a new life in Ireland in a small village called Wake Wood. Soon after they arrive there the girl's mother Louise finds that the local villagers are involved in some rather unusual behaviour. I found this film to be very entertaining throughout, with a very good storyline. I thought that the young girl's parents Patrick (Aidan Gillen) and Louise (Eva Birthistle) were very good actors too. I would definitely recommend this film: 6/10

Love these tucked away films that you chance upon. Nice, neat, right running time, little shocker.

Its the premise thats of interest here and fascinating. A youngish couple losing their only child (and she says she cant have any more)and then given the chance to have her back, as she was, but for only three days. Given the emotional turmoil involved, and the couples position (a split is also on the cards), how many couples would go along with this. I suspect quite a few.

This also comes along with i) not everyone playing by the rules i.e. lying (how long girl was dead) and ii) it comes at a price! The viewer knows this, he's watched a lot of horror films.

Like the Irish feel, the ancient ways handed down in a localised village, the underlying creepy atmosphere, then again balanced by the modern i.e. the wind machines at the boundaries of the village.

Nice touch with the life cycle, from death comes rebirth; the mixture of births e.g the dead rebirths, cesarean of the cows, and even Alice pulls her doll through a rubbish bag.

Maybe Brendan Gleason ought to have played the squire, Timothy Spalls accent was a bit suspect.