Wake Wood (2011)

Absolutely Fantastic

A Disappointing Continuation

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

There is a really poor directorial decision at the end of this movie which destroys the viewer's willingness to suspend disbelief, not because the film is so well-acted and so believable, because it isn't, and parts of it are pretty ridiculous, but because it's a basically enjoyable horror movie and would make a nice double feature with Pet Sematary.The problem is the last scene, which breaks the fourth wall completely unnecessarily and therefore negates everything that happened previously, since the character is now letting the audience know that he knows he is just a character. Really dumb move, since there is no humor or self-awareness in this film at all up to that point.Still, it's mindless entertainment worth a look, at least till the last scene.

Produced as one of a new wave of 'Hammer Horrors', WAKE WOOD is unfortunately an entirely derivative horror film that freely plunders modern classics as well as a couple of more obscure outings. It's the entire lack of originality that hits it the hardest; if it had been fresh and unique, I would have liked it a lot more, but sadly the source material is just too predictable for this to be enjoyable.The plot involves a couple grieving the death of their only daughter, who has been savaged by a dog. They move to a small rural town which they soon discover is the home to a sinister pagan cult a la THE WICKER MAN, and they become involved in a conspiracy of resurrection. What soon transpires is a virtual page-by-page, or scene-by-scene, remake of PET SEMATARY, with so many similarities between the movies as to be far from coincidental.Those two movies are the main sources of inspiration, but there are a few more all-too-familiar elements here, including a sex scene borrowed from DON'T LOOK NOW and a 'shock' ending copied from CARRIE. It's a pity this is so predictable, because the acting is particularly strong (Aiden Gillen in a rare sympathetic role for example, and Timothy Spall) and there are some decent moments of atmosphere built up along the way.It's just a shame that this is nothing we've not seen before.

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

This film is very scary!! i watched it with my son and he has seen several horror films, but with this one he didn't want to go to sleep by himself. I too couldn't get certain images out of my head. its a bit slow for about 10 minutes and it looks like a low budget, but then you get a bit of gore right up front and some shocking distributing stuff mixed in with real life stuff, making it even more real and gets you even more invoked and sick to the core! There are several jumps and the story line is kick ass and unique. I love the cocoon idea. the only thing that was a little strange was the idea of the daughter just been brought back to life for three days. good acting, especially the little girl she does make a good, ( well you will find out)