Dark Awakening (2014)

hyped garbage

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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.

After inheriting his mother's house, a city attorney and his family living in her remote country house until it's sold find that the imaginary friends their son claim to see are really ghosts of children haunting the house for a past crime he committed and set out to prevent them from happening.Frankly, this one wasn't all that interesting of an effort. Most of this one is based on the film not really being all that forthcoming with the supernatural antics which are quite expected when they occur. It's completely heavy reliance on the expected false scares from bumps in the night to the ghosts appearing in the background behind people which is rather lazy to be this heavily featured here. Likewise, this occurs in accordance with a slow, drawn-out pace that doesn't in the slightest generate any kind of suspense or thrilling action with the rather bland feeling here generated by the utterly slow start here. This isn't helped by the fact that the few events we do have here are brushed off without much care or concern, as the fact that these do happen but nothing much is done with them to show any kind of impact they have on the family makes them lose their power and intensity quite often when it's always moved aside to deal with something else. Whether it's the family dealing with the funeral arrangements, the slowly-dawning back-history they have with the area or the mounting frustration they have with the son's fascination with his imaginary friends which take up all the first half of the film that all hold back the supernatural action within here which is what really hurts this one overall. The other big issue is this one drops them for a bland realistic thriller finale which is seen coming from a mile away and comes off as redundant due to not surprising anyone while completely removing the ghosts from the equation. These here really hold this one down overall. One of the few positives is the fact that there's some solid work done through the frequent hauntings to give the idea that something's going on, as these do manage to feature the idea that the house has something going on with the idea of the different visions and encounters in the house. From the ghost in the bedroom, the incident in the bathroom where she gets pushed under in front of him and the different flash images around the room where the deformed ghosts are watching everyone are featured here to give a solid setup about the effects of the house and its history. That leads nicely into the backstory about the killing spree he undergoes as a kid which is rather dark and chilling for what's presented which does help this one out somewhat. As well, the creepy featured look of the ghosts manages to get a lot to like here, and along with the gory kills here gives this a lot to enjoy here. Otherwise, there's just a whole lot to like in the film.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, violence against animals and domestic violence.

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 .

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.