The dead should never be woken.
Director: David Keating
Writer: Brendan McCarthy & David Keating
Cast: Aiden Gillen, Eva Birthistle, Ella Connolly & Timothy Spall
Studio: Hammer Films
Special Features: Deleted Scenes & Trailer
A horror film should be about more than just shallow characters set up for bloody, gore-filled sequences. If your film has a crazy, butcher knife-wielding psycho at its center, I’ll watch and possibly enjoy it, but only for the boobs and the psycho burying his butcher knife in someone. And sometimes, that’s absolutely the route to go. But to create a horror film with any type of emotional investment, it has to be about its characters, relatable situation or simply something other than its “horror” elements. Wake Wood is this type of film. It’s about the love and loss felt by the parents of a child that died too soon… and a creepy little dead girl.
After their daughter Alice (Connolly) is viciously mauled to death by a dog, Patrick (Gillen) and his wife Louise (Birthistle) decide to rebuild their lives in the little Irish town of Wakewood. But their quiet new lives don’t last when they accidentally witness several locals taking part in an late-night ritual. Arthur (Spall) – Patrick’s boss and leader of the ritual – visits them that night to see how they’re doing and eventually divulges a secret: he can bring their daughter back to life. Naturally, Patrick and Louise would do anything to spend more time with their daughter, and so they ask Arthur to bring her back. But with their request is a specific set of conditions they must obey or suffer the consequences.
As you’ve probably been able to deduce from the above synopsis, Wake Wood “Frankensteins” – this is a Hammer film, you dig? – its premise together from several other films (Pet Cemetery, Wicker Man, Don’t Look Now, etc.), but don’t confuse it for a remake or an easy cash in on those films. Wake Wood is an extremely well acted, character-driven horror film that takes an eerie, slow burn approach. Just as Let the Right One In isn’t about vampires, Wake Wood isn’t about a ritual gone horribly wrong. It’s really about two people dealing with grief in the peculiar way afforded to them by a town’s secret. And Aiden Gillen and Eva Birthistle are superb in their roles. They’re aggressive when necessary yet always seem vulnerable – they just want three more days with their child and don’t need to question the consequences.
Because many of its ideas are lifted from other films, you already know, and director David Keating does well to slowly build an atmosphere, things aren’t quite right. And there’s intrigue in the mystery. Wakewood isn’t the idyllic town it seems but for no obvious reason, Patrick and Louise aren’t telling the whole truth but have no reason to lie and little Alice isn’t exactly the same when she returns despite her still innocent appearance. And just as Gillen and Birthistle breathe life into the parents, young Ella Connolly’s turn as Alice feels authentic. In the arms of her loving parents she’s the innocent little girl all of us would be lucky to have, and credit the filmmakers for letting her keep a touch of her innocence even when things go bad, but she’s also cast in the film’s prevailing eeriness, as she’s quietly haunting at times.
Wake Wood is somewhat predictable, and budget constraints diminish the impact of some of the more violent moments, but the layers to the story and the convictions of the cast overcome these minor issues. It’s ultimately the emotional investment you have in the parents ordeal and the subsequent yet gradual discovery of all the hidden secrets that will stir emotions and chill your bones. Wake Wood is a smart film steeped in atmosphere and tension from start to finish – a proper description for any film under the Hammer Films banner.