At first glance The Awakening looks to sit alongside Hammer’s forthcoming adaptation of The Woman in Black as a return to what synopses refer to as ‘classic’ ghost stories. One of the few real measures of a ghost story is how effective it is in telling its story and, at the same time, frightening the face off of the audience. I have high hopes for this one.
Murphy was fortunate indeed to have Rebecca Hall and Dominic West sign up for his film as they have done some fantastic work of late and will hopefully draw a wider audience to this ghost story.
The BFI have the film listed on the London Film Festival site where you can read more and book your tickets, and the film gets its release on the 11th of November.
Here are the pictures,
Nick Murphy should stick to TV. The Awakening is a horrible film. It begins with a promising premise. That is the best I can say about this film. The location and period setting have the potential to develop the best of an eerie classic, however this is a dumb bloke’s adaptation of The Others. And instead of taking that concept to an even scarier, cooler place… the plot of this movie drives this film to that place where you begin shaking your head and hoping it will stop. But it doesn’t stop. A consistent lack of: Pacing, Character Development. Cohesive Storyline. Solid Back-stories. The only horror is that both Rebecca Hall and Imelda Staunton agreed to this film. I had expected much better from them both. The only reason anyone will like this film is the “I’m going to take a bath for no reason” 40 second shot showcasing Hall’s nipples. And I suspect those people are not the intended audience. The best part of the entire film was the opening scene of Rebecca debunking a seance in progress. And why an all boys school should ever have so many doll houses, the rest of the audience I saw this with agree this film is just dreadful.
Nick Murphy should stick to TV. The Awakening is a horrible film. It begins with a promising premise. That is the best I can say about this film. The location and period setting have the potential to develop the best of an eerie classic, however this is a dumb bloke’s adaptation of The Others. And instead of taking that concept to an even scarier, cooler place… the plot of this movie drives this film to that place where you begin shaking your head and hoping it will stop. But it doesn’t stop. A consistent lack of: Pacing, Character Development. Cohesive Storyline. Solid Back-stories. The only horror is that both Rebecca Hall and Imelda Staunton agreed to this film. I had expected much better from them both. The only reason anyone will like this film is the “I’m going to take a bath for no reason” 40 second shot showcasing Hall’s nipples. And I suspect those people are not the intended audience. The best part of the entire film was the opening scene of Rebecca debunking a seance in progress. And why an all boys school should ever have so many doll houses, the rest of the audience I saw this with agree this film is just dreadful.
How did you get to see this movie_mogul, I can’t even seem to find a trailer anywhere
Advance Screening… I’m a buyer, @@7603b0f671f5e62e2ccef6ae024aff36:disqus
The reason you don’t have a trailer is that this hasn’t been picked up by a distributor in your market yet. Buyers purchase the rights to these films on behalf of distributors and exhibitors . Every country however is a different market though. What is bought in the UK may not be bought in the USA and vice/versa. Once bought, it will be the distributor that oversees the final trailer edits, any teasers, and posters, etc,… made available to the public. But that will take time.
Often if you find a trailer for a film way in advance, that is because another market decided to release one, or a distributor has purchased these rights in an advance or pre-release deal. As a buyer, the pressure is on to buy the best films available, films that will do well at the box-office, DVD sales and VOD. We pick what we see promise in. Sometimes the buyer will purchase the film solely to have the film catalogued… be able to say I knew you when sort of thing… First time directors, cinematographers, up and coming actors, fantastic screenwriters, you get the idea.
Some people pick politically, some from the heart. I say if I like it, it might be a good investment. If I love it, I’m going to buy it now if I can. If I hate it, I pass on it. I’m not the only buyer. It just means that some other company is likely to have their name in the credits. The idea is to buy films that will make money for the distributor and/or exhibitor. It’s like a competition that more than one person can win. If you do well, you get promoted. If you buy films that flop (unless that is what you are asked to do for whatever crazy reason), you are demoted or fired.
The Awakening was one of those movies that had everything going for it, right up until the end of Act I. Deconstructed, the rest of this movie is plain bad. It will frustrate and confuse the audience it was intended for. The 17-25 demographic will laugh through most of it (it is not intended to be comical). The 25-35 will be frustrated with the continuity problems. And 35+ crowd will like the ghost story no gore appeal of the picture but will criticize the final act for falling apart as it does. Put all these people in one theater and the result won’t be pretty on box-office totals. Good films can polarize response. This will not polarize… it is just plain bad straight across the board. Not even cult film worthy. I’m trying to be nice.
thanks movie mogul, that was a really interesting informative post, guess I’ll just have to wait til it comes out where I live. I’m a big Dominic west fan so will probably go to see it anyway though I’m not usually a fan of films with millions of kids in!