Horror, being the cyclical beast that it is, it can sometimes stagnate while a winning formula is rinsed of all its once-fresh potential. There will always be schlocky straight-to-DVD sequels and low-rent efforts, but think Paranormal Activity and the subsequent slew of derivative knock-offs, including its own sequels, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and The Fourth Kind. It’s a tactic that usually prevails until a new gimmick is discovered or recycled. Lest we forget that the “found footage” approach stretches back to The Blair Witch Project in 1999.
This context is provided because The Awakening is hopefully the last of the Del Toro influenced, Spanish haunted house horror knock-offs. It isn’t a bad film, but it is so heavily influenced by El Orfanato and The Devil’s Backbone that the audience are always one step ahead of the narrative, thus neutralising any of the scares.
It begins promisingly, as Victorian ghost buster Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) debunks a fake séance pertaining to summon the spirit of a recently deceased girl. The first clues are dropped here that Florence may have an ulterior motive in disproving the existence of the afterlife, clutching a faded photo of a soldier; she clearly has underlying issues that are key to events to come (see The Others).
Something of a literary celebrity after penning a spectre related book, she is reluctantly persuaded into investigating the appearance of an apparition at a countryside boarding school by the establishment’s war-vet caretaker, Robert Mallory (Dominc West). Amongst the residents are a loony groundskeeper, an overbearing teacher, and the housemaid Maud (Imelda Staunton), all adding to the mystery.
Sumptuous looking, the production values are at the high end, making use of the desolate locales and cavernous rooms, an environment perfect for this kind of fare. As are the performances from the ensemble cast.
Rebecca Hall, although oddly modern in mannerisms and dress sense for 1920s England, perfectly manages to convey Florence’s sanity paranoia; it’s her behaviour more than the clichéd plot that demand interest in the slowly unfolding narrative.
West is fine in a Rochester-like role, and Staunton imbues her character with enough odd behaviour to keep you second guessing, but much like the majority of the characters a large deal is left unexplained. Red herrings are welcome plot devices in a mystery, but they should be cleared up to enforce their effect and not entirely forgotten about, which happens too often with Steven Volk’s script.
Why does Mallory have a shaking fit on his bed? Why is the groundskeeper kept on despite his obvious and briefly explained anger management issues? Too much is left dangling by the time the multiple twist endings come about, a conclusion in which any of the trio of supposed “shocks” would have sated the audience.
Little kids with masks or distorted faces, people chasing half glimpsed figures around stately homes, we’ve seen it all before. Only once, during an inspired dollhouse window peeping sequence, does The Awakening genuinely chill. Aside from that it’s a well made yarn that struggles to find its own identity and suffers at the hands of its obvious inspirations.
[etRating value=“ 2”]
