The Awakening [Blu-ray]

It didn't get great reviews but I don't care. I really like the premise of the movie and the actors. It had some unexpected twists, which I like. I hate having to guess the plot line.

This is the kind of film that offers thrills and intrigue through your brain and eyes. No gore here. Interesting storyline. A young woman who debunks con artists and seances goes to find out who/what is haunting a boarding school and discovers more than she thought she would. Highly recommend. Great balance of video and good audio sound.

The Awakening starts off as your standard ghost hunting story. Rebecca Hall is a noted author who tries to dispel ghost appearances. She’s brought to a boarding school by Dominic West to investigate a haunting. Things go by the numbers initially with Hall setting up cameras and devices to try to discover who is behind the affair. It then quickly becomes complicated however. That’s because the story has a lot of depth and is written as a tragedy. Hall and West for instance are haunted by their pasts in World War I. The ghost story actually has a lot of substance. The ending has a great twist. In the end the film surprised me because it was not what I expected.

I really liked The Awakening. This is one of those ghost movies where you want to watch it a second time, to see the clues as to who was the ghost- and who could see the ghost.Set in a boarding school out in the British countryside, after World War I, The Awakening has it all: beautiful scenery, good acting, suspenseful story line, a twist at the end, and it moves along at a good pace. The central character is a "ghost disprover," for lack of a better term, that is called in to debunk that a ghost caused the death of a student. Despite her state-of-the-art scientific equipment and her steely resolve, she slowly realizes that there is indeed something supernatural going on in this school. And Yes, she is involved in it.Throw in the romance/sexual tension between the ghost disprover and the handsome, wounded WWI vet that teaches at the boarding school, and you've got an outstanding ghost movie. Rachael Hall plays the beautiful, repressed, tightly wound ghost disprover who sees everything she knows get turned upside down... but who gets the truth and a good guy in the process.I'd say The Awakening is a mix between ghost movies The Sixth Sense, The Others (with Nicole Kidman), and some other recent ghost movie that relies more on spooky intrigue than blood and guts and horror. Pick one!So watch The Awakening. Be ready to watch it a second time too, to catch the clues you missed the first time.

I absolutely, thoroughly, and completely love this movie. It took me about six or seven viewings to be able to say that. As an American, it helped me (a lot!) to finally run it with the subtitles turned on to catch all the snippets of English-accented dialog that I missed the first few times around.Rebecca Hall is perfectly cast as the spiritual medium- (read: con artist-) debunker who takes pity on the frightened children who think they've seen a ghost at a remote boys' boarding school. I didn't recognize the fine English/Irish actor Dominic West at first because I'd only seen him play an American in "The Forgotten"; his accent in that movie sounded so natural to me as to seem native. Here he plays a history master who's seen a little too much of war's fickle cruelty. The rest of the cast is uniformly excellent, with Shaun Dooley a stand-out as a brutishly stern teacher with a hacking cough and a guilty conscience. Ever-present, lurking in the background, is the true horror of that age, World War I.But it's the young actor Isaac Hempstead Wright whom you'll remember above all the others, he of the haunted and haunting eyes. He almost made me believe in ghosts.There are a few moments that will make you jump in your seat, but this is not a gore-fest. The overall tone is somber, some of the action horrifying in its cruelty, but it's the psychological violence visited on the characters themselves that forms the core of the suspense of the film. In the end, all of the main characters have changed, some heartbreakingly so.I have to just mention here that I loved the device of the doll house.This is a film that will leave you with questions. If you're willing to play along, suspend disbelief, and take it at face value, you'll enjoy it. There are a couple of extras, interviews with the film's director/co-writer Nick Murphy, that are fun and enlightening.If you like eerily creepy haunted-house flicks on the order of "The [original] Haunting," "The Changeling," "The Others," "Haunted," "The [original] Uninvited," and "The Orphanage" you should like this one. If you can handle plot ambiguity no more tedious than that in the aforementioned films, you should be able to handle this one. "The Awakening" falls firmly on the gentler end of the scariness spectrum.

Atmospheric though it is, the film is flawed. The ghost leads - spoiler alert - a double life, or should one say a double death. On the one hand, he does his haunting (not always intentionally: of the boy who dies of fright and asthma he says 'I don't know why he could see me') dressed as he was when he died. On the other hand, he sits in (though presumably visible only to his mother and half-sister) on classes, in the uniform of a school at which he was never a pupil. Granted his mother is well-placed to provide a uniform - but how would a ghost put it on? And does no-one notice the unoccupied desk? Or the unoccupied bed in the dormitory? Or the mother seemingly talking to herself? Moreover since the boy never gets any older he plainly never moves up a form. He must get very bored with the same lessons, year on year. Finally the rictus of pain which he only intermittently controls when haunting never troubles him in the schoolroom.

Outstanding film with superb performances by the whole cast led by Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton. Focuses initially upon the desire of many to contact the dead following the huge loss of life in WW1. Rebecca Hall plays the part of a ghost hunter called to investigate ‘sightings’ at a private school.An excellent movie not least because it explores what we now call PTSD but also the problems faced by young men who survived because they did not go to war.No spoilers but things are not as straightforward as in some ghost/horror movies! This is a movie where, after seeing the first time, my immediate reaction was that I needed to see it again!! Really good films are better the second time round!! This was !Also, really interesting interviews with cast members on this dvd; go way beyond the usual “I was so pleased to be asked to play this role.....,” contributions and show instead actors who have really researched their parts and thought deeply about their characters. The interview with Rebecca Hall particularly insightful - what a fine actress she is!

The Awakening is directed by Nick Murphy and Murphy co-writes the screenplay with Stephen Volk. It stars Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Shaun Dooley and Joseph Mawle. Music is by Daniel Pemberton and cinematography by Eduard Grau.Britain, post World War 1, and Florence Cathcart (Hall) makes a living as an exposer of charlatan spiritualists, a debunker of ghost sightings. When she receives a request from school master Robert Mallory (West) to investigate the supernatural events at a remote boarding school for boys, she is suitably intrigued to take on the assignment...It comes as no surprise to find that numerous reviews for The Awakening make reference to ghost story films that were made previously. The Woman in Black released a year later would suffer the same fate, charges of it not bringing nothing new to the table etc. A ghost story set in a big mansion or remote educational/correctional establishment is what it is, and will continue to be so, all fans of such spooky fare ask is that it does it well and maybe add some adult themes into the bargain. The Awakening does these in spades.The concept of a disbeliever in ghosts having their belief system tested to the full is not new, but it's a great concept and one with longevity assured. Here, boosted by a terrific performance from Hall, the screenplay consistently keeps you guessing. The possibilities of real or faked are constant as the director pumps up the creep factor, whilst he simultaneously crafts a number of genuine shock sequences - including one of the best doll house scenes put to film! This really has all the requisite jolts and atmospheric creeps for a period spooker.It's not until the final quarter when the screenplay begins to unravel its mystery, a finale that has proved both ambiguous and divisive. The ambiguity factor is a little baffling since everything is made clear in a nicely staged scene, and this is something which the director has gone on record to state as well. As for the divisive side of things? That's a blight for this sub-genre of horror. It's convoluted! Contrived! It has been done before they cry! These are true to be sure, and without doubt there's a leap of faith required to not get annoyed, but it garners a reaction and has done its ghost story essence very well indeed.Beautifully photographed, scored and performed by the leads to boot, this is for sure one for fans of period spookers with brains. 7.5/10

A well made British movie which proves that a huge budget is not required to make a decent film.The movie is a superior thriller/ mildly angled horror movie - yes there is a ghost in it but the movie has a few twists and turns which are a little unexpected and as the plot develops it all falls into place so no spoilers.Well written , well directed and with a good cast of solid actors this movie is one which should not be missed.

This is a really good, and at times scary, film. Rebecca Hall stars as Florence Cathcart whose aim in life is to expose fraudulent mediums. Rebecca is terrific in the roleSynopsis:In 1921, in London, the skeptical Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) is famous for exposing false medium's and helping the police to arrest con artists.A stranger, Robert Mallory Dominic West), tells her that the headmaster of a boarding school in Rookford has invited her to travel their school to investigate a ghost that is apparently frightening the pupils to death. On arrival, she is welcomed by governess Maud (Imelda Staunton) and meets a pupil Thomas Hill. Soon Florence discovers what had happened to a recently deceased pupil (the main reason for her being asked to go) and the students, teachers and staff are released on vacation. Florence remains alone with Robert, Maud and Tom in the school to carry out further study. She is ready to leave the boarding school when strange things begin to happen.........Well acted and quite atmospheric. Well worth the 4 stars - recommended