All the children are gone... except one [The Awakening]
Observation: Between 1914 and 1919, war and influenza claimed more than a million lives in Britain alone. Conclusion: This is a time for ghosts.
So, I watched The Awakening (2011) with the horror movie gang this evening. [IMDB]
It's a ghost story set in an English boarding school a few years after the end of the First World War. The central character, Florence, is a hoax exposer who is somewhat like a female Sherlock Holmes, and somewhat like a ghost buster. At first, it seems that the haunting she's been called on to investigate is a straight-up hoax, just like she thought. But then, things start to get strange....
Positive things: It's a very aesthetically pleasing movie. It has a very subdued look to it, a very quiet look, suiting for the time period. You guys know that I'm a sucker for this era, so of course that was nice too - and it's less common to see horror movies set in the early 20th century, especially ones that aren't based on novels and such, so that was different and cool to see. Also, this is a film that relies more on atmosphere, anticipation, and strange things happening than on gore and so on. Some genuinely creepy parts, but it's more mysterious than scary, and some parts are quite sad. This suits the setting; it is a ghost story set in early 20th-century Britain, and that is what I would expect.
Other things: Some parts of this movie are very weird. The way that the mystery unfolds seems a bit like an asspull until everything slots into place and the answer is revealed, and even after that, some parts seem a bit far-fetched. That's a positive or a negative or even just neutral depending on how you view it; it reminded me of a Sherlock Holmes mystery in that respect, which fits right in with Florence's Holmes-like investigative attitude toward her hoax-hunting, at least in the first half of the film or so.
Negative: There is a sexual assault scene in this movie, and I feel it really didn't need to be there. It seemed at odds with the rest of the film, at least to me. The scene exists so that another, more important scene can happen, but I feel that attempted murder could have served the same purpose and would have been more in keeping with the tone of the rest of the film.
It's kind of frustrating, because I was enjoying the film until that scene came up, and its presence prevents me from saying "Yes, I love this film, I recommend it". Well, that and the weirdness that I mentioned above; still not sure how I feel about the narrative reveal.
Still, if you like ghost stories, especially in this kind of setting, this film might be worth a look. The story behind the haunting, and the way it manifests, are both really, really interesting. As a ghost story, it is solid, and that aspect of it is very well done.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3406975.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.
So, I watched The Awakening (2011) with the horror movie gang this evening. [IMDB]
It's a ghost story set in an English boarding school a few years after the end of the First World War. The central character, Florence, is a hoax exposer who is somewhat like a female Sherlock Holmes, and somewhat like a ghost buster. At first, it seems that the haunting she's been called on to investigate is a straight-up hoax, just like she thought. But then, things start to get strange....
Positive things: It's a very aesthetically pleasing movie. It has a very subdued look to it, a very quiet look, suiting for the time period. You guys know that I'm a sucker for this era, so of course that was nice too - and it's less common to see horror movies set in the early 20th century, especially ones that aren't based on novels and such, so that was different and cool to see. Also, this is a film that relies more on atmosphere, anticipation, and strange things happening than on gore and so on. Some genuinely creepy parts, but it's more mysterious than scary, and some parts are quite sad. This suits the setting; it is a ghost story set in early 20th-century Britain, and that is what I would expect.
Other things: Some parts of this movie are very weird. The way that the mystery unfolds seems a bit like an asspull until everything slots into place and the answer is revealed, and even after that, some parts seem a bit far-fetched. That's a positive or a negative or even just neutral depending on how you view it; it reminded me of a Sherlock Holmes mystery in that respect, which fits right in with Florence's Holmes-like investigative attitude toward her hoax-hunting, at least in the first half of the film or so.
Negative: There is a sexual assault scene in this movie, and I feel it really didn't need to be there. It seemed at odds with the rest of the film, at least to me. The scene exists so that another, more important scene can happen, but I feel that attempted murder could have served the same purpose and would have been more in keeping with the tone of the rest of the film.
It's kind of frustrating, because I was enjoying the film until that scene came up, and its presence prevents me from saying "Yes, I love this film, I recommend it". Well, that and the weirdness that I mentioned above; still not sure how I feel about the narrative reveal.
Still, if you like ghost stories, especially in this kind of setting, this film might be worth a look. The story behind the haunting, and the way it manifests, are both really, really interesting. As a ghost story, it is solid, and that aspect of it is very well done.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3406975.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.