In terms of universal ailments, we can all say we’ve had at least one sleepless night. A night of lying in the dark, waiting for sleep that never comes and no matter how many sheep you count or glasses of warm milk you chug, you just lie there, the world around you reduced to a whisper while you squeeze your eyes shut and try to switch off.
Awoken is about what happens when that sleepless night becomes plural to the point that you begin dying. Fatal Familial Insomnia is a rare disease in which lack of sleep eventually kills you, and in Awoken, it is affecting Blake, a college student who is wasting away from lack of rest. Or is it actually demonic possession?
Spoilers: It is.
Sleep No More
Awoken is the first feature from Daniel J. Phillips but its hard to see this as a first-timer considering how confidently the movie is shot and put together. The jump scares are rationed and placed perfectly, the pacing is sharp and quick without feeling rushed, and the mixture of conventional horror and found footage scenes are handled perfectly so there’s never that feeling that the found footage is being used as a crutch, nor does it fall into ‘Why is someone filming this?’ territory.
Awoken is the story of Kara, a med student whose brother, Blake, is gradually succumbing to FFI. When doctors announce that it would best to just take him home so he can die comfortably, Kara takes matters into her own hands and, along with some other students, moves Blake into the basement of an abandoned medical facility to treat him in secret.
The set-up of this movie is snappy but not rushed, and we’re down in the dark basement within the first fifteen minutes of the movie, giving more time for freakiness. A lot of that freakiness comes from Kara finding videotapes of previous medical interventions performed by her father on their mother who was also suffering from Fatal Familial Insomnia.
Video Nasty
I found the videotape sequences to be the most effective scares, especially as they bring to mind my favourite movie, The Exorcist, with a priest entering the picture to assist/hinder the doctors. Philips does well to ration these video sequences and also to ratchet the tension up with each one as they start creepy before becoming claustrophobic and terrifying.
Outside of the tapes, the MVP of this movie is Benson Jack Anthony whose physicality of wasting away and protruding bones is horrific and only slightly less scary than his quick shifts from a wide-eyed boy next door to something malicious and otherworldly. There are sequences that just focus on the bones of his spine looking ready to break through his skin that has lingered with me a long time after watching the movie.
The cast is all great, and it is nice to see an ensemble horror movie without the need for the played-out character tropes. There are no jock, virgin, nerd archetypes but each character has their own reason to be in the basement and their own motivations within the story. There is a stalled love interest character whose plot fizzles out, but otherwise, each character serves a purpose within the story more than just being there to push up the body count. But you can rest assured, there is still a body count.
Final Thoughts: Awoken
Awoken wears its influences on its sleeve and is a love letter to The Shining, The Omen, The Exorcist, and The Blair Witch Project among others, but it never feels derivative of any of them. Daniel J. Phillips and co-writer Alan Grace have created something that stands alone from its influences and has its own voice.
It is great to see a first-time feature director come along with such confidence and clarity in their directing. Awoken is a sharp little horror movie with bite and shocks. It doesn’t fall back on cheap jump scares but has its fair share of good scares, gore, and creepy moments. A perfect midnight screening horror movie or a nice stepping on point for new horror fans.
Have you seen Awoken? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!
Awoken was released on May 8, 2020 and is currently available VOD!
Watch Awoken
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