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Released by: Momentum Pictures
Released on: 3/28/2011
Director: David Keating
Cast: Ruth McCabe, Timothy Spall, Eva Birthistle, Ella Connolly, Aiden Gillen
Year: 2011
The Movie:
Directed by David Keating from a script by Brendan McCarthy and shot on location in the Irish countryside, 2011's Wake Wood, produced by the newly revamped Hammer and hot on the heels of their successful Let Me In, owes a bit to the occult films that were popular in the seventies. Pictures like The Wicker Man and its ilk had to have been on McCarthy's mind when he wrote this one, though the influence of Stephen King's Pet Sematary can't be denied either. Regardless, despite these influences McCarthy and Keating have crafted an atmospheric and reasonably though provoking horror film that has enough of an emotional core to it that it makes for a pretty good watch.
The film follows a veterinarian named Patrick Daley (Aiden Gillen) and his wife, a pharmacist named Louise (Eva Birthistle) as they move to the small village of Wake Wood shortly after their young daughter, Alice (Ella Connolly), is killed by a vicious dog. He takes a job working for a man named Arthur (Timothy Spall) and she runs a local shop. Things seem to be going fine for the couple, though there is some obvious distance between them since their loss, but this all changes when through a series of bizarre events they learn that Arthur and the townsfolk can bring Alice back. There are some catches, of course - she can only come back for three days, she can't go outside the vicinity and the Daley's, in exchange, must stay in Wake Wood the rest of their lives, but they agree and after a pagan ceremony Alice is 'reborn' and they're able to spend three days together and say goodbye properly. Or at least that's how it would have gone had everything been done properly, but of course, it wasn't and they soon realize that something is off about Alice…
So right off the bat the small town/closed community/ancient pagan ritual themes of The Wicker Man come into play and the 'dead kid comes back and isn't quite right' themes of Pet Sematary become obvious but elements of other seventies slow burns like Don't Look Now also work their way into this picture and it even has a bit in common with Lars Von Trier's chilling Antichrist, at least thematically speaking. Skillfully directed by Keating and tightly paced at a brisk eighty minutes, the film has atmosphere to spare thanks to the remote Irish locations used for the shoot and an effective cast of quirky supporting characters making up the population of the village.
A dark film to be sure, Wake Wood is nicely shot and has some effective set pieces that, thankfully, aren't soaked in CGI (it pops up once or twice but it isn't overpowering) and instead rely heavily on some creative and unique effects and props. This helps keep the tone right and is in keeping with the movie's influences but it also gives the movie a bit more personality than it would have had otherwise. As it reaches its inevitable conclusion it does play with a few genre clichés such as an angry mob of villagers and a few actions on the part of our dear Alice that not so subtly indicate she isn't quiet the sweet little girl they once knew, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Performances are strong across the board with Gillen and Birthistle successfully playing the understandably remorse parents and Ella Connolly, in her feature debut, excelling as Alice in a truly creepy performance. Spall (of Harry Potter fame) is great as the town's 'leader' and Ruth McCabe is excellent as the townswoman who first realizes thing have not gone as planned.
Video/Audio/Extras:
NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS BASED ON A TEST DISC THAT MAY OR MAY NOT REPRESENT FINISHED RETAIL PRODUCT.
Wake Wood looks pretty decent in the 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer on this DVD from Momentum Pictures. Aside from some mild compression artifacts the image is clean and clear and reasonably well detailed. Color reproduction is lifelike and accurate though it should be noted that the movie makes use of a fairly restrained palette utilizing a lot of drab colors. There aren't any issues here, however, the movie looks about as good as you'd expect it to.
The only audio option on the disc is an English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track. Optional subtitles are offered up in English only. There's a lot of good atmosphere in the movie and it's heightened nicely by the surround mix with rear channels used very effectively and a solid low end that doesn't overpower the dialogue. There's lots of good channel separation throughout and everything sounds clean, clear and concise.
The best of the extras is the twenty minute documentary included on the disc that allows the cast and crew to explain their attraction to this project and which details Hammer's involvement to a certain extent. It's informative and interesting and provides a good bit of background detail on the film and the people who made it. Aside from that, look for a chunk of deleted scenes, the most interesting of which shows the ritual in a fair bit more detail than what we see in the finished cut of the film. A theatrical trailer and teaser trailer for the film are also included and previews for other Momentum releases play before the main menu loads.
The Final Word:
While Wake Wood resorts to some fairly predictable horror movie clichés in its last twenty minutes it still comes out an entertaining and atmospheric picture. It's well shot, well acted, gory enough to count and Keating and company deserve credit for crafting an intelligent and interesting horror picture. Momentum's DVD looks okay and sounds very good and it contains some decent extra features as well.
