One of my all time favorites.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This may be Lance Henriksen's best role yet since he starred in the TV series Millennium. The film itself is shot with a filter that mutes bright tones and gives a richness to every color. The actors outside of Henriksen are also quite good at their craft, even if the lead male thinks he's Jack Nicholson toward the end of the story. The pacing is done well, but the opening courtroom scene was unnecessary to the plot of the story. The film ratchets up rather quickly in its last minutes, turning into quite a Slasher film comparable to The People Under the Stairs and The House of the Devil. Henriksen, by the way, plays a real Christian just as Edward Woodward did in The Wicker Man (a character that backfired on the director who made the film to be antichrist instead of Christian, with the opposite result). I'd like to give this film higher than a 6, but the Twilight Zone stares and small-town weirdness provides a factor not suitable to this ghost story. Like most of the films Henriksen stars in, this one is a mish-mash of ideas that don't finish percolating before the story is finished.

James (Jason Cook) and Jennifer (Valerie Azlynn) inherit his mother's North Carolina home in Cedar Rock Falls. They plan to fix it up and leave the odd town that has no children...just ghosts of children. Their six year old son Danny (William Pifer) develops many "imaginary friends." Fairly predictable mystery with the midpoint clues. The soundtrack and acting gave the production a "made for TV" feel. We don't actually see much of the action. We hear a noise and then see a messy room. We do get to see a glass fall over and Valeris Azlynn hold her head under water. Watchable and forgettable.Guide: 2 F-words. No sex or nudity.

After inheriting his mother's house, a city attorney and his family living in her remote country house until it's sold find that the imaginary friends their son claim to see are really ghosts of children haunting the house for a past crime he committed and set out to prevent them from happening.Frankly, this one wasn't all that interesting of an effort. Most of this one is based on the film not really being all that forthcoming with the supernatural antics which are quite expected when they occur. It's completely heavy reliance on the expected false scares from bumps in the night to the ghosts appearing in the background behind people which is rather lazy to be this heavily featured here. Likewise, this occurs in accordance with a slow, drawn-out pace that doesn't in the slightest generate any kind of suspense or thrilling action with the rather bland feeling here generated by the utterly slow start here. This isn't helped by the fact that the few events we do have here are brushed off without much care or concern, as the fact that these do happen but nothing much is done with them to show any kind of impact they have on the family makes them lose their power and intensity quite often when it's always moved aside to deal with something else. Whether it's the family dealing with the funeral arrangements, the slowly-dawning back-history they have with the area or the mounting frustration they have with the son's fascination with his imaginary friends which take up all the first half of the film that all hold back the supernatural action within here which is what really hurts this one overall. The other big issue is this one drops them for a bland realistic thriller finale which is seen coming from a mile away and comes off as redundant due to not surprising anyone while completely removing the ghosts from the equation. These here really hold this one down overall. One of the few positives is the fact that there's some solid work done through the frequent hauntings to give the idea that something's going on, as these do manage to feature the idea that the house has something going on with the idea of the different visions and encounters in the house. From the ghost in the bedroom, the incident in the bathroom where she gets pushed under in front of him and the different flash images around the room where the deformed ghosts are watching everyone are featured here to give a solid setup about the effects of the house and its history. That leads nicely into the backstory about the killing spree he undergoes as a kid which is rather dark and chilling for what's presented which does help this one out somewhat. As well, the creepy featured look of the ghosts manages to get a lot to like here, and along with the gory kills here gives this a lot to enjoy here. Otherwise, there's just a whole lot to like in the film.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, violence against animals and domestic violence.

Dark Awakening is a creepy, edge of your seat horror/thriller. If you enjoy films such as Poltergeist, The Shining, Stir of Echoes, or Paranormal Activity I would strongly suggest checking out this one!In addition, Lance Henriksen and Jason Cook give terrific performances and their chemistry works very well. Lance's character even offers up a few light hearted seconds of humor. Dark Awakening may start off like other haunt films but clearly becomes a brand of it's own with many twists and turns, this is not a picture to miss out on.Much credit is due to director Dean C. Jones and the producers, they set out to fill a house full of ghastly screams and have done a heck a job!