Very well executed

Charming and brutal

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I love the atmosphere and mood of that movie. It is this kind of tranquil, yet suspenseful early 20th century (but in terms of general atmosphere - rather late 19th century) way. It is not as busy as modern times, nor as tech-focused. Things .... takes longer - and a lot of un-explainable stuff - remains a mystery.The protagonist, a very modern, assertive and educated woman, disproves the supernatural.. and from that very stereotypical beginning - it is very obvious .. that she will be kind of "redeemed" by the end of the movie. She will realize that there IS the supernatural.The movie is her process of realizing this ... and i do not quite agree with this progress much. The story starts similar to an investigative movie. She uses devices that are meant to catch the fraud (or the supernatural), she investigates the people around her and all. But foremost ... she did not even want to investigate the site - and i did not quite understand the reason WHY she decided to do it anyway. This decision aside - the investigative part is handled in a rather rushed way. She falls victim to kind of typical horror movie tropes. Her emotions completely blind her rational thinking.Also - and i am absolutely unsure why that is.... for a school that large at that time ... there only seem to be what ... 2 teachers? - Where are all the adults in that school. There is a severe lack of people to talk to - to gain a more objective insight - and she does not even try to gain sufficient information about the few ones that ARE there.So the investigative part of the movie is severely lacking and unsatisfying.Then there is the supernatural part - where she gets overwhelmed by - sadly - there is no better term .... - by jump scares. Many of those are only there for the audience, not even for her (cause there is no way she would have seen them)Her mental progression is a bit too quick for my taste and not quite justified - because at that time - the audience knows way too little about her history. So objectively - she just turns from a rational researcher and fervent denier of the supernatural - to an emotional wreck ... fully believing in the supernatural. - a bit mehh.... .The conclusion is not stereotypical - and i would not even call it bitter-sweet - but rather ... tragic. BUI - it, too .. is insufficiently explained - not to mention that the idea of completely forgetting such a memory is more a trope of cheap "tele-novelas" with their tendency of amnesia. I only saw the movie once - so i am not aware if there were possibly character interaction plot-holes present .. but i give it the benefit of the doubt. Most of those problems are rather minor though for the movie IS enjoyable. The visuals are very nice - and the acting is - for the most part ... alright (a bit overacted for my taste here and there...)

"The Awakening" follows Florence Cathcart, an atheist in 1921 England whose career has been based on disproving faux psychics. She is invited by Robert Mallory, the headmaster of a remote boarding school, to assess the apparent ghost of a child who has been tormenting (and possibly causing the deaths of) the current children. I went into this film a bit skeptical myself, as the plot outline rings of just about every contemporary ghost film out there. This one has the distinguishing factor of being a period piece, which is quite nicely done, and while the film does offer some solid twists and turns, it isn't a landslide success. Where the film does hit its marks is in atmosphere and performances. The cinematography is lovely and the film has a cold, ominous sensibility akin to "The Others." Foggy forests and the empty hallways of the sprawling school lend the film a deliciously creepy atmosphere. The performances are also strong, with Rebecca Hall as a formidable and convincing lead; Dominic West plays her counterpoint as the headmaster of the school.Where the film seems to lose its bearings is in plot and tone. Some have complained that the narrative is convoluted or difficult to follow, which I didn't think was necessarily the case—in fact, that twists of the last half hour were quite intriguing— but it also begins to feel like a film that doesn't really have an identity. It haphazardly turns into a borderline murder-thriller for one moment before reverting back to its original ghost story obligations, and then awkwardly turning inward to Hall's character with a sentimental twist. It is not so much convoluted in terms of narrative, but convoluted in tone; the flashback scenes near the end are also awkwardly edited, which is a shame as they are key to the film's real clout.Overall, "The Awakening," in spite of its shortcomings, is a considerably mature and effective ghost story. It does feel tonally uneven which is probably its greatest pitfall. That said, Hall's performance is great and understated, and the film captures a chilly, early-twentieth-century England phenomenally. It's not a flawless film, but as far as ghost stories go, it's one of the better of its contemporaries. 7/10.

In England, 1921, Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) is a Hoax exposer and is brought to a boarding school to explain sightings of a child ghost.This is a horror movie with a mystery and it reminds me of 'the others'.Movie has good performances, particularly from Rebecca Hall.Nick Murphy has done a great job as a Director and screenplay writer.Cinematography was also good for horror movie.There is a perfect balance of horror,suspense,emotions in this movie. Movie has an excellent ending , you just need a little bit of patience. This is one of the most underrated movie in IMDb.Currently this movie has IMDb rating of 6.5 but i believe that it should be higher than 7.This movie surely deserves more and its efforts should be appreciated.Don't judge this movie by its rating.This movie won 3 awards at Gérardmer Film Festival 2012 .This movie is highly recommended. Overall I give this movie 8/10.

1920's England, Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) is a ghost hunter that doesn't believe in ghosts so she goes around exposing fraudulent ghost stories. She met her match when she visited a boys school that had a specter problem.This pretentious film was so full of it. It was rife with ambiguous dialog about the past, about feelings and other things. There was love, there was loss, there was longing, there was lust and a lot of other useless gibberish. In its effort to be deep and complex it fell flat. The acting was so over the top as was the script. The story, though not entirely predictable, was lame and took a page right out of "The 6th Sense" and "The Others" book.What were they going for? If they were going for the foreign, artsy, abstruse feel, then they got it--but that's not an automatic recipe for success. And what really sucks is that the movie started off so well. I thought it had a real chance to be something good but it completely fizzled out.