the audience applauded

Expected more

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

The description is a poor description. I passed on this movie several times based on the "tease" description on Amazon.Don't pass on it. Aiden Gillean is wonderful. The story line is one that is more original that most horror movies these days. It's delightfully tense, and squidgey in all the right places.I highly recommend it.

Produced as one of a new wave of 'Hammer Horrors', WAKE WOOD is unfortunately an entirely derivative horror film that freely plunders modern classics as well as a couple of more obscure outings. It's the entire lack of originality that hits it the hardest; if it had been fresh and unique, I would have liked it a lot more, but sadly the source material is just too predictable for this to be enjoyable.The plot involves a couple grieving the death of their only daughter, who has been savaged by a dog. They move to a small rural town which they soon discover is the home to a sinister pagan cult a la THE WICKER MAN, and they become involved in a conspiracy of resurrection. What soon transpires is a virtual page-by-page, or scene-by-scene, remake of PET SEMATARY, with so many similarities between the movies as to be far from coincidental.Those two movies are the main sources of inspiration, but there are a few more all-too-familiar elements here, including a sex scene borrowed from DON'T LOOK NOW and a 'shock' ending copied from CARRIE. It's a pity this is so predictable, because the acting is particularly strong (Aiden Gillen in a rare sympathetic role for example, and Timothy Spall) and there are some decent moments of atmosphere built up along the way.It's just a shame that this is nothing we've not seen before.

After the death of their beloved daughter Alice (Ella Connolly) by a savage dog, the veterinary Patrick (Aidan Gillen) and the pharmacist Louise (Eva Birthistle) move to Wake Wood, a small town in the countryside. Patrick befriends the local leader Arthur (Timothy Spall) and the couple grieves the death of Alice.Sooner Louise witnesses part of a bloody ritual in the woods and they learn that the villagers practice a pagan ritual to bring back to life the beloved deceased one for three days for a better farewell within the first month of the casualty and within the village limits. Patrick and Louise accept the conditions and lie to Arthur about the date that Alice died. They succeed in resuscitating Alice but something goes deadly wrong. "Wake Wood" is an interesting film that has a storyline very similar to "Pet Sematary" with desperate parents using a weird ritual to revive their beloved nine year-old daughter. The dramatic and creepy story is supported by good performances and worth watching this Hammer film. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Despertar dos Mortos" ("Awake of the Dead")

As I mentioned in other occasions, the classic movies produced by Hammer Films had a big influence in my formation as a cinephile. Those films were the first ones to show me a mature aspect of the fantastic cinema, in which the adult subjects and the drama could perfectly coexist with vampires, wolves and all kinds of malicious creatures...including the human being. I think that that ideological transition is an essential phenomenon for every teenager, and it can definitely be exploited as "nostalgia" during the adult age. However, I want to think that the modern rebirth of Hammer Films (even though, strictly speaking, it never "died") does not only aim to evoking juvenile memories and promoting new editions of its classic films, but creating new milestones of fantastic cinema. The problem is that none of their recent films (The Resident and Let Me In) has been remarkable...until now, because even though I would not put Wake Wood at the same level of the classic films made by Hammer, I definitely consider it an excellent horror film.The screenplay from Wake Wood includes the classic elements from Gothic cinema; besides, the subjects of melancholy and contrition it deals with are universal, making the film timeless, because even though it is developed in modern-day UK, it could equally be a "retro" story without losing even a pinch of its narrative force and emotional depth. The actors make a perfect work in their roles; Aidan Gillen and Eva Birthistle are absolutely credible as a suffering couple whose sadness justifies the decisions they both make, and when the things go wrong, both actors express their characters' contradictory emotions without the need of words. And the girl Ella Connolly brings a good performance in a difficult character.It is impossible to deny the fact that Wake Wood has various similarities with The Wicker Man (1973 -how sad it is to think that, whenever I make a reference to that monumental movie, I have to add a pertinent clarification in order not to confuse it with the tedious remake which was made in 2006-). And the irony is that The Wicker Man was not even a film produced by Hammer. But anyway...we can find various similarities between both films: the town hiding a pagan secret; the patriarch who is worried about the welfare of the community, but who is also inflexible when he has to employ violence against its inhabitants; the new people in town who get accidentally mixed in stuff which is beyond their comprehension; and some more. However, I do not consider those similarities as a con, but as a pro which contributes to bringing Wake Wood a dense and spiritual atmosphere, which make it different to any other "rural horror" movie.The only thing I can say against Wake Wood is that a few details from the screenplay feel kinda forced. Nevertheless, I liked this film very much, and I enthusiastically recommend it as a great horror movie which is worthy of having the Hammer Films name attached to it.