avalonjoyous
I just saw this movie this morning and my verdict would be that it wast half bad .I've always liked Jason Cooke since his role as Shawn on Days of Our Lives and he did a great job with the material he was given as did the actress that played the wife and of course the always reliable Henriksen.The little boy however looked like he was half asleep throughout the duration of the film and his ACTING was definitely not up to snuff .The twist at the end was sadistic and dark it's kinda obvious if you pay close attention .No the movies not perfect there is a scene with some older people that is never fully explained especially why they react the way they do to the son .The end was also illogical considering what had just happened to one of the characters moments later .The end made sense to me considering what had happened that I won't spoil for those who wish to view it yourself .It's a good movie but not great it even dragged in some parts winding up boring me from time to time .Some of the effects were also extremely cheap looking to say the least .
katzcrazy1984
I am a big fan of thriller and horror, and I love a great haunted house story. I'll be honest, I turned this film off after 15 minutes and watched another film but decided it wasn't fair to a film that I had been pretty keen to see so I started it from my left off position.The acting seemed a bit... sketchy from the get go, with little to no facial expression and pretty terrible dialogue. It wasn't until about 20 minutes in that I believed the actors were actually trying.It felt like a 1990s horror TV show ( maybe because Lance Henriksen was in it... and the lighting.) The antagonists* of the story are very well done with make up etc. Although I felt they really seemed/looked more like zombies than ghosts. The music really helped the movie immensely. I was epic in proportion to the rest of the movie. Dark and mysterious. Beautifully done.There are parts that to kick and scream the film into being something well done and enjoyable.Try and ignore the vast amount of obvious issues and stupidity of some of the characters. So much martyring, so much weakness. It really made me hate most of the characters. The end is appalling in so many ways (and not one of them a good one)All in all, worth a watch but don't expect anything great. Still its not a D rated piece of goza so that is something.
HolidayPete
I made the mistake of not watching the trailer first. It's pretty disconnected and I couldn't convince myself, not once, that I had made the right decision in purchasing this film. I cringe even now. Sigh. The acting was simply not up to par. Lance Henriksen was the only reputable actor out of the cast of four--does that make you feel good about this? And if you don't guess the ending I'm worried about you. So often did this feel like a made for TV movie. The scenes were awkwardly pieced together and the cinematography was not genre appropriate. It looked like a soap opera. And I don't know what was going on with the music and the sound. Even the house was boring. The makeup on the kids was decent. But the ghost kids fail to deliver and were a contrived vehicle. I knew by the end, when a particular minor character was killed off by her own bad driving, that this movie was the biggest mistake I've made in a while--in terms of paying for it. The rating on this one will surely drop. I wouldn't even recommend watching this on Netflix--if it goes.
jcallen-6
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!
AD
