The Irish import “Wake Wood” will strike terror into the hearts of parents everywhere.
The film follows a couple dealing with the sudden death of their daughter. But what they don’t realize is the new town they settled in after the tragedy can bring her back from the grave.
That setup gives way to a predictable chain of events, the kind savvy horror fans will greet with a shrug. But the movie’s attention to detail bullies past expectations.
Patrick and Louise (Aidan Gillen and Eva Birthistle) watch helplessly as their daughter, Alice (Ella Connolly), dies after a savage dog attack.
Months pass, and they start rebuilding their lives in a quaint town called Wake Wood. Louise finds work as a pharmacy while Patrick’s veterinary skills are put to the test at a farm.
The village elder (Timothy Spall of “Harry Potter” fame) appreciates Patrick’s compassionate touch. An early sequence shows Patrick delivering a calf via caesarean section that shapes his character while serving up a tasty bit of foreshadowing.
After Louise spots their neighbors going through a peculiar night time ritual Spall’s character offers her a deal. If she and her husband agree to stay in Wake Wood permanently their neighbors will bring Alice back to life. But there’s a catch or two – aren’t there always – shifting the film into more conventional horror terrain.
Director David Keating shows far too much of Alice’s demise, but his inability to censor his story eventually works to its advantage. The Wake Wood citizens are a secretive lot, a clan connected by their power over life and death. But their suspicious looks never feels over the top. The same can’t be said for the ritual which brings Alice back to her parents. The sequence plays out like an improv exercise at the Horror Academy, the mood salvaged by the cast’s commitment to the moment.
The versatile Spall needs only a few scenes to encapsulate the horrors lurking in Wake Wood, while Gillen and Birthistle render the grieving parents with a sensitivity that doesn’t overpower the genre chills.
Keating’s sense for unsettling details gives “Wake Wood” its pulse. We’re treated to lingering shots of the town’s wind turbines and awkward exchanges between Louise and a pale-faced girl in her pharmacy.
“Wake Wood” doesn’t deliver enough bracing moments promised in the first half, but it still nudges audiences out of their comfort zones more effectively than many glossier horror entries.
The sole Blu-ray extra of note is a series of deleted scenes that focus on the rebirth ritual at the film’s core.
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Thanks for the review. I put this in my Queue at Netflix.