Wake Wood
Tags: paranormal, violence

Plot synopsis:
Little Alice Daley is mauled to death by a German Shepherd dog in the yard of her father Patrick's veterinary practice. After her death, Patrick and his wife Louise, a pharmacist, move to a rural village called Wakewood, where they struggle to cope with the loss of their only child (Louise cannot have any more children). The couple's car mysteriously breaks down one evening in the middle of nowhere and they go to the nearby house of Patrick's veterinary colleague, Arthur, to seek help. There Louise witnesses Arthur leading a strange and bloody pagan ritual but refuses to say anything to Patrick. It becomes apparent that something strange is happening in town and that Arthur knows that Louise saw the ritual.
Soon afterwards a farmer, Mick O'Shea, is accidentally killed by his own bull. Horrified, Louise and Patrick, who witness the accident, plan to leave, but Arthur, who needs their skills (and presumably doesn't want Louise telling what she saw), convinces them to stay by explaining that he has a ritual that brings back the dead, but only for three days, only within the boundaries of the townland, and only if the person has been dead for less than a year. This is the ritual that Louise witnessed. The couple agree to remain, excited to see their only child again.
The ritual requires a piece of the person to be resurrected, and the couple go grave-robbing, cutting off one of Alice's fingers and retrieving her necklace. The ritual also needs a fresh corpse. At Mick's wake, Arthur asks his widow, Peggy, to use his body, but she refuses, claiming there is something not right about the couple. However, Arthur persuades her by tacitly threatening her that if she refuses he will not resurrect Mick either.
The gruesome ritual goes ahead and Alice is reborn. However, Peggy is still not happy and frightens the little girl, who flees across the townland boundary. As soon as she does so, she collapses with the wounds that killed her appearing on her body. Her parents immediately take her back across the boundary and the wounds disappear. That night Arthur and other villagers come to see them, claiming that something is wrong and Alice must be sent back to her grave immediately. Patrick and Louise persuade them to allow her to stay for the final day.
However, Patrick soon realises that there is something seriously wrong with Alice. She begins killing and mutilating animals. She also tells Louise that she is pregnant, which Louise confirms with a pregnancy tester. Alice then murders Peggy and several other villagers before Patrick manages to sedate her. Her parents and the villagers carry her to the woods, where they bury her. Patrick and Louise admit that she has actually been dead for over a year, which has caused her to react in the way she has. As Louise turns to leave, Alice drags her mother down into the grave with her, the penalty for misuse of the ritual.
Sometime later, Arthur resurrects a heavily pregnant Louise. It is clear from the surgical tools that he lays out at home that Patrick is about to deliver the baby by caesarean section.

Review: The story moves at a good pace, showing you mysterious things along the way, teasing you a little before revealing what exactly is happening.I would describe Wake Wood as a mix between the Exorcist and The Wicker Man. While it never reaches the brilliance of the previously mentioned films Wake Wood is a solid film, with good acting, particularly from the ever excellent Aidan Gillen.
The cinematography is hardly groundbreaking but suits the mood of the film well.Any fan of supernatural horror should be satisfied with what Wake Wood has to offer..
On briefly reading the reviews here, I was a little disappointed at so many negative words for what for me is one of the best horror films I have seen in quite some time.
There is every chance 'Wake Wood' will end up becoming a cult classic in the same vein as 'The Wicker Man. Here's hoping it does because on first viewing it certainly deserves such an accolade..
Following the unnecessary, yet excellent remake 'Let me In' Hammer returns with Wake Wood a supernatural chiller in which a child is brought back from the dead to comfort her parents for three days.
Some supernatural elements take place out of shot to avoid the use of CGI, which adds to the believability and saves the budget.Wake Wood is dark, damp and dreary just as it should be.
There's plenty of shadows, eerie music, sharp editing and a grounded screen-play (by Brendan McCarthy) to keep you watching with a grin that Hammer may have a place in this century.With elements of  Don't Look Now, Case 39, Carrie, The Wicker Man and Pet Cemetery to name a few you could argue it's all be done before and better.
To get over the terrible loss of their daughter they decide to start a new life in Ireland in a small village called Wake Wood.
This inspires the pair, Patrick (Aidan Gillen) and Louise (Eva Birthistle) to start a new life, deep in the Irish countryside, at a village called Wake Wood (what a great name).
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.
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-).
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..
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.
"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.
Based from the movie's cover, then "Wake Wood" looked really interesting, so it was with some anticipation and expectation that I sat down and watched this movie.The story told in the movie was actually quite good, I will give the movie that much.
Actually the story was much similar to the plot in Stephen King's "Pet Semetary" movie/book.For scare effects and scare value, then "Wake Wood" was a very weak cup of tea.
The role of Alice (played by Ella Connolly) wasn't particularly well executed and could have been more creepy with another child actress.For a horror movie, then "Wake Wood" was a very uninspiring, uninteresting and non-entertaining movie.
Needless to say horrible events ensue, as Alice doesn't exactly return as the cute and cherubic girl she once was As said, "Wake Wood" clearly sought inspiration with some genuine classics, like "Pet Sematery" (bringing back a dead child), "The Wicker Man" (the entire town participating in the pagan ritual) and "Don't Look Now" (processing the tragic loss of child).
I felt many of the characters were a bit week so I didn't get emotionally attached to any of them and didn't really care what happened to them.Don't get me wrong, I've sat through much worse films in my time and Wake Wood isn't terrible.
I'm disappointed that I'm not going to bed with the story playing on my mind.I'm also not sure what involvement Hammer had in this film, if any other than a logo on the box of the DVD and on the menu page.
They weren't even mentioned in the credits which also had a copyright year of 2009.If you could only watch one new Hammer movie I'd say The Resident or Let Me in are both a lot more enjoyable..
And the thing about this horror story is that the ritual is probably the least unpleasant thing to happen.The bereaved couple, convincingly played by Aidan Gillen as Patrick and Eva Birthistle as Louise, seize the chance to bring back their daughter from the dead, but there are serious repercussions in store.
The viewer knows this, he's watched a lot of horror films.Like the Irish feel, the ancient ways handed down in a localised village, the underlying creepy atmosphere, then again balanced by the modern i.e. the wind machines at the boundaries of the village.Nice touch with the life cycle, from death comes rebirth; the mixture of births e.g the dead rebirths, cesarean of the cows, and even Alice pulls her doll through a rubbish bag.Maybe Brendan Gleason ought to have played the squire, Timothy Spalls accent was a bit suspect..
In the Irish town of Wake Wood, the dead can return to life to see their loved ones...but only for three days, and only if a very specific set of rules have been followed.
it looks a little like that other horror movie about that murdering child out there but this one is much more disturbing.
(I did get better...)Not only that, and not giving anything away, even the way they ended the movie was excellent in that it didn't cop out in the usual way most modern Horror films do; in my lowly and wretched opinion, it was done perfectly!
It left you with just the right mix of Good / Bad.I certainly hope with all my tiny little evil heart that this is what the new HAMMER is all about; I would have not thought it possible to recapture the old HAMMER mood the way this story did.
I don't intend to single out any particular religion but it would probably be true to say that at least half the world's population actually believe that, by some miraculous, magical and supernatural process at some time - whether it be immediately after their death or at some momentous event in the undetermined future - their decayed, cremated or devoured remains are going to come back to life - whether that life be one of eternal bliss or eternal torment dependent upon how they lived this one.So, given that premise, is this movie actually a horror movie or simple a different manifestation of religious science fiction?
If you had a beautiful little daughter savagely taken away from you without even the time to say goodbye and than met someone who told you that you COULD have that chance and spend an extra three whole days with her, wouldn't you be tempted?Of course, in order for there to be a story (other than the "religius" fantasy itself) certain things have to go wrong - intentionally or otherwise.
As other reviewers have pointed out, Wake Wood isn't really an edge-of-your-seat movie in the horror genre but that doesn't mean it is without suspense either.
I thought Ella Connolly as Alice was very good in what must have been a pretty difficult part for a little girl with only one previous acting experience (she may be the British answer to Abigail Breslin!).I loved the ending and wonder if it leaves Hammer Films with an opportunity to Make a sequel.
I'd heard great things, that equated this to a modern day Don't Look Now/Wicker-Man. All I really got was a fairly enjoyable movie with some good ideas, but a reluctance to avoid the obvious..
A good folk horror revival by Hammer Films..
Despite the emotionally-charged premise of a couple bringing their daughter back to life for three days, it's the performances and emotions that are the weaker parts of this film.
Early in the film Patrick gives birth to an animal, and towards the end he has to put another animal down, which is wonderful symbolism.Despite weak acting and kinda uninteresting characters, this is a good horror movie with scares on both a psychological and a carnal level.7/10..
The story line is one that is more original that most horror movies these days.
And that's the point here - for a fantasy\horror to be enjoyable, It must, at least to a certain extent, be believable, and the Wake wood ritual Is the most believable fantasy I've ever come across on film.
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.
Plot: A couple grieving for the death of their nine-year old daughter in the jaws of a psychotic dog travel to the small town of Wake Wood where they find out a pagan ritual will give them three more days with their daughter.
This was a okay hammer movie, (we have seen this done a few times,(As there a lot of evil kid movies out there!)This movie did remind me a lot Pet Sematary, I didn't find this movie scary however I did have some good creepy scenes.The start of movie was really nasty and gory (I love dogs, seem that scene was really hard to watch, as it dose happen in really life!)The movie did get tad boring for a bit, I was clad it was a short movie and the ending was bit odd but I don't think I understood it!Acting from everyone was really good.5 out of 10 from me..
The story itself reads a little like Pet Sematary and Don't Look Now which it exactly what it is - the feel of the film was also a little like the Wicker Man. A couple lose their daughter after a savage attack by a dog.
I found some of the more obvious references to the movies it was inspired by a little wearing at times, for example the girl wearing the bright mac (although yellow as opposed to red in Don't Look Now) also the love scene, lifted completely from Don't Look Now.My biggest issue with the film was the flimsy way the ending was done - it felt like once the girl had turned evil the writer/director didn't know what to do with her.
Wake Wood is a little rough around the edges, as if maybe a 95 minute movie has been edited down to the current 86 minutes and wears its influences pretty straight-on (Don't Look Now, The Wicker Man, The Omen).
Maybe that's why I liked it so much.I won't go into the story - very few people will have seen the movie at the time of writing and I don't want to spoil things; but I think Wake Wood may be heading for cult status.
The Gremlins-style rules of the resurrections are a little puzzling; but one should never analyse the logic of a horror film too much, particularly one as good as this.Different from Let Me In (and the old Hammer) but still a compelling and disturbing movie.
Still grieving the death of nine-year-old Alice - their only child - at the jaws of a crazed dog, vet Patrick and pharmacist Louise relocate to the remote town of Wake Wood.There, they learn of a pagan ritual that will allow them three more days with Alice.The couple find the idea disturbing and exciting in equal measure, but once they agree terms with Arthur, the village's leader, a far bigger question looms.What will they do when it's time for Alice to go back....At first glance, this movie looks a lot like the Wicker Man (Hardys version), and has many similarities to Kings 'Per Sematary'.
And this is what makes this sometimes very well made horror film, that little too predictable.The cast are great though, the two leads are fantastic as the grieving parents, and Spall looks like he's having a ball as Lord Summerisle......sorry Arthur.But it's the wicker man similarities that spoil it, from the odd villagers, to the 'twists' at the end.With these sort of films, you know that something bad will happen, we don't need a 'drag me to hell' bit to shock us.The girl who plays Alice is decidedly creepy, and gives the film a more eerie feel to it.It gets a bit too much toward the end, and one feels that when Gillen looks at the camera in the final scene, you half expect him to do the raised eyebrow thing Magnum used to do.So all in all, it's great if you haven't seen the Wicker Man, but if you have it's not a bad thing, you just get that feeling of been there, done that..
There is a really poor directorial decision at the end of this movie which destroys the viewer's willingness to suspend disbelief, not because the film is so well-acted and so believable, because it isn't, and parts of it are pretty ridiculous, but because it's a basically enjoyable horror movie and would make a nice double feature with Pet Sematary.The problem is the last scene, which breaks the fourth wall completely unnecessarily and therefore negates everything that happened previously, since the character is now letting the audience know that he knows he is just a character.
The setting was superb, the emotional reactions were believable (I mean, it's a horror film with a supernatural-mystical plot, so a suspension of disbelief is necessary, as it always is with films like this), and the pacing was good.This film reminded me of movies like 1989's Pet Sematary, during which the viewer is forced to question what they would do in a similar situation.
Films like this remind viewers of these consequences in graphic, horrifying ways.Oh, and who doesn't love movies with creepy children in them?
Following the death of their daughter, a couple move to a small rural Irish village, where they discover that the locals have a ritual which can bring back the dead for three bonus days.
This Irish cross between "The Wicker Man" and "Pet Sematary" tells the tale of Patrick (Aidan Gillen) and Louise (Eva Birthistle), a veterinarian and his wife who lose their adorable little girl Alice (Ella Connolly) to one of his patients, a vicious dog.
They agree, although this being a horror film we know things will start to turn South after a while; as it turns out, Patrick won't be completely honest with his new acquaintances...The good thing is that even if people can figure out where this is going, it's still an entertaining enough trip to take.
PLOT A grieving couple (convincingly played by Aidan Gillen and Eve Birthistle) move to the Irish countryside to get over the death of their nine year-old daughter Alice.
Unfortunately this eerie feel isn't kept up through the movie and it soon descends into a depressingly familiar slasher mode as the resurrected Alice goes on an inevitable killing spree.THOUGHTS Take a liberal dash of Don't Look Now and add a heavy sprinkling of Stephen King's Pet Sematary and you get the main ingredients that make up Hammer's The Wake Wood.The slasher angle may be designed to keep the younger more gore obsessed horror fans in the audience happy but for me it detracts from the emotional impact of this film.
Taking its cues from (superior) movies such as Wicker Man and Pet Semetary (the latter provided nearly the entire plot), Wake Wood starts strong and takes no time setting up the brutal and bizarre nature of this little Irish town.
So when things started to go bat-sh-t, he had an obligation to find out what was going on.But where the original Wicker Man (not the Nic Cage version where all he does is punch women and yell) was effective setting the mood in the strange little town, Wake Wood loses its way around halfway in and becomes almost a traditional slasher movie.