Wake Wood

WAKE WOOD
VERTIGO FILMS
RELEASED 25 March 2011
Patrick (Aidan Gillen) and Louise (Eva Birthistle) leave the city to take over the veterinary practice in the small Irish town of Wake Wood after losing their only daughter in a horrific accident. Once there, they soon discover the village holds a secret power able to raise the dead. Desperate to see their daughter Alice (Ella Connolly) one more time, they agree to the strict conditions for her return. The deal is made, but has everyone told the whole truth?

Immediately reminiscent of ‘The Wicker Man’ (pagan rituals in a remote town), ‘Wake Wood’ packs an awful lot of story into it’s ninety-minute running time. There are two births, plenty of deaths, and one funeral. Timothy Spall plays the mysterious ‘leader’ of the town, Arthur, and he is very much the ‘Lord Summerisle’ character, guiding his flock. Themes of Faustian pacts and playing God run through the heart of the film. Events do keep coming at a rapid rate, and I felt there could have been a bit more character development and time for scene-setting, as the story almost feels rushed. It never bores though, and I was definitely intrigued to see where it would all end up. The pagan rituals were impressive, and ‘Wake Wood’ certainly knows what kind of horror film it wants to be.

There’s some slightly dodgy acting at times (I wasn’t convined by Birthistle, Connolly, or Spall’s accent) but Aidan Gillen is a strong presence and really captures the emotion of the story.

The direction seems assured, but the movie’s obvious low budget extends to the film stock (or rather, cheap digital I imagine) and at times I did feel like I was watching a student film rather than a cinema release. On a similar note, some of the horror effects work looks incredibly amateurish, but the birth scenes (born out of the dead, burnt carcass of another human) look great, so it’s a mixed bag.

THREE OUT OF FIVE