Britain loves its ghosts, and we're not just talking about the Harry Potter movies (though, now that we mention it, Daniel Radcliffe's first post-Potter movie was February's supernatural horror movie The Woman in Black). The latest British movie about things that go bump in the night is The Awakening, which already opened in the U.K. last year, and would have likely reached these shores if weren't for a few similarities between the two.
Like Woman, The Awakening is set in early 20th Century England, though, unlike Radcliffe's lawyer character, Rebecca Hall (The Town) plays an author whose career is devoted to dispelling reported hauntings. When she is invited to investigate an all-boys boarding school where a student has died (three little girls mysteriously perished in the town Radcliffe visited in Woman), she finds it difficult to disprove reports that the boy's spirit has remained. The Awakening's similarities to other horror movies about ghosts wasn't ignored by critics that saw the movie overseas or at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall with The Playlist review claiming that "despite the well-worn subject matter, and setting, it feels fresh," while the Collider review said that director Nick Murphy had created a "a gorgeous picture that delivers the thrills." With a new trailer and poster now online, you can see for yourself whether The Awakening is yet another ghost story or an inspired retread.
watch the trailer and see the poster >> Posted 06.30.12 by Ryan 
Halloween is a great time for horror fans and there already seems to be an abundance of horror movies coming to theaters. But instead of the usual slasher, vampire, or zombie movies, this year's offerings seem to concentrate on supernatural thrillers like Dream House, Paranormal Activity 3 and, at least in the U.K., The Awakening. The movie just debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), with the first trailer revealing that the movie has all the elements to be an actually scary ghost story.
Set in in post-World War I England, The Awakening follows a skeptical woman (The Town's Rebecca Hall) who is invited by a countryside boarding school headmaster (The Wire's Dominic West) to travel to the institution and investigate, and possibly debunk, a potential haunting. Once there, Hall discovers that the school could actually be subject to an actual haunting.
watch the trailer >> Posted 09.17.11 by Ryan