There are noticeable borrowings in terms of themes and atmosphere from the 1961 classic THE INNOCENTS and more recent creepy hits such as as THE SIXTH SENSE and THE OTHERS in this tale of Florence (Rebecca Hall), a nervous investigator of the paranormal who sets out to disprove the existence of a ghostly schoolboy at a remote boarding school in 1921. Imelda Staunton plays the school matron in a style somewhere between Hattie Jacques and Mrs Danvers; Dominic West is a war-traumatised teacher who you somehow know will end up in a bonk scene with our heroine.
There's an endearingly precocious schoolboy called Thomas (Isaac Hempstead Wright) who hasn't gone home for the holidays; Thomas provides a solid counterpoint to the ghost-boy whom we as well as Florence get glimpses of. There's a haunted dolls-house that belongs in the Cabinet of Doctor Caligari. The pace is well-timed. The cinematography is outstanding.
The "exposition" at the end of the movie just about makes sense, but the film teeters on the brink of becoming one of those dire Psycho-shockers from Joan Crawford's twilight years, although Rebecca Hall is (thankfully) a much better actress. THE AWKENING has a satisfying number of make-you-jump moments - like a fun-fair ghost train, scary when you're on it but a bit daft when you think about it afterwards.
There's an endearingly precocious schoolboy called Thomas (Isaac Hempstead Wright) who hasn't gone home for the holidays; Thomas provides a solid counterpoint to the ghost-boy whom we as well as Florence get glimpses of. There's a haunted dolls-house that belongs in the Cabinet of Doctor Caligari. The pace is well-timed. The cinematography is outstanding.
The "exposition" at the end of the movie just about makes sense, but the film teeters on the brink of becoming one of those dire Psycho-shockers from Joan Crawford's twilight years, although Rebecca Hall is (thankfully) a much better actress. THE AWKENING has a satisfying number of make-you-jump moments - like a fun-fair ghost train, scary when you're on it but a bit daft when you think about it afterwards.