Charlotte Wakes

Is bad acting subjective, I don't think so, but it seems that a lot of reviewers don't know what bad acting is, I've been watching movies for 40 years and I know bad acting when I see it, I read the reviews of this movie and I've come to the conclusion that a quite a bit of them are written by people with mental issues, having said all that this isn't that bad and is worth a watch, I gave it a 5 which makes it a fairly average, but not bad, like I said most of the reviews are by people with hang ups or they just don't know what they're talking about, sorry kinda went on a rant, but judgemental people shouldn't do reviews, they can't be objective.

'Darkness Wakes' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an intriguing if not particularly original premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive as well as the low rating and poor reviews.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films have are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'Darkness Wakes' is terrible, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is next to nothing to recommend.

Lets start with the sole positive. The setting is atmospheric and spooky.

Unfortunately, it is not done justice by the rather direct to video schlocky way it's shot and edited and the drab colour palette, so much so it was hard to appreciate it, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm. In particular, the camera work was a nauseous assault on the eyes with its excessive amateurish-ness.

Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.

Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting that shows a huge indifference to the situation and what is going on and extremely awkward prolonged pauses.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés, lots of unintentional humour that makes some of the film play like a really bad spoof and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about and useless padding, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both very poorly done.

A lot of 'Darkness Wakes' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending makes the film finish on an incomplete and confused whimper.

There is not enough threat, and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, it is completely unimaginative and more odd than creepy, completely failing to show any sense of horror or creativity. Everything here is neither creative, suspenseful or nail-biting. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden and like their heart was not in it or ill at ease, with the chemistry between the characters and actors coming over as constantly random and aggressive with the subtlety of an axe.

Overall, awful with no redeeming value apart from an element that is difficult to appreciate with it being complemented so badly. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Boris Karloff enters with a bang complete with voice timbre and deadly pauses! Then the film declines from there, and by the end you ask yourself why you watched such silliness.

I only write reviews if a movie is really great or really awful. In this case it's because it's awful. The lead actress is the best one and that's not saying much. When the actors were speaking, there were long, awkward pauses. It was so boring!! I don't know how they can call this horror. I call it a waste of time I can't get back.

The Sitter has quite a few ingredients that usually make for a mindlessly entertaining horror movie: there's a pretty girl in peril, a shower scene (actually, two shower scenes and a bath!), a cat scare, crazy locals, a dream within a dream (actually, I think there were two of those as well), some sex, and one of the characters says "I'll be right back", which means that they won't. Unfortunately, despite all of this, the film doesn't really succeed because they forgot one very important thing: a decent plot.

After psychology student Charlotte (Aisling Knight) has accepted a three day stint as a cat-sitter for a strange couple who live in a remote country house, the film goes absolutely nowhere for most of the remaining running time. The three days pass (slowly), with Charlotte suffering restless nights and hearing strange noises in the house, but otherwise nothing very notable happens (except, of course, for Charlotte's ablutions, and her sexy scene with boyfriend Seth, which are a welcome diversion from the tedium). Then, when the three days are up, Charlotte is abducted and tied up by the religious weirdos that live next door, who say that the girl is in great danger from the couple who hired her.

Charlotte escapes from her captors, only to find out that they were telling the truth: her employers turn out to be crazy cultists who intend to offer her to their hideously deformed son, who looks as though he might be possessed by a demon. At this point, I wonder why we had to wait three days for any of this to happen: if the couple had wanted to offer Charlotte to their son, why not do it straight away? Likewise, why did Charlotte's rescuers leave it three days before trying to whisk the girl to safety? And if they knew what was going on, why didn't they just call the police?

It's lazy writing and makes for a frustrating watch, a shame because Knight isn't a bad actress and deserved to be in a better film.

4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.