Dead Awake

Good performances, specially Nick Stahl. Good movie about acceptance and moving on.

The only thing I can say about this: random. The story is pretty random and the execution is pretty poor. The story skips and jumps around like a rubber ball and there is no consistency in the characters. The acting is so awful that the makers had to resort to in-your-face scoring to push the viewer into the mood they couldn't achieve through good story telling. Nothing adds up in the end and you're left with a feeling that neither writer nor director have have any idea about how to make a compelling movie.

But what really ruined the movie for me were the two Irish characters. Brian Lynner as Decko was just as untalented as a B-class actor can get and his Irish accent was a completely annoying farce. Mixing Scottish and a few local Irish accents just made me want to turn off the sound every time that guy opened his mouth. Who ever casted him should hang their heads in shame. Same goes for the character of his wife, whose name I am too lazy to look up.

Do yourself a favor and skip this one. This movie is boring, unimaginative and annoying.

This movie had been in my watch list for quite some time because it sounded interesting and I like Nick Stahl and Rose Mcgowan…So to I decided to watch it today. I think this movie had potential, at the core, if it went a different way. Overall, I finished it and wish I chose something else to watch. I didn't like the camera work. A lot of the movie doesn't make sense until the end, which I don't mind/ was expecting, but I was hoping for the revelation or whatever at the end to be worth while, which I don't think it was, It made me understand somethings but it didn't make the movie any better. People were saying this movie was strange, I like strange but ugh no, this movie was just pretty crappy and i hate the feeling i have when i finish a movie that i didn't like, but I guess that's just the way it is.

After seeing the low scores on this film, I was encouraged to write a review as this film is worthy of a Seven, not the Four or lower most viewers have given it. The film has an excellent cast including Nick Stahl (Of Terminator Fame), Rose McGowan, and Amy Smart (both extremely under-rated actresses who can do comedy, drama, horror, thrillers, you name it and extremely attractive without being model gorgeous at the same time) as well as two lesser known actors playing the Irish "parent substitutes" for Nick Stahl's character, Dylan.

The film is basically a thriller that leaves you guessing as to Dylan's fate. Is he alive or dead? Is he talking to ghosts? This has been compared by other reviewers to "Sixth Sense" and I would agree. In essence, Dylan still hasn't come to terms with the death of his parents and assisting a crack addict, Charlie (Rose McGowan) finds redemption as does she. Meanwhile, with Charlies guidance, he rediscovers his old high school sweetheart, Natalie (Amy Smart), and is able to rekindle a romance that should never have ended.

So what does this film offer? It keeps you guessing as an excellent thriller should; the presence of the ?undead? and the fact Dylan works in a funeral home lend an element of fantasy, mystery, and eeriness; the rekindled relationship and flashbacks with Natalie provide romance; and most of all, all of the three main characters achieve some form of redemption. Seven Stars, would recommend to anyone and would watch again.

Ever wonder who would show up at your funeral? After attending a funeral for an old high school friend and running in to his ex-girlfriend (Amy Smart) Dylan (Stahl) comes up with a plan to stage his own death and hold a funeral for himself. When a strange crack addict (McGowan) shows up to see him his life takes a strange turn and nothing is what it seems. This movie is hard to explain without giving anything away, but the best way I can put it is that it is a cross between the "Sixth Sense" and "After.Life". I really enjoyed the movie and I'm not sure if it was because I had no expectations heading in or because it was actually a very good movie (if that makes sense). This is more of a drama then horror, in the same way the "Sixth Sense" could be categorized either way. I really liked the twist at the end, I honestly can predict about 95% of movies made lately and this one got me. I was very surprised at how much I liked it. I surprisingly give it a B+.

Would I watch it again? - I would, if only to catch clues I missed the first time.