The Wake

The Wake tells the story of a group of friends attending the wake of a young boy. The boy in question was run over and killed by a drunk driver who is one of the friends and the family know and understand! Immediately I was overcome with disbelief, this concept immediately was ridiculous to me.

Anyway before you know it they are all waking up tied to chairs and fighting off masked intruders before the movie gradually builds to a rather surprising but not all that interesting finale.

I was actually enjoying it for the first 30 minutes odd, I was very curious to see where it was going but as soon as its direction became apparent my interest waned.

Not the worst horror out there, simply not very well done.

The Good:

Couple of nice ideas

The Bad:

A drunken driver child killer is the protagonist, really!?

Poorly written

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

If a drunk driver runs your child over it makes perfect sense to invite them to the wake

The best place to keep your spare car key is locked in your car

The very first warning sign on some of these unknown budget films is that the moment it starts, an instant realization occurs that there is no 6-channel audio track with it.. so you get to listen to it in 1980's stereo format and bit rate. Great, I stepped in something stinky, I say to myself. The 2nd warning is the amateur lens shading/filtering technique, to make it look dark. So now we have a dismal looking film, with poor audio. Strike 3 is hokey dialogue and implausible actions/responses right away. So why did I give it a 2 instead of a 1? I'll be honest, it was an interesting concept, with at least good-looking actors, who were dressed well. I watched it longer than I should have just to see them all and check the attire. I gave it a star for that (which is really scraping for something redeemable), but the acting quality does not get a star. Unfortunately, this movie goes in the trash heap instead of my collection.

...yet another example of the fact that anyone can make a movie. Wow!! The stuff that gets produced nowadays is unbelievable.

"The Wake" is a movie that is a movie. It is a movie. It's called "The Wake". The writers wrote the movie and edited the script and put it on film. The actors said lines. The cameraman held the camera. The editors cut stuff out. And thus, a movie was made. It is one of the movies of all movies. It's the movie of a time. If you're looking for a movie that is technically a movie by definition's standard then this is a movie for you. You will hear dialogue and background music and also every other sound happening in the background of each scene. What a movie they made and produced and distributed. "The Wake". A movie.

This movie doesn't make one lick of sense. It makes for a frustrating watching experience.

5 friends show up at a wake for a child they killed. They obviously fled the scene after running him over with their car. Why aren't they in jail, and why are they going to the wake (since none of them seem to care about the life they ended), and why doesn't the family question them about who the hell they are (the 3 family members are the only other attendees) since the kid was only 11 years old? But wait, now they all wake up, bound, in the house, and facing a masked killer. Who could it be, and what do they want? I say who cares. They're all horrible people (and actors) and deserve to die.