Wake Wood
Wake Wood | |
---|---|
Fantastic Films | |
Release dates |
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Countries | Ireland United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | £1,251 |
Wake Wood (sometimes marketed as The Wake Wood) is a 2009 Irish
Plot
The film opens to little Alice Daley celebrating her ninth birthday with her parents Patrick, a veterinarian, and Louise, a pharmacist. Before leaving for school, Patrick presents her a pet
After her death, Patrick and Louise relocate to a rural village called Wakewood, where they struggle to cope with the loss of their only child (Louise cannot have any more children). The couple's car mysteriously breaks down one evening in the middle of nowhere and they go to the nearby house of Patrick's veterinary colleague, Arthur, to seek help. There Louise witnesses Arthur leading a strange and bloody
Soon afterwards a farmer, Mick O'Shea, is accidentally killed by his own bull. Horrified, Louise and Patrick, who witness the accident, plan to leave, but Arthur, who needs their skills (and presumably doesn't want Louise telling what she saw), convinces them to stay by explaining that he has a ritual that brings back the dead, but only for three days, only within the boundaries of the townland, and only if the person has been dead for less than a year. This is the ritual that Louise witnessed. The couple agree to remain, excited to see their only child again.
The ritual requires a piece of the person to be resurrected, and the couple go grave-robbing, cutting off one of Alice's fingers and retrieving her necklace (from the opening scene). The ritual also needs a fresh corpse. At Mick's wake, Arthur asks his widow, Peggy, to use his body, but she refuses, claiming there is something not right about the couple. However, Arthur persuades her by tacitly threatening her that if she refuses he will not resurrect Mick either.
The gruesome ritual goes ahead and Alice is reborn. However, Peggy is still not happy and frightens the little girl, who flees across the townland boundary. As soon as she does so, she collapses with the wounds that killed her appearing on her body. Her parents immediately take her back across the boundary and the wounds disappear. That night Arthur and other villagers come to see them, claiming that something is wrong and Alice must be sent back to her grave immediately. Patrick and Louise persuade them to allow her to stay for the final day.
However, Patrick soon realises that there is something seriously wrong with Alice. She begins killing and mutilating animals. She also tells Louise that she is pregnant, which Louise confirms with a pregnancy test. Alice then murders Peggy and several other villagers before Patrick manages to sedate her. Her parents and the villagers carry her to the woods, where they bury her. Patrick and Louise admit that she has actually been dead for over a year, which has caused her to react in the way she has. As Louise turns to leave, Alice drags her mother down into the grave with her, the penalty for misuse of the ritual.
Sometime later, Arthur resurrects a heavily pregnant Louise. At home, Patrick and Louise talk about the unborn child. Later, in the final scene, Patrick lays out surgical tools.
Cast
- Aidan Gillen as Patrick Daley
- Eva Birthistle as Louise Daley
- Timothy Spall as Arthur
- Ella Connolly as Alice Daley
- Ruth McCabe as Peggy O'Shea
- Amelia Crowleyas Mary Brogan
- Brian Gleeson as Martin O'Shea
- Dan Gordon as Mick O'Shea
- Aoife Meagher as Deirdre
- Tommy McArdle as Tommy
- John McArdle as Ben
Production
Wake Wood was filmed in
Release
The film received a limited domestic release opening at four cinemas grossing £1,251 for the weekend of 25–27 March 2011.[8]
Home media
Momentum Pictures produced the Region 2 DVD[9] that came out in March 2011. Dark Sky Films released the Region 1 DVD[10] and Blu-ray Disc[11] in June 2011.
Reception
As of June 2020[update], Wake Wood holds an 80% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 25 reviews with an average rating of 6.62/10.[12]
Tony Vilgotsky of Russian horror webzine Darker gave the film 4.5 stars out of 5. He mentioned that, in his opinion, Wake Wood includes some references to Lucio Fulci's film City of the Living Dead.[14]
Novelisation
A novelisation of the film was written by K. A. John and published by Hammer Books in association with the
See also
Pet Sematary, a book by Stephen King, later made into a 1989 film and a 2019 film, which has a similar plot.
References
- ^ "New Stills From Hammer's Wake Wood". Dread Central.
- ^ "First Batch of Stills From Hammer Films' 'Wake Wood'". Bloody Disgusting.
- ^ "Wake Wood: Hammer Films Returns!". Penny Blood.
- ^ "HAMMER FILMS BACK IN PRODUCTION BUSINESS WITH "THE WAKE WOOD"".
- ^ Dahlgren, Jenni. "Blodisande samproduktion - Ystads Allehanda".
- ^ "Archive of the Fantastic Film Festival".
- ^ "Hammer Films' movie description".
- ^ "UK Box Office: 25–27 March 2011". UK Film Council.
- ^ "Wake Wood". Momentum Pictures.
- ^ "Wake Wood (Blu-ray)". Dark Sky Films.
- ^ "Wake Wood R1 Blu-Ray". Dark Sky Films.
- ^ "Wake Wood". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (24 March 2011). "Wake Wood – review". The Guardian.
- ^ Vilgotsky, Tony (15 July 2011). "Hammer Studios Present". Darker.
External links
- Wake Wood at IMDb
- Wake Wood at Rotten Tomatoes