The Film
Over the last few years I have, quite frankly, grown tired of what I have, somewhat derisively, dubbed the ‘noises off’ movie. You know them; those ubiquitous ghost stories that seem to rely on creaks, groans and bangs for most of their scares, before throwing up a scary image as a ‘shock’. Thanks to my over-familiarity with them I’ve begun to find myself very bored by them, sitting there counting in what tend to be very rote, predictable (and thus unsuccessful) scares. The Awakening is another of those films, but I liked it much better than I expected to.

There are several reasons that The Awakening, for the most part, works. First of all, co-writer/director Nick Murphy gives the film an interesting historical grounding, setting it in 1921, just a handful of years after the end of The Great War, as the film notes in its opening captions ‘This is a time for ghosts’, and the massive loss underpins the film as a thematic concern, in the drained colours of Eduard Grau’s gorgeous cinematography, and in the backstory of the main character Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall). Florence doesn’t believe in the supernatural, and has become famous for writing a book and conducting investigations debunking mediums and ghost sightings. As the film begins, she is asked by a teacher (Dominic West) to come to the boarding school he works at and investigate the death of a child who many believe was killed by a ghost, when she does, she soon finds things that challenge her certainty about the existence of the supernatural.

The noises off scares work well in the film’s first act because you share Florence’s skepticism, and are waiting to see how she and the film undermine those scares and suggest that they are fabricated, which also helps the later sequences, as we begin to suspect that the scares are no longer being fabricated, become more unnerving than they might otherwise be. There are some well placed and visually striking hints at what is going on throughout the the film, but where the film begins to fall down is that it becomes less interesting (and more melodramatic) as more is revealed. This becomes most acute in the final scenes, and particularly a redundant feeling closing moment.

Rebecca Hall is a great young actress, and while her character sometimes feels a little clumsily written (Murphy sometimes pushes her modernity a little too far to be credible for 1921), she smooths over the cracks with a performance that shows, little by little, this woman’s carefully contrived – and comforting – certainty breaking down. Dominic West’s Mallory isn’t as deeply explored as a character, but West gives his moments of private pain weight, and has great chemistry with Hall. Imelda Staunton also contributes a nicely judged performance, creating an air of uncertainty about her character without letting too much slip. Some of the other cast members do suffer, however, from having over broadly written roles, and some of the red herrings begin to feel obvious as the film goes on.

On the whole, The Awakening, while hardly groundbreaking or a truly great example of its genre, hangs together, thanks to a solid main cast and some excellent sequences. Several scenes are genuinely unnerving, most notably a few moments involving a dollhouse, and a very nicely, patiently, paced scene when Florence is taking a bath after having almost drowned. Even as the answers begin to be revealed and the narrative becomes less interesting, the images are still sometimes striking (watch for Florence tripping backwards along a corridor). It’s no Innocents, but it’s a solid and effective ghost story, and it at least tries to do and say more than just BOO!

The Disc
As this is a brand new film you would expect the Blu Ray to look great, and it doesn’t disappoint. Murphy and Eduard Grau’s subdued colour palette comes through beautifully, and detail and depth are equally good, while avoiding the unpleasant digital sheen that can afflict modern films on Blu. It’s perhaps not quite reference quality (lacking the jaw dropping pop of, say, the Alien disc), but it represents the film very well.

My lack of a surround system is a shame for this film, as the sound design was excellent at the cinema, but even in stereo the track feels atmospheric, and aids the scares.

Under the set up menu you’ll find good hard of hearing subtitles as well as an audio description track, the voice is a bit dry, but it’s very nice to see that the effort has been made to allow all audiences to enjoy the film.

The Extras
For a film that didn’t do especially huge box office business, The Awakening gets a generous spread of extras. Director Nick Murphy flies solo for the commentary (which is in the setup, rather than the extras, menu) and while it would be nice to have Rebecca Hall and/or Dominic West along to provide a slightly different viewpoint. Murphy is great company. The track flows well, is packed with information, and genuinely revealing about Murphy’s visual ideas. He’s very nice about his cast, but in a genuine way rather than the sycophancy that can dominate these tracks (and his description of Hall as ‘a lot of imperfections that happen to be beautiful’ is dead on).

Hall gets in on the act in a (too) brief Q and A, filmed at a preview screening at the Curzon Mayfair, but at six minutes and change this is too heavily edited, and feels it.

A 34 minute Behind the Scenes feature gets good interviews from Hall, West, Staunton and Murphy, and is a bit more insightful than the standard EPK. It’s too heavy on the clips, but it does go into reasonable detail and provide things that you don’t get from the commentary.

Anatomy of a Scene: Florence at the Lake offers a 15 minute look at the concept and shooting of one of the film’s key scenes. Murphy has more space here than in the commentary, and he’s very interesting about the ideas and practicalities of the scene. We also get a nice sense of the on set camaraderie from this feature.

A Time For Ghosts takes a 23 minute look at the context of the film’s setting in the wake of World War 1. This is something that Murphy goes into quite a bit of detail about on the commentary, but there is some more insight here into the history, and how the film tries to reflect it.

Cast, producer and director talk about their belief in and experience of the supernatural (or lack of it) in Anatomy of a Scream, which also talks to the president of The Ghost Club.

A selection of deleted scenes are introduced by Nick Murphy, who talks about the difference between editing TV and films. The scenes are fine, but I can’t say that I really miss anything, however, Murphy’s introductions have some depth and do give an insight into his process and aims.

Lastly there’s an 18 minute interview with Murphy, but, to be honest, it feels like overkill, as he’s all over the disc otherwise. It’s not dull, but it’s hardly essential.

Overall, this is an outstanding set of extras which really does try to illuminate the film and the process, and largely succeeds.

Note: 3 stars for the film, an extra one for the Blu Ray

The Awakening is out on Blu Ray and DVD on March 26th