Synopsis
In post–War England, a writer and sometime-ghost hunter investigates a reported haunting at a boys boarding school.
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Cast
- Rebecca HallFlorence Cathcart
- Dominic WestRobert Mallory
- Imelda StauntonMaud Hill
- Isaac Hempstead-WrightTom
- Lucy CohuConstance Strickland
- Cal MacAninchFreddie Strickland
- John ShrapnelReverend Hugh Purslow
- Diana KentHarriet Cathcart
- Richard DurdenAlexander Cathcart
- Alfie FieldVictor Parry
Recommendations
- 70
The Hollywood Reporter
A too-rare instance in which a gifted young actor signs on for a fright flick without coming away tainted, The Awakening places Rebecca Hall in a convincing historical setting and gives her more to do than widen her eyes in fear. - 67
Entertainment Weekly
Not to be confused with a dramatization of Kate Chopin's great 1899 proto-feminist novel, this by-the-numbers British ghost story, set just after WWI, devotes a lot of energy to set decoration. - 67
The A.V. Club
The Awakening is both a ghost story and an exploration of mourning and survivor's guilt, though a late twist turns the film away from its delicate merging of these two themes into something both more plotty and stilted. - 60
The Guardian
There are some nicely creepy moments, and director and co-writer Nick Murphy interestingly dramatises some of the neuroses feeding the appetite for ghostly phenomena – repressed sexuality, guilt and self-harm. - 60
Total Film
Creepy, jumpy, if somewhat samey, it's set above the spooker norm by its strong visuals, grief-steeped period setting and lingering ambiguity. - 60
Time Out
This handsomely made spook story (love those echo-prone hallways!) becomes less involving the more the narrative's mysteries are solved. By the time all the tarot cards are on the table, it's likely that you too will feel conned. - 60
Village Voice
Hall's committed performance validates even the maddest developments, and she slips into the period well, recalling Virginia Woolf in her lank, swan-necked bearing and tremulous suffering. - 50
Variety
Though handsome to look at, so-so supernatural chiller The Awakening recalls "The Others," "The Orphanage" and other haunted-house tales of recent vintage, making an impression more derivative than memorable.
