Film: Wake Wood
Year of production: 2011
UK Release date: 28th March 2011
Distributor: Momentum
Certificate: 18
Running time: 90 mins
Director: David Keating
Starring: Eva Birthistle, Ella Connolly, Amelia Crowley, Aidan Gillen, Brian Gleeson
Genre: Drama/Horror/Thriller
Format: DVD
Country of Production: Republic of Ireland/UK
Language: English
The reinvigorated Hammer Film Productions studio follows up on the critical and commercial success of Let Me In with this low-budget Irish horror. Harking back to the company’s heyday, this low-key offering emphatically explores loss and rebirth against the backdrop of rural Ireland, with a cast including Timothy Spall (the Harry Potter franchise) and Aiden Gillen (TV’s Queer As Folk and The Wire).
A vet, Patrick (Aiden Gillen), and his pharmacist wife, Louise (Eva Birthistle), have settled down with their young daughter, Alice (newcomer Ella Connelly), in Wake Wood, a small village set amidst the picturesque Irish countryside. On Alice’s birthday, tragedy strikes when she is mauled and killed by a vicious dog on her way to school, and the young couple understandably struggle to cope with their loss.
One year later, after their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, the couple seek refuge at the home of Patrick’s employer, the mysterious Arthur (Timothy Spall), where they witness a bizarre ritual taking place behind his house. It soon transpires that Arthur and some of the residents of Wake Wood are capable of performing a resurrection ritual because of some unexplained force surrounding the village. Provided the deceased has been in the ground for less than a year, the townsfolk can bring them back for three days for closure and the opportunity for the mourning family to say goodbye to their loved one properly. Arthur offers this service to Patrick and Louise, who jump at the chance to see their beloved daughter again.
Once the ritual has been performed, however, the couple attempt to escape the village to hold on to their undead daughter after lying to Arthur by saying Alice was buried less than twelve months prior, causing her fatal injuries to reappear and a murderous streak to manifest in the child. With the townsfolk in terror, and the couple’s emotions in turmoil, it soon becomes clear that what was once dead and buried should remain so…
Death is the one inevitable, inescapable certainty in life, and to attempt to defy this fact (in cinema at least) never has a happy ending. A strong script and deep, multi-layered performances are required to effectively portray the unavoidable emotional havoc of characters suffering such a profound loss. Also, a supernatural subject matter requires a certain suspension of disbelief to appear effective, but tend to work best when they retain an element of logic and cohesion to encourage a ‘buy-in’ from the viewer. Unfortunately, Wake Wood largely fails on both counts, most notably with its gaping plot holes, laughable scenes and inconsistent performances that range from wooden (Eva Birthistle) to surprisingly effective (Aiden Gillen). The film’s only real ‘star’, Timothy Spall, offers a performance that is so bizarrely over-the-top that it becomes difficult to keep a straight face. This is largely due to the terrible script that forces a great actor to stumble through incoherent, bumbling explanations of the resurrection procedure that open more questions than they answer.
This lack of logical cohesion plagues the film throughout, hindered somewhat further by the lamentable editing. Cuts jump back and forth through time during critical themes, particularly during the love scene between the tormented couple. This moment is pivotal to the narrative, as it shows a relationship fractured by the death of a child beginning to rebuild once they have her back in their lives, albeit on a temporary basis. What begins as a fairly standard tryst cuts all over the place. Items of clothing are removed and reappear in the next shot, only to be taken off again in a completely different manner. Of course, this is a stylistic technique adopted by the editor, but completely fails in its execution. What should have been an affecting and emotionally significant scene becomes farcical in its execution. This choppy editing continues throughout, losing any sense of flow or logical progression in the narrative.
The most questionable aspect of the film is, however, the couple’s complete lack of questioning of the supernatural elements of the plot. As Arthur briefly explains the process, they are absolutely accepting of this as a logical step in coping with the premature death of their daughter. Apart from a couple of “What the hell?!” exclamations, they never question the technique or plausibility of what Arthur is proposing, prompting the audience to question it even more, despite the fact that it should be logical within the film’s context.
Despite these shortcomings, the ritual itself is suitably gory and follows an interesting pattern (who knew that coating a fresh corpse in cow dung and setting it on fire could prompt a metamorphosis?) with some decent practical make-up effects. Once Alice’s murderous rampage begins, the action takes a turn for the ludicrous by yet again falling victim to an over reliance on computer generated gore, which completely detaches the viewer from any tension or suspense by making the payoff so predictable. It is also clear, however, that the makers had to be understandably careful about what they could allow their child actor to be involved in. It is shocking enough to see her graphically mauled by a German Shepherd, and she remains visually detached from the actual killings, which could have been much more effective in the hands of a more capable editor. One shot in particular shows Alice waving around a makeshift weapon while the actual contact is clearly filmed separately and crudely edited together with a laughable CG skewering.
The general lack of logical progression culminates in the film’s ending, delivering a conclusion that is equally as full of plot holes and inconsistencies as the proceeding ninety minutes.
A decent enough concept is wasted with poor execution, a lack of tension and generally weak performances from a promising cast. If this is the quality of the re-established Hammer Film’s output, their future is bleak. RB
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