The Wake (I) (2017) User Reviews

The Wake: Starts interesting but soon loses steam

[Platypuschow · 4/10 · 14 October 2017]

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

Wow- I know What You Did Last Summer Gets a Reboot??

[shmarie · 4/10 · 5 July 2017]

Reminds me of I Know What You Did Last Summer- from the drunken driving, to Freddie Prinze Jr.'s lookalike as the lead to a low-rent Jennifer Love Hewitt (big nose and boobies included), to the blonde Sarah Michelle Gellar doppleganger w/ her the handsome yet drunken (& possibly violent!) BF- this seems a little familiar. The acting is so terrible that I don't know whether or not to laugh (is this a horror-comedy?) or to just shake my head. To be fair though, I had thought the role of the killer was transparent before I pressed play yet I kept guessing throughout the film. Don't walk into this movie w/ high expectations... OH and I also kept wondering- where the hell is the mom's other kid and why isn't she more worried about her only living child????? We never find out about that little blonde girl. Why did they even include that scene in there?

In much need of some tweaking

[jtindahouse · 3/10 · 5 July 2017]

I hate having to review a film like 'The Wake' because I want so badly to like it, but have to be honest and admit that it is highly flawed. It's obvious that the people behind the camera are new to the industry and have a steep learning curve ahead of them. So some hopefully helpful advise I would give to them on this occasion would be:

1) Scrap the opening the credit sequence. I suspect it was only put there to pad the run time a little, which would be acceptable if you'd put some effort into it. Instead it may as well have been a black screen with names very slowly cropping up one by one. You certainly don't want to start your film on such a down-note as that created.

2) Review the dialogue you have written. As you are writing it ask yourself whether in that actual situation anyone would say anything remotely like that. If not, go with something else. A lot of the dialogue in this film was so cringe-worthy it made for a very uncomfortable viewing experience at times.

3) Make sure characters are reacting realistically to things. When there's a killer with a knife standing two metres away from a group of people, is it likely they would all just stand there calmly discussing their options? Of course not, and watching it happen in a film looks nothing short of ridiculous.

4) Try to show less characters actual moment of dying. It doesn't matter how good you are at film making, it is a very difficult thing to make look realistic. Even in the 'The Dark Knight Rises' there is a particular death scene (Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about) that looks unbearably fake, and that's Christopher Nolan who was responsible for that. Proof that it is a very hard thing to get right.

So there's just a few ideas to work on for the next project you endeavour yourself to. There were actually some elements of the script I kind of liked, and with just some simple (or perhaps not so) tweaks I can see you making a very enjoyable film to watch one day.

Terrible! Absolutely Terrible.

[vpeou · 1/10 · 5 July 2017]

This is a terrible movie.

*spoiler*

The script is bad. It's a slasher turn demonic possession starring lifeless characters that can't put their brains together enough to escape a modern house. For example, her phone isn't charged at the beginning, but not once asked to charge it in the house. Then claims "sexist" when someone calls her out? Really? Then a guy says, there's probably no service here anyways- lazy writing.

Acting is bad. The reactions are unrealistic. Guy gets stabbed and everyone stands around with hands over their mouths. WTF?

The music is bad, the piano almost drowns out the dialog. The other choices are more distracting than actually adds atmosphere.

The end/ reveal/ twist is dumb. You have an Asian Buddhist shrine thing going on in the house, but then goes to a Satanic basement at the end? Could have done the Christian / Catholic thing in the house and it would have worked somewhat for the end. It's confusing.

It's just a bad movie. Sorry, I hate it.

Idiots!!

[davidm-14 · 9 September 2017]

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.

Bryan Brewer Lays an Egg

[nogodnomasters · 1/10 · 5 July 2017]

The film opens by letting us know Casey (Allie Rivera) is going to be the final girl by showing us the end clip. Her boyfriend Tyler (Bryan Brewer-writer/director/producer) had committed vehicular homicide while drunk and they are going to the kid's wake. Now why the boy was out late at night and how he was hit when he lives high up on a hill on an isolated road was not explained.

While at the wake, which consists of Tyler, his friends and three family members and no one else, they get tied up with a killer in the house.

Now why Tyler was not in jail was explained later that the family didn't want to press charges...which is not how that works for drunk driving involving a death. Also the wake of a stranger I killed would not be where I would be going with my friends. They did managed to find a one fingered person who could play a child's piano to do the sound track. The acting, plot and dialogue were all bad, thank you Bryan Brewer for nothing. Scary stuff consisted of the proverbial burlap masks, a blue light, and doors opening and shutting by themselves. I even saw the mother thing coming at the end. The killer was liked Batman. Once caught, it took forever to get his mask off. The build up was more comical than suspenseful.

The story itself had potential: If Allie Rivera had a nose job and acting lessons, if Bryan Brewer would stay behind the camera, if they fixed the plot holes, and created some dialogue.

Phone companies have batteries in their lines so if you lose power you have plenty of time to call in a power outage. You don't lose phone service right away. Just saying. Close to being "so bad it is good." F-word, No sex or nudity.

All the time just waiting to end this movie.

[maealhoor2001 · 1/10 · 8 July 2017]

It is one of the worst movie ever I saw, the events are totally not explainable, in what place of the word a drunk driver kills a child and stay out of the person even if the parents does not press any charges!!!

The reaction of the actors is far away from reality and you can easy till that they are faking everything.

It is just a wast of time to write a review for this movies and not to see it is very good choice.

The unwatchable wake

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 29 May 2018]

Saw 'The Wake', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to reviewing it.

Unfortunately, despite not reading any reviews purposefully before watching, am going to have to agree with all the reviewers who hated 'The Wake'. It doesn't even start off good, with an opening that doesn't really add or say much, and rapidly got even worse by a second half that makes one not want to keep watching. Never judge a film without seeing the whole thing and wanted to give 'The Wake', so gave it a fair chance.

Setting is spooky, but wasted by the cheapness of the rest of the production values.

However, so much brings 'The Wake' down. The cast struggle to do much with so little to do and the direction is so phoned in and pedestrian, one gets the sense that the director showed no interest in the film at all. Too much of the soundtrack is intrusive and ill-fitting, made worse by the excessive and obvious sound effects that just cheapens the mood. The film looks drab generally and like it was made in haste.

Where 'The Wake' most underwhelms is the writing and story. The writing is incredibly lazy and so cringe-worthy taking it seriously is impossible, it's awkward in dialogue, very confused as a result of not tying things up or going into full detail and doesn't feel complete. The story suffers from a very limp pace apparent early on and gets slower and slower until an interminably dragged out second half. It further suffers from feeling too much like a short film stretched out with a lot of useless padding. None of the characters are likeable, little is learnt about them and they are annoying, the inconsistent and illogical motivations bring them down further. The acting ranges from bad to downright terrible, a lot of sleepwalking and histrionics and that they don't seem to care about their situation let alone frightened of it is especially obvious.

For a film billed as a horror, there is very little interesting and nothing remotely scary. They are too few and are far too predictable, anaemic and weakly timed to make impact, with the dull pacing and obvious sound effects cheapening them significantly. 'The Wake' doesn't engage let alone thrill, and a lot of it is silly to unintentional hilarity and doesn't make sense with a fair few loose ends. No creative moments and a poorly used villain that lacks any kind of menace. The ending is a head-scratcher, both in confusion and how little it feels like an ending.

Overall, the potential was there but the execution far from was. Really awful, unless you're curious about seeing it it's best to avoid this. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Hahaha

[dflorcyk · 1/10 · 28 November 2018]

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

Predictable indie horror outing

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 5 July 2017]

THE WAKE is another familiar-looking slice of indie horror set in a single location. Five friends hook up to attend the wake of a local kid who died mysteriously. There's plenty of atmosphere building here but as you'd expect, very little in the way of actual content, at least until the climax. The plot is fairly predictable even though the actors do their best to sell it, but at least this is a little more convincing than most.

Predictable and disappointing

[anthonyfasy · 1/10 · 21 August 2017]

Another "group of friends" slasher that has all the incompetent types making the typical bad decisions.....really becoming sick of all these, makes it too easy to build the body count because every victim is too stupid to pick up a weapon, or keep one once they have used it, never ensure that the killer is really dead, never take the opportunity to escape that often presents itself. I have considered that horror movie directors put these elements in because they know most horror film fans get frustrated with them, and are not the type to not follow through, as so many of the victims are the kind to fail to do so. Even when Mrs. Stevens was tied up, and later stabbed, I knew she was behind it, so no surprises at all. It is actually disappointing that any of them live. No creative deaths, good dialogue or interesting story-line, nothing redeeming the film at all.

This is not what you want it to be.

[HorrorFilmHellion · 2/10 · 14 January 2022]

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.

Hey Wait

[olcayozfirat · 2/10 · 27 May 2022]

Horror movie made in 2017. It is so absurd that the man is grappling with the murderer, the other two women just watching. Also, the title of the movie should be "Hey Wait". The toughest man died with nail clippers. For some reason, masked types look at them with their heads tilted like dogs do. When the writer and director were also the leading actor, he played a game by himself. But very amateur. Especially the finale. I'm not saying anything.

No nudity or sex. But not worth watching.