Since its release in 1999, The Sixth Sense has been the ultimate haunted-house thriller, serving as a benchmark for all that follow. (The Others is another.) The Awakening is the latest in the genre, offering a chilling look at the supernatural - this time in post-war Britain.
Set in 1921, Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall), a debunker of ghost sightings, is asked by schoolmaster Robert Mallory (Dominic West) and Maud Hill (Imelda Staunton) to investigate a sighting at their boarding school.
Once there, Florence lays traps to expose the person responsible for the 'spectre'. But soon her inability to logically explain the supernatural occurrences leads her to believe the unthinkable: ghosts exist.
Director Nick Murphy has put together an impressive feature film debut. The Awakening borrows from psycho-drama mystery traditions for maximum chills. You get only minor flashes of ghost, but your anticipation - helped by timely cuts and off-screen sounds - never subsides. The muted colours make the period piece look more authentic. However, it also gives the film a dullness more akin to older TV sets than contemporary cinema screens.
The Awakening is confident in its own skin, even when it's borrowing from predecessors. It avoids complicating the story, too.
Contains frightening scenes