What’s It About
A group of young activists set out to make an environmental statement by vandalizing a home superstore as it closes. But their plan goes terribly wrong when they become trapped inside and must face a deranged security guard with a gruesome passion for primitive hunting. As the night fills with violence and terror, the teenagers find themselves in a desperate fight for their lives.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
I went into the theater with almost no idea about “Wake Up” because there wasn’t much advertising. As I sat down, the movie’s start made me wish I hadn’t come. The beginning felt just like another trailer, with characters talking in a really fake way. They had to say out loud how they felt about each other instead of showing it. The bad guy seemed so weird that I couldn’t believe anyone would hire him, even with his brother helping. Luckily, things got a lot better in the second part. The story is about six young activists who hide in a huge furniture store until it closes so they can mess it up as a protest. After the lights are turned off and the doors are locked, they spread out across the big maze-like store to do more damage. Even though they don’t all get along perfectly, their plan starts out okay until the new guy, Karim (Tom Gould) isn’t careful and gets noticed by two security guards – Jack (Aidan O’Hare) and his crazy brother Kevin (Turlough Convery). Jack just wants to scare the teens away, but an accident makes Kevin snap, turning their protest into a fight to stay alive. The group includes the leader, Ethan (Benny O. Arthur), Yasmin (Jacqueline More), Karim, Grace (Alessia Yoko Fontana), Emily (Charlotte Stoiber), and Tyler (Kyle Scudder). They text each other while waiting for workers to leave. Meanwhile, Kevin, who got in trouble recently for being too scary with customers, makes weapons as part of his “primitive hunting” hobby, while Jack plans to spend his shift drinking. When the activists start breaking stuff and filming it, Kevin decides he wants to hunt and kill all of them. Written by Alberto Marini, based on Martin Soudan’s idea, “Wake Up” starts in a normal way but hints that there’s more to come. Everyone starts with some anger – matching the movie’s title – with Kevin losing control first. What’s interesting is that this killer doesn’t wear a mask, but his victims do. The movie doesn’t fully dig into the social issues it brings up. Instead, it focuses on making the “Home Idea” store a hunting ground, filled with furniture displays and warehouse shelves that make lots of hiding spots. The activists targeted the store because of environmental reasons – cutting down forests and being mean to animals – with Yasmin having a personal reason to hate the company. Their leader, Ethan, wants to change the world by wrecking the store and showing everyone what they did. The directors (RKSS) use the setting really well, making lots of chances for hide-and-seek thrills with tools that are just lying around. Kevin’s deadly skills keep the action moving fast once it starts. The movie has an amazing big scene that shows how creative RKSS is. While it doesn’t focus on gory bloodshed, the little details, such as the little bursts of blood vessels in the eyes of someone being strangled, really convey violence. The lovely furniture store that is really designed for comfort and to make you feel at home is then, in one sense, is a wonderfully designed place for a place to die. The film is somewhat like “Home Alone” but scary; you have a Kevin who sets traps up and then gets people to fall into them. This makes a perfect mix of wondering what he’s planning, dreading what might happen, and nervously waiting to see how things turn out. The movie doesn’t make the characters act stupid. Both the teens and the hunter try to outsmart each other, breaking from how typical slasher movies work. This adds to a mean streak that goes all the way to the end. The story also looks at Kevin’s craziness as he focuses on survival skills and making primitive weapons. His brother Jack tries to protect both Kevin and his job by working at night, where he can drink beer and ignore security cameras. The activists start their vandalism with excitement, spray-painting displays and breaking furniture. They also have fun, like having a frozen meatball food fight. We learn more about them – Karim has doubts and joins mainly to get close to Emily, while Yasmin sticks to her principles and focuses on the mission. The movie touches a little on masculinity and revenge before getting violent around 30 minutes in. RKSS adds current social issues to a standard slasher formula. While not totally new, they play with the formula enough to give thrilling surprises. It feels like an old-school slasher with modern touches – an exciting rush made for horror fans. The ending takes an artistic direction that’s both meaningful and super dark. It is somewhat different from the rest of the movie, but it looks really good. Wild anger and cruel violence become more important than character development. This unique slasher is simple and mean, giving horror fans what they want without deep characters. “Wake Up” has scary moments as Kevin makes weapons from kitchen stuff and sets traps throughout the store. He tries to break the activists’ spirits, taking one hostage and making everyone panic. RKSS adds style using blacklight and paint to make them more vulnerable. Though not focused on humor, there are some jokes about IKEA-like stores. The really cruel ending sells the horror well. This fresh idea turns a supposedly happy place into a nightmare. While bold, it could have gone further – sometimes, what I thought would happen was worse than what did happen. Though disappointing at first, “Wake Up” gets better as it goes on, finally rewarding viewers who took a chance on it.
OUR RATING – AN ENVIRONMENTAL 7.5