Dead Awake (2017)
Kate Bowman (Jocelin Donahue) is an average social worker who, after the sudden death of her twin sister, is investigating the mysterious deaths of other people who died in their sleep. Shortly before their deaths, the victims all reported a supernatural force that appeared to them while they were suffering from sleep paralysis. When Kate investigates further into the case, she opens herself up to the creature's wrath and soon finds herself and her family suffering from an ancient evil.
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The Worst Film Ever
Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
For those of you thinking this movie is a rip off of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" , you have no idea what you're talking about! It's the same concept, sure, but taken in a completely different direction! Remember those Hmong teenagers that Hassan was talking about? That actually happened! That's where Wes Craven got the idea for "NES" from! And they really did their research about the Old hag, because I've read similar stories in collections of African-American folklore, only she was called "the boo-hag"!
Actually a great horror movie, even though it's basically a mix between Nightmare on the Elm Street and Ring, nothing new at all. The monster is like a girl from the Ringu and it also prefers to crawl rather than walking to do its, ehm, things, which is stupid and always was stupid ("look ---- I CRAWL! SLOOOWLY! ARE...YOU...SCAAAAARRRRRRED? No? F/ck.").However, the movie is captivating and atmospheric, not to mention very well done overall (aside from a couple of fade-ins by the editor, why?). Actors do their best and they're believable. The characters are standard (like all ya Americans, right?), but not very stupid and ultra-thin, like in most of the other US / Hollywood horror movies. Some kind of movie magic happened here and I believe the great cast was one of the reasons.
The film opens with the definition of "sleep paralysis." And don't worry if you missed it it is repeated by Dr. Tank Girl (Lori Petty). Beth has it and her twin sister Kate (Jocelin Donahue) doesn't. Soon Beth doesn't have it and Kate does as does nearly everyone around her. During this time they are visited by a hag who chokes them. Sometimes they die. Like Santa, you must either believe or be very pretty for it to come visit.Go to sleep and see a hag. Not as interesting as a Freddie film, where you move around in your sleep trying to escape. Face it, people laying there getting choked by a hag is low energy. The cover scene was interesting as a spider lowers itself on the open eye of the paralyzed girl, except we see her move her eyelids afterwards...something I might have done with a spider descending into my eye and not wait until I am choked. The sister relationships didn't work for me, it seems they were not developed properly as if they cut a scene. It wasn't until the end that we got the real story. And the final scene with Tank Girl should have come in the middle of the film and been part of the feature.That is the formula we want to see. I didn't find the film scary, but if you have sleep paralysis it might scare the bejesus out of you. And would you sleep around a guy who looked like Hassan (Jesse Borrego)? Hey, Hassan, as long as you are not sleeping, go take a shower and wash your greasy stringy hair.Guide: infrequent F-word. No sex. Brief blurred butt body double nudity.Winner of Best Thriller Feature Film Award at Shriekfest 2016.
"Dead Awake" centers around two sisters (both played by Jocelin Donahue). One is a recovering addict, the other is a social worker. After they both start having the same nightmare (which involves dying during sleep paralysis), some digging is done and it seems there have been many people dying under these same circumstances.I did not find anything original in this movie. The "monster" looks like it crawled--literally--out of "The Ring" franchise. One scene was practically stolen from the original "Nightmare on Elm Street." I'm glad those involved with this POS decided to be sure everyone knows when something bad is going to happen because each victim is treated to a "lights-off; lights-on" trick.I had to laugh at one reviewers summation, especially when they warned about watching out if you are drinking or eating something because you may spill your drink or you might drop your food. Funny, the only thing I thought about during the movie was how I could keep my food and drink DOWN.Rated R (couldn't tell you why) and not recommended.