If you have been using the internet for some time then you have undoubtedly read some spooky story that purports to be all about infamous experiments in sleep deprivation. It is an idea rife with great potential for someone wanting to make a decent horror movie. And here we have Awake.
Gina Rodriguez plays Jill, an ex-soldier who is now struggling to get her life back on track after issues with addiction that has resulted in her children (Matilda, played by Ariana Greenblatt, and Noah, played by Lucius Hoyos) no longer being in her care. Out and about with them for the day, things go crazy when something affects all of the electrics around the world, like some massive EMP, and that then leads to very few people being able to sleep. But young Matilda can sleep, which might make her very important to the kids mitre future of humanity. All of the negative effects you expect from a lack of sleep start to take hold very quickly, for no good reason, and the world starts to slide further and further into madness.
Directed by Mark Raso, who also co-wrote the script with Joseph Raso, Awake is a film undone by carelessness and impatience, arguably more so than any other film I can think of in recent years. What you want/need here is a nice, creepy build-up as things start to break down, in terms of both physical health and society. What you get is a rush from normality to madness, making the whole thing far less believable as people lose one night of sleep and immediately turn into zombiefied loonies. There’s one line of dialogue that explains this without explaining it (someone says that things are moving along quicker than they normally would, that is supposed to satisfactorily explain the timeline), which means you get a lot of standard “humans are the real threat” moments when you could have had a nice selection of unsettling set-pieces as the main characters started to piece together the big picture.
Despite the problems with the script, and the fairly lacklustre direction, I cannot really fault the performances here. Rodriguez, Hoyos, and everyone else unable to sleep at least look suitably shattered, reacting slower to things around them and slurring their speech slightly. Greenblatt is suitably bright and nervy, lucky enough to be able to sleep, but also knowing that everyone else wants her to help them find a cure. Jennifer Jason Leigh is a desperate scientist, and there are decent little supporting turns from Frances Fisher, Barry Pepper, Shamier Anderson (a highlight as an escaped convict going by the name Dodge), and Gil Bellows.
Based on a story by Gregory Poirier, Awake is treated in a way that makes it a massive disappointment. There is some good horror in the third act, and a couple of decent moments scattered here and there, but it doesn’t do enough to make it worth your time. Even if it won’t necessarily send you to sleep.
4/10
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