By
Cole Smithey
 Peepholes,
poison and long, dim hallways with ghosts at
the end of them never get old
“The Awakening” is an old-fashioned haunted
house story with a couple of neat twists. Rebecca
Hall’s bewitching portrayal of Florence Cathcart,
an early 20th century ghost-busting novelist
working in post World War I England, gives debut
director/co-writer Nick Murphy plenty to work
with. In keeping with such suspense-teetering
thrillers as “The Devil’s Backbone” and “The
Others,” chills and spills come as much from
a ghostly atmosphere of uncluttered spaces as
from sudden shocks of paranormal activity.
Florence garners fans with her novels and enemies
by assisting police in busting up phony moneymaking
séance rings around London, circa 1921. At a
time when nearly all of England’s population
has lost relatives in the war, people are desperate
for any kind of contact with the dead — however
hokey that connection might be. A visit from
private boys’ academy headmaster Robert Mallory
(Dominic West) invites Elizabeth to investigate
the rural Rookford School for evidence of a
young male ghost who has been busy terrorizing
its students and faculty. A young student recently
died there, and a murder occurred on the estate
several decades ago. Mallory carries battle
scars from the war, which cause him to stammer
and limp. Nonetheless, he has a romantic connection
with Elizabeth, whose professional approach
to her work doesn’t hinder her emotional availability.
An especially curious scene finds Florence spying
on Mallory as he tends to an unhealed wound
on his leg after a bath. Florence and Mallory
each have secrets that need airing out.
Hall’s ghost hunter is one sexy creature. Cinematographer
Eduard Grau (“A Single Man”) balances the film’s
potentially suffocating drab color-scheme with
vibrant compositions that keep the eye moving.
His teasing depiction of windswept Gothic isolation
is the stuff of an alluring horror-fantasy.
Imelda Staunton spices up the Gothic drama as
the school’s personable doyenne Maud. A fan
of Elizabeth’s books, Maud is a supportive foil
for Elizabeth against the school’s creeping
horror, which also comes in the very physical
form of a threatening groundskeeper named Joseph
(Joseph Mawle).
The narrative isn’t without a few cobwebs. The
malevolent groundskeeper comes across as a gratuitous
device used to rev up suspense late in the story.
The one-dimensional character isn’t awarded
any kind of inner-life to bring meaning to his
violent actions.
Although the all-boy student body is away on
vacation, one boy — Tom Hill (well played by
newcomer Isaac Hempstead Wright) stays behind.
Florence and Tom strike up a friendship upon
which the plot twists. The story finds itself
playing catch-up when the proceedings are brought
to a close with a barrage of backstory exposition
designed to tie the narrative up with a neat
bow.
Still, the ensemble performances go a long way
toward masking the script’s less persuasive
aspects. “The Awakening” is all about mood and
tone. Peepholes, poison and long, dim hallways
with ghosts at the end of them never get old.
CV
“The Awakening”
3 stars
Rated R
107 mins.
Horror
Starring: Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda
Staunton |
