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Wake Wood (18)

Drama, Horror, Thriller


The critical consensus

The biggest surprise is not that it’s hair-raising, but that it’s heart-rending too.

****(*)Matt Glasby, Total Film, 14/03/2011

Nothing too groundbreaking but a compelling rife on creepily occult British horrors nonetheless.

***(*)(*)Kim Newman, Empire Online, 21/03/2011

This macabre, black-comic horror, set in rural Ireland, is in the tradition of Don't Look Now, The Wicker Man and the communal nightmares of Ira Levin; it's a low-budget film that entertainingly takes its audience to the brink of pure absurdity. But it also riffs nastily and effectively on ideas of taboo, on our perennial yearning for ceremony and ritual to alleviate the sadness of life, and on Larkin's idea that what's truly scary is not dying but being dead.

****(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 24/03/2011

The result is an involving story with believably ambiguous characters, and a worthy addition to Hammer's catalogue.

***(*)(*)Becky Bartlett, The Skinny, 24/03/2011

A spine-chillingly good return for Hammer.

***(*)(*)Scotty McKellar, The Skinny, 24/03/2011

The enveloping creepiness of the village setting scores points, which the film proceeds to squander in careless plotting, imprecise effects and a denouement of arrant silliness – including a steal from a horror standard even more famous than the other two.

**(*)(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 25/03/2011

Creepy from start to finish, Wake Wood will please horror fans with its muted palette, creepy atmosphere and neat nods to the best of 70s British horror.

*****Daily Record, 25/03/2011

The film’s reasonably effective, but never heightens its impact beyond what’s on the page.

***(*)(*)Tim Robey, The Telegraph, 25/03/2011

The third new film from the revived Hammer studios, Wake Wood is the first that feels like a proper Hammer horror, complete with a remote village, Pagan rituals, and geysers of bright red fake blood.

Nicholas Barber, The Independent on Sunday, 27/03/2011

The film cleverly brings together WW Jacobs's celebrated short story The Monkey's Paw with The Wicker Man, and it's both touching and scary.

Philip French, The Observer, 27/03/2011

A predictable but well-made chiller.

***(*)(*)Allan Hunter, Daily Express, 25/03/2011

An uneasy balance of atmosphere and action.

***(*)(*)Henry Northmore, The List, 30/03/2011

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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