Wake In Fear (2017)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Caitlin Stasey, Markus Taylor, Leah McKendrick
Directed by Dylan K. Narang
A bevy of beauties tied up in a hotel room, seemingly at death’s door – on the flipside, we’ve got a hapless soul looking for a break, and it comes at the mysterious expense of a man he’s never met in person. The connection between these two entities? Well, come on in from the cold and take a seat, cause I’m about to split open Dylan K. Narang’s thriller, Wake In Fear, and toss the sinewy pieces under the microscope.
Alternately titled, All I Need, the movie centers around the aforementioned woman in distress (Stasey), and the man whose life needs a monetary boost (Taylor) – our leading lady in chains (so to speak) finds herself on the floor of a dingy hotel room, surrounded by a few other unfortunate lasses – some still breathing, some not. All in all, she’s in a heap of the brown stuff and it looks like she’ll just be waiting until she’s the next to get dragged out the door. As for our ill-fated fella, he’s sans employment, a loving wife, and the necessary funds to throw down for his child support – the guy’s got issues, okay? His “salvation” comes one day with a phone call and the chance to make some greenbacks by becoming a courier of sorts, delivering unknown packages to random addresses. The connection, you ask? Well, it does take a bit of time to simmer this little burner-banquet to the respectable temperature, but when all’s said and done, it’s a moderate delicacy, mainly because the backbone behind the payoff is a brittle one, and suffice to say, it’s something that’s been offered up before – oh, original ideas, where have you gone to?
Performances from both Taylor and Stacey are workable – Stacey’s portrayal of the tortured was one that didn’t rely on a ton of dialogue, yet was executed by more physical actions. Taylor used more of a controlled reservation in his representation of a dad who’s looking for a little solid ground, regardless of the cost. Now for those looking for a load of scares or overtly thrilling moments, I’m sorry to say that you’ll more than likely be disappointed – the idea here is to connect the dots, and they’re pretty large dots, and you all are pretty damned intelligent horror fans, so I’ll leave it up to you to add up the numbers and give me your answers on the quiz sheet later on. Overall, Wake In Fear is one of those films that lays it cards on the table, and simply waits for the audience to decipher whether or not they’ll want to invest their time in the resulting spectacle. For me, it’s one hand dealt, then I’m out.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
