R (violence, sexuality, nudity); 107 min.
The Awakening is a terrific little throwback, a horror-thriller more about mood and atmosphere than gore and gimmickry.
Set in post-WWI England, where everyone feels haunted by what they've just been through, it focuses on headstrong Florence (Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona), a combo Penn Jillette/Sherlock Holmes investigating and debunking spiritualists, psychics and charlatans.
But things begin to change for her when she is hired by the taciturn, wounded war vet Robert (Dominic West, The Wire), a teacher at a secluded boys' school where a student has died and strange things are happening. What she assumes to be a ghostly prank gone wrong and group hysteria turn out to be something else entirely.
Slowly paced and beautifully shot by director/co-writer Nick Murphy (making his feature-film debut) and cinematographer Eduard Grau ( Buried), The Awakening has a handful of jolts, but they take a backseat to a general feel of building dread.
In TV terms, it's PBS, not Spike TV.
Exclusive: AMC Grapevine Mills; AMC The Parks at Arlington; Harkins Southlake; Rave North East Mall; Angelika Dallas; Cinemark 17, Dallas; Angelika Plano; Cinemark West Plano
-- Cary Darling
