Reviews: Dead Awake (2016) Movie Review
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Drama, Mystery
Subgenres: Psychological, Twisted Mystery, Cursed, Featured Phobia, Medical, Phobia
Dead Awake (2016) shocked audiences with its ending. Our spoiler-free review explains the scares, themes, and what makes this film unforgettable.
Dead Awake (2016) is a 1h 39-min American thriller horror that might make a few audience scared to fall asleep because of what might happen. Director Phillip Guzman (2:22 (2008), Desdemona: A Love Story (2009), The Lawless (2007), A Kiss and a Promise (2012)) did an ingenious job executing this dramatizing film. The authentic performances, suspense, eerie atmosphere, sleek production, detailed screenplay, sets, editing, cinematography, special effects and directing was all marvelous. Dead Awake actors gave us top notch performances.
Kate and Beth Bowman (Jocelin Donahue - The House of the Devil (2009), Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Burrowers (2008)) are twin sisters who are estranged. Beth has a serious problem that puts her life in danger or so she thinks. Beth has been having outrageous nightmares and experiencing mind-boggling sleep paralysis that affects her and her boyfriend. Beth told Kate at their birthday party of the strange nightmares she has been having and how someone/something has been trying to strangle her while she is asleep. Kate decides to help her sister by joining Beth’s boyfriend Evan (Jesse Bradford - Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Bring It On (2000), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Hackers (1995)) to find who/what has been attacking them in their sleep. Evan is a painter who has lost his artistic touch but Kate manages to bring him back to life. Will Evan and Kate be able to save Beth from her nightmares or will Beth’s fear get the best of her?
Dead Awake reminds me of Wes Craven’s original Freddy Krueger story (A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)) as it is structured similarly. I was also reminded of Wes Craven’s Deadly Blessing (1981) when I saw the poster art. Editor Peter Devaney Flanagan who has also worked on Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) has outdone himself on this film with beautiful detail in set design and lighting during the sleep paralysis. Thankfully writer Jeffrey Reddick mentioned in a Q&A that Dead Awake is meant to be an homage. Jeffrey made an appearance in Dead Awake as Kate and Beth’s friend. Dead Awake is an intense film and had enough material to separate it from the numerous movies it resembles.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Dead Awake Rating Scores
- Our Score: 8/10
- Overall Score: 4.65/10
- IMDB: 4.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 1.1/10
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