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Reawakened
USA 2020
produced by Remy MacKenzie, Debbie Vaughn, Jose Altonaga (executive), Karen Ann Altonaga (executive) for Altonaga Productions
directed by Jose Altonaga
starring Steffani Brass, Brooke Mackenzie, Tina Cole, Chantelle Albers, Dabier, Charlie Ian, Ann Tomberlin, Getty Olm, Masha Mendieta, Rich Redmond, Carrie Aquino, Wilson Davis, Malcolm Matthews, Travis Lee Eller, Stasha Surdyke, Toni Taubman, Ricardo Navas, Sam Anderson, Charles Miserendino, Tom Ohmer
written by Jose Altonaga, Remy MacKenzie, music by John Wackerman, special makeup effects by Traci Petraglia
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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It starts as so many of these stories do, Michele (Steffani Brass)
invites her friends Sophia (Brooke McKenzie), Travis (Getty Olm), Nate
(Dabier), Brandon (Charlie Ian), Jessica (Masha Mendieta) and Rachel (Ann
Tomberlin) for a camping trip, but halfway to their campsite they are
caught by the rain and seek refuge in a nearby, conveniently empty house -
where Sophia then nicks a pendant from a Satanic altar ... and from the
moment she's wearing it, she starts to act weird. Later that night, she
runs away, and when the others find her, she's reading incantations from a
book she has dug up with her own bare hands. After that, Michele and
Sophia's friends start falling like flies. Days later: Michele is now in
a hospital, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, while a
compassionate detective (Chantelle Albers) wants to learn from her what
has really happened to her friends, and whether she actually is a victim
or rather a suspect. Michele's testimony though makes little sense and is
somehow connected to the witch burnings from the 1600s - but the real
problem is, the more she does tell, the more everybody gets (literally)
drawn into the story, with fatal endings for those involved ... Reawakened
is a very clever horror thriller that really knows how to play with
audience expectations and use them to create suspense as well as jump
scares: Basically the first half of the film plays like your usual slasher
movie, if a well-made one, where teens go to party, encounter a threat,
and their inability to make the right decisions only makes whatever it is
stronger and has most of them killed. But when the usual slasher movie
ends (the final girl got away), this one evolves, adds layers to the
story, unfolds the underlying mystery - and goes creepy as hell in the
process. And thanks to clever writing as well as an atmosphere-heavy
directorial effort and a very competent cast, this strategy works like a
charm and offers a great eerie ride for all genre fans.
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