WIDE AWAKE is one of those films that I honestly thought was going to be a some what decent Asian film. For a while now I have been avoiding most Asian films because it seems that the American market is becoming flooded with Asian horror films as of late, and frankly I think the majority of them are terrible. Think about it the majority of good Asian films were released a few years back, mainly around the turn of the century. Most of the good ones have been remade or are in the process of being remade here in the U.S.
Anyway; WIDE AWAKE almost seems like it would be a rip-off of AWAKE, the film that came out last November starring Hayden Christensen of STAR WARS fame. While the plots are somewhat similar, they differ in many ways however. WIDE AWAKE begins with a young boy who is being operated on, although he seems like he is a sleep he really is not, and is feeling all the pain of the surgery. After the surgery he tries to tell his parents and doctors that he felt the whole procedure, but no one believes him. Then the story takes a turn into the future and a whole other story begins with a young doctor and his wife, who work together. When a series of murders begin to occur, and the couple finds out that they are being stalked, they wonder if it’s the young boy from their past, now an adult, back to make anyone involved in the painful operation he had to endure pay with their lives for the suffering he went though. The story from there begins to take a twist in plot and very odd and deadly things begin to happen.
It’s seems to me that all these direct to DVD Asian films all look the same as of late, the style in which they are shot, the suspense they present on the screen and even the acting all seems to fit into a formula that probably works very well in the Asian market, but probably has a small affect on people here in the states. I for one have caught onto this formula and to be honest it’s very predictable. I’ve also seen the same format applied in the remakes as well, which in turn probably has been the reason why most critics push them off as being one half dozen of the other. WIDE AWAKE is just another one for the pile. Sure the acting is decent, and the overall production value and photography all looks good. The script is nothing original, although it does have an ending that seems to take a lot of twists, but like I said it’s nothing to go crazy over. But it’s really just your basic Asian horror/suspense film.
Overall, I found WIDE AWAKE to be nothing special, It does have some decent acting and the overall look of the film is decent, but for me it’s just another Asian film where I have to sit down and read subtitles, and watch yet another tragic story unfold, where lives are taken and there is some kind of mysterious killer on the loose who we tend to really get the idea of who it is from the get go. Or do we? Well if your interested and like Asian films by all means give it a look, but as for me, I just found it to be yet another redundant film from Asia flooding the American market out of demand for such films.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
