Wake Up 2024

“Wake Up” details the unfortunate adventure of 6 activists who plan to destroy a huge furniture store for environmental causes while filming the process, only to find themselves in a fight for their lives against a psychotic security guard with unique hunting skills and a large appetite for blood and violence.

With smart utilization of elements we always notice in such huge stores, the cozy furniture store that is built and designed to make everyone feels at home, becomes a perfect death trap. “Wake Up” is like “Home Alone” with horror taking the place of fun at every turn. Actually, to be accurate, witnessing Kevin design his traps and lure our victims into them offers the perfect combo of fun from trying to understand what he has in mind, to imagining the worst that could happen, to the painful moments of anticipation to how each situation will turn out.

The final act of “Wake Up” chooses an artistic direction that is both expressive with a message in mind and nihilistic at the same time. It felt out of tune compared to the rest of the movie but can’t deny that it looked amazing.

“Wake Up” is a fresh addition to horror concepts that emerge from the presumed happiest of places. It is bold but could’ve been bolder. It managed to shock me at points, but at other points what I anticipated was much worse than what actually happened. It’s a challenge to choose to see this film and a let down in the early stages but it gets better as it progresses and rewards the audience for their spirit of adventure.

Home Invasion is One of Several Horror Themes in Jordan Peele’s “Us”

Events of “Us” start with Gabe Wilson, his wife Adelaide & their 2 children Jason & Zora heading to their summer house on a vacation. Things appear to be normal in the beginning, but then a series of weird events take place ending with their house getting invaded at night. The invaders turn out to be a family of doppelgangers of themselves. The intentions of the invaders are not clear but appear to be violent. So, the Wilsons embark on a nightmarish escape in order to save themselves, and discover where those invaders came from and what they really want.

In my opinion, “Us” is indeed proof that Jordan Peele is an important and distinguished filmmaker. He has a vision and a philosophy in all cinematic aspects that culminate into an overall unique fingerprint. In addition to being a true fanboy of the horror genre. I can’t say that he’s introducing anything very clearly different when it comes to storytelling or pacing or visual experience. I also can’t say that he’s pushing his actors beyond their style and method. However, when you add all that together you get a different flavour. That’s the only explanation I have to why I felt that “Get Out” and “Us” are extremely similar, yet completely different. Just like “Get Out”, the film starts with a very well made sequence that we’re not sure how it links to our story. Just like “Get Out”, we have a very intimidating title song that got me into a non comfortable mood yet I totally liked it. Just like “Get Out”, the road plays a role. Just like “Get Out”, humour has a sensible presence. Just like “Get Out”, we will leave the film remembering and trying to make sense of iconic tools. And so many other things that are just like “Get Out”. Yet, I definitely cannot say that I’ve seen a filmmaker simply repeating what made him successful in the first place.

As far as I’m concerned, “Us” is a sharp commentary on the concept of social class. How people are simply split into those clusters! How we are being lead to believe that it’s according to education, intelligence and knowledge while it’s all actually about appearances and economic worth. Generously awarding the fortunate & violently punishing the unlucky. Then, we move to the tricky part; What kind of feelings are actually boiling up from one class towards the other! And what would happen if we came to the conclusion that the world is simply not large enough for all of us. The film explores that concept very smartly in a series of very expressive scenes and sequences, and not at any second did I feel like it was all staged to help present that idea. Ok, maybe at the beginning of the Wilson’s home invasion I did feel like it was a bit staged to help present the idea.

In “Us”, we have a solid, coherent and extremely well paced horror story with a splash of comedy. Oh yes, I know Jordan Peele insists that, unlike “Get Out”, this is just a horror film. The only thing I agree with is that, unlike “Get Out”, the comedy here is not always hitting the right notes. Sometimes it’s very clever, and sometimes it’s completely out of place but, in the horror classification, the film is, and just like “Get Out”, very unique. I couldn’t count a single jump scare throughout the whole film. This film is plain creepy. In imagery, in rhythm, in characters movement, in music, in dialogues and in the stories being told. The screenplay got me invested, and the more invested I got, the more horrified I felt. That is not to say that the source of horror in the film lies entirely on your own imagination. As a matter fact, I’m getting more and more convinced that Peele is mastering the art of extracting scary moments from everyday life, and the opening sequence is my proof. Also I’m not sure why would anybody not feel invested in this film!! Because, unlike “Get Out”, the topic we’re exploring is not only relevant to a certain race in a certain region, and that got me to relate more to the events and the idea. Without forgetting how superior all the cinematic ingredients were. Especially in two key aspects, the visual experience and the acting performances. This film is filled with paintings of all types from start to finish. Paintings that you would hang in your room, hang in your dreams, or hand in your nightmares. And not only static paintings, there’s a particular dynamic scene towards the end that I believe we’ll be discussing and studying for months.

As for acting performances, everybody is great while Lupita NYong’o is far far better than just great. Again, I don’t want to spoil or help you cheat .. but track her carefully through the film guys, she tells everything without even speaking.

“Us” is very significant horror film with a real core, an entertaining story, incredible performances and excellent execution. It is not by any means an obscure film, it has a very easy to follow story with all the attractive elements of shock and surprise, but you can easily tell that it means more than what meets the eye and I think it’s fluid enough to accommodate many tracks of thoughts. It is not gory and it doesn’t depend on cheap scares so if you’re not a fan of horror in general, give this one an exceptional try.

Anya Taylor-Joy is Thomasin in The Witch

What we should’ve found around that forest as well was the horror that the movie promises, and just like Samuel, all those promises go missing early on in the movie. First, I find it necessary to highlight that I watched the movie in Cairo, Egypt, and censorship wasn’t at all kind with the final product I watched. Cinemas are never tolerant of nudity where I live, and it’s probably our bad luck that most of the horrific events in the movie came hand in hand with some nudes. I can’t say for sure, but it’s hard to imagine that those few minutes could’ve turned my opinion all the way around, and therefore I’ll say it with confidence; The Witch .. is not scary!

Associating the movie with mysteries and thrillers sounds more fitting to me, and leaves me with enough preparations to appreciate the beautiful picture that Robert Eggers introduced on his long feature debut. Eggers’ vision for extreme faith violently challenged in 17th century New England is definitely mesmerizing. Coming from a production/costume design background himself, it’s easy to see how he showcased his qualifications in this opportunity. The grim and cruel surroundings are well reflected in the overall dark theme of the picture, with very careful natural lighting supplying a clear picture with no visual discomfort, and yet enough reasons to be concerned about the characters and the lurking dangers.

I found myself in complete disconnection with the objectives of the script though. I’ll play my geographical location card one more time. See, where I live, we don’t appreciate witch stories all that much. The horror stories we heard as kids had very few, and generally unintimidating, witches in them. Being a collection of folktales and documented sightings, as explained in the movie’s final frame, I couldn’t relate to the source of creepiness in the events I’m watching. I would speculate though that a movie bringing the worse of my childhood fears in such a believable story can be an unsettling experience. That’s as far as entertainment goes for me.

The struggles of our characters, however, were much more intriguing. The introduction of their religious visions and watching them being questioned by little Caleb set the stage for what’s to come. When the farm economy proves ineffective, the harshly stricken family resorts to prayers and calls for reasonable divine interventions, and when matters worsen their faith emerges as the key defining factor of their identity, rather than the bonds that a loving family should have. I found it interesting to see what some devilish strategies can do to turn strong faith into a tool of destruction.

The character that captures most of our attention is Thomasin since she’s the most human among the whole bunch. Most of her religious commitments are sensed to be her way of connecting with her parents, and she faces that dark chapter of her family’s life with reasonable grief and fear, unlike other members. In her portrayal for the role, Anya Taylor-Joy was a trustworthy companion for the viewer. I would like to believe that it was us, the viewers, with Thomasin against everybody and everything else.

The best performance belongs to Harvey Scrimshaw in the role of Caleb though. Caleb is not as manipulative as Thomasin. They both are kind and innocent, but Caleb tends to be straightforward with his emotions. You sympathize with Thomasin, but you love Caleb and most of that love comes from the portrayal of Scrimshaw, who stole the movie with one scene where he delivered a performance so skillful, it would take any actor months of practice to master it.

“The Witch” is a horror tale that doesn’t scare that much and a mystery that I didn’t really care about uncovering. Solid performances from everyone and a beautiful picture that I appreciated, but couldn’t really enjoy since I went to the cinema with expectations to be thrilled.