Wake Wood (2011)

Wake Wood (2011)
Director: David Keating
Writer: David Keating, Brendan McCarthy
Cast: Eva Birthistle, Ella Connolly, Amelia Crowley
The parents of a girl who was killed by a savage dog are granted the opportunity to spend three days with their deceased daughter.

Interesting new horror from the legendary Hammer stable (under new management, but same name and hopefully same agenda to chill horror fans). A veterinarian and his wife lose their daughter Alice when she gets tragically malled by a dog. In order to keep sanity the couple move to a new village for a fresh start in life. Only the new area Wakewood as a few dark secrets, its residents are pagans. After a short period of settling in the head of the village (The fantasic Timothy Spall) gives the couple a promise that he can resurrect Alice for three days (so they can say goodbye to her properly), the only catch is they can't leave the village with her.

A great plot very Stephen King's Pet Sematary feeling but with lots of human emotion, it makes a nice little addition to the creepy clannish British village horrors alongside films like The Wicker Man and An American Werewolf In London. The film sports a solid cast and effects work, my only complaint was it looks more like a British television movie instead of a glossy film aimed at the cinema, also felt slightly pedestrian at times. Well worth hunting down and as a fan I can't wait until New Hammer start giving us more gems maybe even a few classic anthologies or even new Dracula/Frankenstein variants.

(6½ out of 10)