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Awaken the Dead
By Matt Staggs
“Awaken
the Dead” is the debut directorial effort from screenwriter Jeffery
McMichael Brookshire. The movie tells the story of two total strangers
directed to a fortified safe house through a serious of mysterious letters,
purportedly written by a mutual acquaintance; a shadowy government operative
named Jeremiah (Michael Robert Nyman).
The two strangers, former assassin Christopher (Gary Kohn) – now
a defrocked priest - and one-time prostitute Mary (Lindsey Morris), share
nothing in common beyond this acquaintance. Jeremiah is a former mentor
to Christopher, and is the father, albeit of the absentee variety, of
Mary.
They aren’t happy to have been summoned to this safe house, but neither wants to leave. Jeremiah, it seems, still casts a long and powerful shadow over their lives and they both feel compelled to wait at the house for further instructions. It’s a good thing too, for not soon after they meet, a government aircraft streaks through the sky, depositing a mysterious dust upon the neighborhood that surrounds the home.
The consequences are disastrous: the dust transforms living people into blood-thirsty zombies and, in short order, the house is soon besieged. The rest of the movie follows Christopher and Mary’s efforts to survive and ultimately to find Jeremiah. A ragtag group of survivors join them along the way, including a hapless Jehovah’s Witness (Nate Witty) who provides some much-needed comic relief.
Despite a largely satisfactory performance from its cast and fairly competent special effects, “Awaken the Dead” suffers from a number of problems that challenge the viewer’s overall enjoyment of the film. Most problematic is the script itself. Although the dialogue is believable and crisp, it would have benefited from a thorough edit. At least once Mary exclaims to Christopher some variant of “You must have worked for my father,” even though by that point this has been affirmed several times earlier in the film.
The storyline seems to drift at points, with an interminably long amount of the movie spent on the characters wandering through the woods surrounding an old church.
Lighting and exposure problems are recurrent throughout the production,
with much of the movie filmed in a sort of near sepia-toned murk that
makes it very difficult to watch. This, combined with some very unconvincing
day-for-night shots leaves the viewer progressively more disoriented and
confused as the movie progresses.
Sound production is also problematic, with most of the dialogue accompanied by the persistent hiss of white noise. At other times, the same dialogue is overwhelmed by the soundtrack, which at times seems both ubiquitous and oppressive. It seems that Brookshire had a song picked out for every single scene of the movie, and was determined to use them all.
“Awaken the Dead” isn’t a complete loss; much of the aforementioned music is pretty good, and fans of “dark” music will probably find the soundtrack more than a fair feast.
Additionally, as a first effort, “Awaken the Dead” aptly demonstrates that Brookshire has the potential to become a good filmmaker. Beyond the lighting and sound problems, some of the camera work is top-notch, and Brookshire is clearly not afraid to take chances when it comes to incorporating the techniques of more accomplished directors (see the “bullet time” sequence of the last third of the movie).
Brookshire is planning a sequel to “Awaken the Dead,” and
one must hope that this second effort will outshine this less than stellar
first entry. For now, “Awaken the Dead” is best suited for
the more strident of genre devotees.