WAKEY WAKEY

2013 / Director. Adrian Goodman.

Kickstarting the Women In Horror month I have just finished watching a subversive little film called WAKEY WAKEY. It's a surreal and nightmarish story about two sisters living together while their parents are away. The younger sister, Josie, suffers from chronic narcolepsy and the older sister, Samantha, carries a devious awe of perversion about her. When Josie collapses into deep sleep sporadically, she is left exposed and vulnerable to her sister's distorted mind. She often wakes up feeling violated and confused. Samantha fills her mind with truths and falsehoods of her time spent unconscious until Josie's sense of reality becomes blurred. WAKE WAKEY is a challenging film and I know that it will stick with me for some time to come. It captures your attention immediately with a striking black and white palate, which creates a cold and uneasy ambience. The aesthetic conjures up thoughts of films like ERASERHEAD and NADJA and the morally ambiguous sexual connotations cast my mind to Tom Kalin's SWOON. The film's anchoring strength is it's cinematography. It's been shot with such restraint and director Adrian Goodman has resisted the tropes that many low budget films fall victim to. There's no shaky cam or pretentious angles and every shot is controlled. The two leading performances are solid and perfectly understated. I can understand WAKEY WAKEY being included in the Women In Horror event, however, it's horror is far more thematic and indicative... consider it a psychological nightmare. The film is eloquent, perverse and provocative and may require repeat viewing and director Adrian Goodman is a name to keep tabs on. 

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