- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English PCM 2.0
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: R
- Discs: 1
- Studio: Dark Sky Films
- Blu-ray Release Date: July 5, 2011
- List Price: $34.98
[amazon-product]B004SEUJ5U[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Wake Wood on Blu-ray at CD Universe
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Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:3/5]
I wanted to like this movie.
I figured I’d turn all the lights off, pop the disc in and prepare to be scared. Maybe I’m jaded or maybe Wake Wood is just too dull and derivative to raise any hairs on the back of my neck. I’m going with the latter. I wasn’t too far in when I realized I’d seen this all before – young child, possibly demonic, pagan rituals, necromancers, a bright, primary-colored raincoat. If I put together The Omen, The Wicker Man, and Don’t Look Now, I’d have Wake Wood, only, a better version of it.
This Irish horror film follows a couple, Patrick and Louise, who have lost their daughter Alice after she is mauled by a dog. Not able to let go, they are approached by a town elder, (Timothy Spall), who tells them he can bring her back, but only for three days, and only if she hasn’t been dead longer than a year. They agree, and after a scary ritual, Alice is brought back, but something’s not right. Suddenly the animals of the town of Wake Wood start showing up eviscerated, and ravens begin dying – is it Alice?
Apart from the derivative storyline, Wake Wood offers little scares and not much character development. You can’t connect to the parents of the dead girl, because there is very little backstory and much of what is supposed to be frightening is telegraphed in.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
The film itself looks rather dull with desaturated colors and, most of the time, it is spent in the dark. There’s nothing wrong with that, but given that the AVC/MPEG-4 1080p transfer looks rather soft and shows some video noise in the darker scenes, this isn’t reference material at all.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is lackluster. For a film such as this, I expected something a bit more atmospheric to set the mood. Most of the time, however, it is quite boring, with silent surrounds. The low frequency extension is rather weak as well. At least dialogue is clean and dynamics are pretty good.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
This is a rather barebones release offering no more than about 13 minutes of deleted scenes in standard definition and the original theatrical trailer in HD.:
- Deleted Scenes (2.35:1, 480i/60, 0:13.57)
- Trailer (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3/5]
Wake Wood looks moodier than it actually is. Due to poor execution and an unoriginal plot, you’re better off skipping this one or saving it for rental.
Additional Screen Capture
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[amazon-product]B004SEUJ5U[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Wake Wood on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
