The Awakening (2011)

Directed by: Nick Murphy

1921.  Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall), a professional ghost story debunker, is asked to solve an apparent haunting at a boy’s prep school in the North of England.  One boy has died, and there may be a link to an earlier, rumoured death in the grand house which the school now occupies.  Armed with her intelligence, a detached, fragile scepticism (she is still mourning the loss of a man in the Great War) and a large number of scientific instruments, she heads north.

The shadow of the First World War hangs heavily – and obviously – over this story.  Less obvious are earlier deaths, but they are there and they soon start to affect the proceedings.  The period setting is beautiful, though you may find yourself muttering “Hogwarts Express” at the sight of the steam train cutting through the gorgeous countryside.

The movie is too thoughtful (on themes such as memory, repression and grief) to class as a pure horror movie, but it is effectively creepy and can occasionally make you jump.  The acting – from stalwart British actors including Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton – is good (Hall’s performance and appearance bore an uncanny resemblance to Olivia Williams’ turn in Rushmore).

Unfortunately, it gets a little bogged down with an ending that has too many components, which tends to reduce the tension.  And a small, budget-related gripe:  instead of a full school’s worth of pupils aged 5-13, this establishment seems to consist of three teachers, and one small class of nine year olds.