‘The Awakening’ (released 2011) is a classic, beautifully shot, ghostly story set in the survivor-guilty and scarred aftermath of WWI. The film starts in London, 1921, when a headstrong ghost de-bunker, Florence (Rebecca Hall), is asked to investigate the spooky happenings at a remote Cumbrian boarding school. The mysterious death of one of the young pupils and rumours of a ghostly boy haunting the school has caused fear and panic in its staff and students. Florence, haunted herself by the death of her fiancé, tries to methodically unravel the mystery at Rockwood school, but her own rational beliefs are broken down as the plot spirals to a chilling climax.
Florence’s character is layered by her own personal contradictions (she is trying to disprove something that she wants to be true) as well as her passionate romance with the school’s headmaster and war-hero Robert (played by Dominic West). Unusual for a psychological horror, there is real tenderness and understanding between them that gives the film far more depth than the normal 2D horror scarefest.
The film has the predictable components: an isolated old house, bangs in the night and creepy kids, which give chills down the spine and jumps and gasps. The psychological element of loss and loneliness gives the film poignancy though, and the classy set pieces as well as the quality of the high-calibre British cast, make this a stand-out haunted house movie.
Watch the trailer here: The Awakening 
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