Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Podcast
      • Slice of SciFI 1024: Press PlayIndie Scifi: “Press Play” Director Greg Björkman
      • Slice of SciFi 1023: GATLOPPIndie Horror-Comedy: “GATLOPP” Director Alberto Belli
      • Slice of SciFi 1022: Shakespeare, Star Wars and moreIan Doescher on Shakespeare and Science Fiction
      • Slice of SciFi 1021: The PassengerInternational Indie Horror: “The Passenger”
    • View all
  • Movie Reviews
      • Review: The Black Phone (2022)“The Black Phone” is a creepy, retro thriller
      • Review: "Jurassic World: Dominion" (2022)“Jurassic World Dominion”: a people-pleasing spectacle
      • Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story (2022)“Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story”: A loving tribute to New Orleans
      • Emergency (2022)“Emergency” shines a light on race, stress and decision-making
    • View all
  • TV Reviews
      • "Project Blue Book"“Project Blue Book” explores the threads of UFO reports
      • Manifest Season 1: 5 Episodes In5 Episodes In: “Manifest”
      • 5 Episodes In: Reverie5 Episodes In: “Reverie”
      • 5 Episodes In: Marvel's Cloak and Dagger5 Episodes In: “Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger”
    • View all
  • DVD Reviews
      • Discussion: The Spine Of Night (2021)Indie Talk: Another Look at “The Spine of Night”
      • Review: Creepshow S2 Blu-rayBlu-ray Review: “Creepshow Season 2”
      • Batman: The Long Halloween (2021)“Batman: The Long Halloween”: an effective if over-long story
      • Blu-ray: Seance (2021)Blu-ray review: “Seance”
    • View all
  • Columns
  • News
      • TV News
      • Film News
      • DVD News
      • Interviews
      • Events
      • Geeky, Funny & Weird
      • Online Entertainment News
      • Music News
      • On Stage
      • Space News

Slice of SciFi

This is How We Geek Out: Interviews, Reviews & More

  • Writers, After Dark
  • The Babylon Podcast
  • Slice of SciFi TV
  • Horror Happenings
  • SciFi Shop Talk
  • Contact Us
“Black Wake” misses out on invoking the awe of cosmic horror A cool idea that suffers from an uneven story and storytelling style

“Black Wake” misses out on invoking the awe of cosmic horror A cool idea that suffers from an uneven story and storytelling style

August 7, 2018 By Summer Brooks Leave a Comment

I’m always curious to see how people tackle stories rooted in Lovecraft’s mythos, how different adaptations and interpretations of those cosmic and undersea elements and the portrayals of the fall into madness can be. In recent years, there have been more good Lovecraftian stories told in print than in visual mediums, but with more and more focus on improved productions in independent horror films, hope reigns that a really good film or two will come along.

Unfortunately, this film is not one of them.

The intimacy of the found footage segments, the incidents recorded by civilians and by to surveillance teams seems like they are supposed to add to or deepen the mystery of why these transformations are happening and to the horror of how they are happening. Instead, they only muddle the narrative and confuse things in regards to time and location of where and when these events are taking place. The only indication of a timeline comes from the video diary entries of the main character, Dr Luiza Moreira (Nana Gouvea), a psychologist shoehorned into a team of high level scientists investigating the origins and transmission rates of the unexplained deaths that have started to become a newsworthy and unexplainable phenomenon.

But that timeline skipping ahead 4 months or more where the team dismisses every single suggestion Luiza puts forth, especially in light of the fact that the team hasn’t made any sort of progress in solving the problem, or even successfully collecting more data from more living transformed specimens is a logic bump in the story you can’t get past.

Black Wake (2018)

The one thing that is evident is Luiza’s progressive mental decline, and the agents secretly surveilling her entire life reporting to an unknown entity about the integrity of her personality, provide a source of curiosity about what is going on with this story. But eventually the potential in that reveal falls flat, entirely misspent when the full reveal about the true nature of Luiza’s identity and nature is presented.

On the upside, the editing is impressive, knitting together the different segments and styles of the found footage and documentary footage, and some of the special effects are blended in with the actual footage quite well. And bonus points for including gag reel footage along with the ending credits. Some amusing stuff in there… it’s almost a shame that the outtakes seem to be better than the film they were taken from.

But those creative touches are not enough to salvage any enjoyment from Black Wake. I wonder if there was another story line or more scenes that were cut from the final film, almost as if 90 minutes wasn’t enough time to fully develop what’s really going on.

Rating: 1.5 stars


Inspired by the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. BLACK WAKE follows specialists who gather in a top secret facility to investigate a series of deaths on the beaches along the Atlantic Ocean. When a determined detective (Tom Sizemore) sends one of the scientists (Nana Gouvea) the crazed writings of a mysterious homeless man, she discovers the actual threat may be an ancient force from the sea hell-bent on bringing madness and death to all of humanity. Can she convince her colleagues (led by Eric Roberts) of the true danger before an ancient force rises from the sea to bring madness and death to all of humanity?

Cast: Nana Gouvea, Tom Sizemore, Eric Roberts, Vincent Pastore, Jonny Beauchamp and Chuck Zito
Directed by: Jeremiah Kipp
Written by: Jerry Janda, Carlos Keyes and Jeremiah Kipp

Black Wake
1.5

Summary

In recent years, there have been more good Lovecraftian stories told in print than in visual mediums, but with more and more focus on improved productions in independent horror films, hope reigns that a really good film or two will come along.

Unfortunately, this film is not one of them.

Sending
User Review
0 (0 votes)
Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on Email

Filed Under: DVD Reviews Tagged With: horror, Indie Films

Related Posts

Slice of SciFi 832: Kill Order
Indie Scifi: Chris Mark Talks “Kill Order”
Slice of SciFi Extra: "Welcome to the Blumhouse" Pt 2
“Welcome to the Blumhouse”, Part 2
Don't Breathe
Reviewing “Don’t Breathe”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Filter by Categories
Audio Productions
Awards News
Book News
Book Reviews
Columns
Comics News
DVD News
DVD Reviews
Entertainment Business News
Events
Fan Films
Fan Productions
Film News
Film Reviews
Gaming News
Geeky, Funny & Weird
Human Interest
Interviews
Music News
On Stage
Online Entertainment News
Science News
Slice of SciFi
Slice Video News
Space News
Specials
Technology News
TV News
TV Reviews

Subscribe to Podcast

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsiHeartRadioStitcherPodchaserTuneInRSS

Listen to Slice of SciFi

iTunes
iHeart Radio
Player.FM
RSS
 
  • Movie & TV Reviews

Recent Comments

  • Summer Brooks on “Astrid & Lilly Save the World” Season 1 Breakdown: “I’m waiting on renewal news on this one, too. So much fun, and for next season I would love to…”
  • Neil A Ottenstein on “Astrid & Lilly Save the World” Season 1 Breakdown: “Finally got a chance to watch the last two episode tonight and then listened to this. Great to hear the…”
  • Chris Howley on “The Northman” brings a Viking legend to life: “Your review makes me want to see this movie, which I had previously decided to skip over. Of course, I’ll…”
  • Armando Ruiz on Aquaman vs Namor: “Namor can destroy DC’s fish man”
  • Louis C Howley on “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is delightfully subversive: “Thank you for that compliment. I agree that it is a very difficult film to summarize. I very much appreciate…”
Tweets by Slice of SciFi
death to humans 160x600
Save 10-50% on in-stock toys at TFAW.com.

Slice of SciFi
1121 Annapolis Rd PMB 238
Odenton MD 21113
602-635-6976

Artwork:
Slice of SciFi spiral logo designed by Tim Callender

Theme Music:
Slice of SciFi music and themes
courtesy of Sci-Fried

Sister Sites:
Writers, After Dark
Horror Happenings
SciFi Shop Talk
Slice of SciFi TV

Copyright © 2005–2022 · Magazine Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in