• Home
  • Podcast
    • Specials
  • Interviews
  • Movie Reviews
  • TV Reviews
  • DVD Reviews
  • Columns
  • News
    • TV News
    • Film News
    • DVD News
    • Online Entertainment News
    • Space News
    • Music News
    • On Stage
    • Geeky, Funny & Weird

Slice of SciFi

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

  • Writers, After Dark
  • The Babylon Podcast
  • Slice of SciFi TV
  • Charlie Jade Verse
  • Contact Us
    • About 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" misses out on invoking the awe of cosmic horror
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 X (Twitter)Share on LinkedInShare on FacebookShare on Email

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

Related Posts

Slice of SciFi 864: Monstersongs
Monstersongs: Rob Rokicki talks monsters and musicals
Ash Is Back!
Slice of SciFi 1060: Cobweb
Indie Horror: Samuel Bodin & Woody Norman talk “Cobweb”

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

Slice

Follow Slice of SciFi

  • twitter
  • youtube
  • facebook

Listen to Slice of SciFi

  • iheartradio
  • playerfm

Subscribe to Podcast

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsiHeartRadioPodchaserTuneInRSS
  • Movie & TV Reviews

Father's Day - Deals on 4K UHD Collections

Recent Comments

  • Summer Brooks on “The Eagle Has Landed”: About the “Space: 1999” Documentary: “I definitely want to keep tabs on their progress in getting this one finished, too!”
  • Tim Callender on “The Eagle Has Landed”: About the “Space: 1999” Documentary: “While I’m sorry the Kickstarter didn’t fund, Jeffrey says that the interest generated by the Kickstarter has attracted the attention…”
  • Tim Callender on “The Eagle Has Landed”: About the “Space: 1999” Documentary: “What a great conversation! I’m looking forward to seeing the final film.”
  • Lou Tambone on Finding “The Joker”: Rich Handley and Lou Tambone on a complex villain: “Thanks! Always a pleasure!”
  • Sean on “Oppenheimer” is a cinematic tour de force: ““Tour de Force” is exactly what I said to the buddy who invited me to this as we left the…”
Tweets by Slice of SciFi
death to humans 160x600
Save 20 on all pre-order statues at TFAW.com!

Slice of SciFi
415 Pisgah Church Rd #302
Greensboro NC 27455
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
The Babylon Podcast
Charlie Jade Verse
Slice of SciFi TV

Slice

Copyright Slice of SciFi © 2005–2023 · WordPress · Log in