The Awakening 2011

Stephen Holden, New York Times: For all of its airs of refinement, "The Awakening" is pretty stale stuff. Read more

John Anderson, Wall Street Journal: The film benefits enormously from having the luminous Rebecca Hall as its lead. It also gains an ominous gravity from the haunted, wounded and wobbly England in which it's set. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Though the story spirals a little out of control in the film's final scenes, "The Awakening" offers the low-key pleasures of an old-fashioned thriller and a lovely central performance. Read more

Alison Willmore, AV Club: The Awakening is both a ghost story and an exploration of mourning and survivor's guilt, though a late twist turns the film away from its delicate merging of these two themes into something both more plotty and stilted. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: There is nothing in the film that will keep you awake at night. Instead, "The Awakening" works much more subtly, with a profound sense of dread and resignation, a death-obsessed movie given life by Hall's performance. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Dominic West personifies the melancholia of a country overwhelmed by death. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, Film.com: If cinema is a dream, 'The Awakening,' I suppose, has just enough oomph to keep you hitting snooze Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: A too-rare instance in which a gifted young actor signs on for a fright flick without coming away tainted, The Awakening places Rebecca Hall in a convincing historical setting and gives her more to do than widen her eyes in fear. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Los Angeles Times: "The Awakening" takes so many unnecessary twists and turns that the final one, which should be a biggie, ends up feeling inconsequential. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: When these sudden surprises work, as in "A Beautiful Mind" or "The Others," you're too stunned to swallow that next handful of popcorn; when they don't, you're tempted to throw your whole box at the screen. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: This stately chiller owes a lot to 1960s British flicks like "The Innocents" and "The Haunting," but unfortunately heads towards cliches with every step. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: An enjoyably old-fashioned ghost story in the vein of "The Others" and "The Orphanage." Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Whatever. Read more

David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle: A lot of tension and buildup leads us to ... well, it's hard to say. Read more

Chris Berube, Globe and Mail: A dull British import that never lives up to the pretensions of its period setting. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It's routine stuff as horror setups go, especially if you've seen such obvious influences as The Orphanage and The Others. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: A ridiculous revelation and a redundant sexual assault undercut all good sense, as fierce rationality gives way to absurd contrivance and hysteria. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: This handsomely made spook story (love those echo-prone hallways!) becomes less involving the more the narrative's mysteries are solved. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The cast is anchored by two wonderful actresses: Imelda Staunton and Rebecca Hall, whose talents are squandered on this lackluster horror drama. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Nick Murphy's bigscreen directorial debut has good atmospherics that only go so far to prop up a mystery whose overdue explanation is convoluted and underwhelming. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: Hall's committed performance validates even the maddest developments, and she slips into the period well, recalling Virginia Woolf in her lank, swan-necked bearing and tremulous suffering. Read more

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: "The Awakening" is nonsense, but with its posh British cast and colors drained to near-gray, it's very solemn nonsense. Read more