Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

wlvryn i seriously cannot understand all the negative reviews of this Gorgeous Work.it's almost as if those "reviewers" either haven't actually watched it or are simply too used to the usual banal "hollywood" gore-fests & "subtle-as-a-brick-to-the-face" clichés that they couldn't cope with the intrinsic Dreaminess & slow-building momentum of this quite deep Gem.& as for the "lack of continuity" & "incoherent scene changes" alluded to in those reviews?well i can only surmise that those viewers either simply have short attention spans or limited deductive reasoning, (or some "ax to grind"), as i thought it held together wonderfully, & that the vast majority of the acting throughout was both sincere & warmly portrayed, with even quite exploratory character depth & relationships that were more "intuitive" than blatantly "walk-through elaborations", Beautifully filmed, & generally all round an Artistic (not "arty") offering. Really worth curling up in front of & just allowing the movie to take you along on it's eerie journey, & i'll watch it again no doubt, something i hardly ever do. :)

softlovelylips Watching this movie made my eyes bleed. Every moment that passed caused much needed brain cells to erupt. The acting was horrible. The props, camera work, music score, storyline, direction, were garbage. The kindergarten keyboard playing during the "intense" scenes was more than annoying. The dialog between the characters were stupid and nonsensical. These people couldn't act their way out of plastic bag. Who's idea was it to put them in front of a camera? So much is wrong with this film, that it is almost ridiculous to keep going. Shout out to the guy who did the credits! It helps to know who is responsible for such crap.

Greg Wake the Witch starts innocently enough. Two models and one female photographer are out in the woods taking pictures when one trips on a heavy chain hidden in the ground. The girls believe the chain could be part of town folklore about a woman who was labeled a witch a hundred years before. The legend tells of a woman who was captured and hung by the townspeople who believed she was responsible for a rash of local murdered children. The mob then wrapped her body in chains and buried her deep in the woods and now, if you find the end of the chain turn in a circle three times then kiss your left hand, the witch just may appear and tell you your future. The girls follow the chain with the intention of playing out the childhood ritual on the witch's grave, but the results turn deadly when friends and family begin to turn into beings that are less than human. Wake the Witch follows the life of the photographer Debbie (Stefanie Tapio) from the opening chapter. After the adventure in the woods that opens the film, we learn more of Deb's character through her encounters with her immediate family and her soon to be estranged boyfriend. Deb is revealed to have both a playful and a bitchy side that gives her character some depth in a film genre that doesn't usually delve into the deep end of the character development pool. Deb's friend Trixie (Rachel Lien) is the first to experience changes. A massive headache is the precursor to uncontrollable bleeding and eventually a fainting spell. Trixie is brought home where her symptoms are dismissed as being that of a strain of flu. Also affected by symptoms are Deb's brother Mark (Martin Kenna) and mother (Barbara Elias) which alienates Deb leaving her alone to piece together the connections between the mysterious events occurring around her and the infected illnesses of others. As is our curse when reviewing most horror/thriller films, we have to stop short of further explanation of the plot in an effort to leave subsequent screeners with the joys of a film's reveals. So as Deb combats wicked dreams, evil presences in the woods that chase and grab her best friend and a brother that continues to somehow be connected to all the plot developments, we exit here for the purpose of your screening pleasure. Wake the Witch is a valiant effort from writer/director Dorothy Booraem. Dorothy does seem to have a keen eye for framing scenes and she knew her limitations and didn't try to push the envelope with gore or special effects that would have seemed alien to the production structure. Instead, she keeps it simple. The witch's physical presence is in fact unnecessary and Booraem recognizes the non-importance of this reveal. Booraem does let the scenes run longer than necessary – which is common for writer/directors. The film clocks in at a hefty 114 minutes which is a long sit through for a film that could have easily scaled down some of the non-essential scenes to tighten the film into the more standard 90-minute range. The story is interesting enough and does introduce some original ideas to a classic formula. The inhabitants that chase Deb in the woods are freakishly effective and the script develops more atmosphere than it requests blood and gore. The acting doesn't stay consistent throughout the feature. Tapio, at times, shows brilliance as an actor but then might look out of place seconds later. Her co-stars (namely, Kenna, Lien and Karis Yanike) provide brilliant support which unfortunately overshadows Tapio in some of the stronger punctuated scenes involving emotional outpourings. Although the ending was somewhat of a disappointment we can safely recommend Wake the Witch – even if it is just a moderate acceptance. We receive multiple independent films on a weekly basis for which to review and Wake the Witch is neither the worst nor the best of the bunch. But considering the challenges it takes to bring an independent feature together (there is a Making Of ..as part of the bonus features of the disc), Booraem does well in her first feature length film to at least provide valued entertainment. And when you get right down to it – that's what it's all about, isn't it?

Joe Harris I think that this film was great fun to watch. Did it have flaws? Yes. Was it garbage? No. Was I involved with it? Not in the slightest.I had the pleasure of seeing this film after hearing glowing reviews. I think that it lived up to the hype moderately. Again, the film had flaws, but for being in independent film, it really was well made.It seems to me that someone was really bitter when they wrote the review absolutely scathing it. Why bother making accusations that because someone loved the movie that they had to have been in some way involved with the film? Even if it's true, I can say with all honesty that I've worked on films that I absolutely hated, and have publicly said that.To me, the film was gripping, and while the style wasn't really my cup of tea, I can respect that and still view the film as a whole.