The key to a great slasher film, other than a great antagonist, is a situation where the stakes are high for one or both parties, an arena where both the hunter and the hunted have an equal playing field and one side loses just a little more than the other. With their recent thriller Wake Up, the Canadian director collective RKSS (Roadkill Superstars), consisting of Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell, presents a fun premise with both a great villain and a terrific playing field — a home superstore. The film begins with a group of young activists (Benny O. Arthur, Alessia Yoko Fontana, Kyle Scudder, Jacqueline Moré, Tom Gould, and Charlotte Stoiber) sneaking into an Ikea-adjacent home superstore with a plan to vandalize in protest of consumerism and the store’s contribution to wildlife destruction. On the other side of the fence, the misanthropic and intimidating security guard Kevin (Turlough Convery) is on his last leg with management, almost getting the plug pulled on his employment due to his “aggressive tactics.” As his brother Jack (Aidan O’Hare) saves him from yet another firing, the two find themselves in a desperate crossroads to get rid of the mess that are these “teenage activists” and try to retain their guard positions. After a violent turn of events, the teenagers soon find themselves positioned as prey, fighting to survive the night and evade the unhinged hunter that is Kevin.
Turlough Convery as Kevin in WAKE UP. Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment.
A great slasher thriller on the surface, Wake Up is more than meets the eye, especially when analyzing the story’s mechanics and the characterization of its players. Within the stage of this film, there are two sides, the hunter and the hunted, and building upon this are the ideologies of either side. “We are all animals … and you’re in my hunting ground” — a telling line spoken by the film’s main antagonist. Kevin is a violent, unhinged man with an animal instinct, he hunts for sport (one of the opening scenes being a rat viciously caught in one of his traps) and he believes we’re all animals, deep down, waiting for the day we’re called to battle for our lives. The young activists, while a bit carefree, are vigilant in their mission of anti-consumerism/pro-wildlife. Either side would die for the principles of their beliefs and the film shrewdly puts that determination to the test.
On the performance side, activists are a strong ensemble. Benny O. Arthur (The Assessment) in the role of Ethan, the leader of the pack, has a terrific, commanding presence when he is on screen, never taking the spotlight from his teenage peers, but not dimming his own light either — a perfect balance. Arthur’s tenacious and determined performance is met in equal measure by Turlough Convery’s intimidating and menacing presence. Convery (Saint Maud) is effectively terrifying as Kevin. From the moment we first see the him on screen, you know this is a man that’s two horror films and a mask away from being mistaken for a Jason Voorhees. Convery delivers a performance that is equally arresting and scary, never dropping a ball any moment he is onscreen.
Benny O. Arthur as Ethan in WAKE UP. Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment.
RKSS continues their trend of subverting classic horror premises with Wake Up, their most accomplished entry so far being the acclaimed 2018 hit Summer of 84. Clocking in at a fast and tense 83 minutes (man, that is rare nowadays!), Wake Up wastes no time getting to the point of the action. However, the film works on both levels, with its killer plot and its not-so-heavy-handed messaging. The metaphors within Alberto Marini’s (Retribution) tight script are clear (Kevin and his animal traps, the activists wearing animal masks as they deface the store, etc.), but it’s the execution that merges the story and its themes near-seamlessly. The kills are gruesome, but not too gory, and the violence is potent but not to the point of being perverse. The tense atmosphere and mood are underwritten by imagery that is both powerfully symbolic (fake blood defacing the walls of the superstore) and chillingly literal (a face crushingly stomped in from violent rage). The only thing that doesn’t help a short and sweet film like this is its final shot — a possible kill gag meant to be funny and shocking, but its whole existence ruins the potential impact of the film’s satisfactory climax one scene before. It’s a disappointment of a final moment but not irreparable to the point where the film’s entertainment value is ruined. While it doesn’t break too much of the mold of horror thrillers, Wake Up does what it does well and doesn’t need to do more than that, making it one of the best entertaining thrillers of the year (so far).
In North American theaters April 4th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Blue Fox Entertainment Wake Up webpage.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
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Categories: Films To Watch, In Theaters, Recommendation, Reviews
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