Wake Up (2023) Review

A group of young activists, led by Ethan (Benny O. Arthur), heads for the House Idea store, where they hide out until after closing time and then set to work on vandalising various displays. What they haven’t bargained upon is unhinged security guard Kevin (Turlough Convery), who has been assigned to the night shift as a punishment after almost losing his job. Kevin has had to forego his weekend of primitive hunting out in the wild and circumstance dictates that he can pursue his prey in the urban jungle instead…

From the RKSS filmmaking collective, Wake Up has feels like it has less of a personal stamp than their previous work (Turbo Kid, Summer Of ’84, We Are Zombies) but what it does deliver is a cleanly shot, pared down, alternative take on the slasher movie as Kevin fashions a variety of stabby weapons and rigs various booby traps around the place. There’s no way out. The mobile phone signal is down. That’s highly unlikely, given the location, but previous movies of this ilk have demanded far greater suspension of disbelief. It’s a fine excuse for many, bloody confrontations to take place. And oh, are they bloody.

The opening twenty minutes provide a breezy introduction to our half-dozen Gen Z environmental warriors, Alberto Marini’s script sketching most of them as somewhat aloof, well off kids with a yen for posting every one of their exploits on social media. One of them even wears a Roadkill Superstar T-shirt, unaware that referencing the creative talent behind the movie is not necessarily a pass to surviving it.

Now, I’m not saying that being annoying is any kind of reason to be slaughtered by a maniac, but these superstore interlopers aren’t the most sympathetic you’ll ever meet. In short, they’re sort of folks that this subgenre’s audience would be more than happy to see bumped off in imaginative ways. The plot even hands the killer some level of justification to go apeshit.

If you’re looking for undiluted stalk and slash, Wake Up gets down to business swiftly and rarely allows the pace to drop. The geography of the mart is well established, the storage racks of the warehouse proving handy for plenty of suspenseful creeping around. As the body count ticks up, there are a couple of opportunities for the viewer to take a breath, and for the story to deal with skimpy character arcs in an expeditious manner, but truly little is allowed to bog down the butchery.

In a movie which emphasises lean, mean-spirited action over development of its protagonists, Convery still manages to shine as Kevin, a hulking presence with an unnerving lack of empathy behind the eyes. Arthur does well with the most detailed role of the activist group, while his cohorts slot into the various genre archetypes many of us know and love. The performances from the entire cast are not bad at all but the nasty mayhem almost always takes precedence and any possible nuance tends to be obliterated by some poor sod getting a jury-rigged spear in the back, for instance

So, after an escalating hour of havoc, do the RKSS folks stick the landing? The trio doesn’t seem to have a final act flub in their DNA, bringing their expertise to an assured, tense climax which dishes out more than its fair share of cruel twists, closes on a remarkable final shot which is worth the price of admission alone and then swerves the expected credit roll to deliver a shamelessly dark and amusing epilogue.

Wake Up may be far from redefining the slasher film but it’s a short, sometimes sharp shocker which plays to the gallery, ditching its potential for social commentary in favour of attractive teens being carved up by an absolute madman. Double bill it with 80s Ozploiter Dangerous Game for an interesting “then and now” experience.

Movie Rating:

Wake Up trailer