Last year, Mike Flanagan’s Oculus was the rare breed of horror film that saw a wide release and didn’t suck. Trust me, that’s quite an accomplishment when films like Ouija, Annabelle and The Pyramid (to name a few) really stunk up the place. Flanagan, a truly exciting new genre director, returns to horror this summer with a tale that literally brings nightmares to life in Before I Wake. Relativity Studios released the film’s first trailer through Twitter (neat), displaying gorgeous visuals and haunting nightmares.
Maybe it’s just The Mist fanboy in me, but I’m incredibly excited to see Thomas Jane leading a new horror film that’s getting a wide release. It also helps that Before I Wake looks like A Nightmare on Elm Street meets Insidious, infesting a house in demons conjured up by a child’s nightmares. This concept is truly fantastic and I can’t wait to see if Flanagan pulls it off.
Jessie and Mark decide to take in a sweet and loving 8-year-old boy, Cody. Unbeknownst to them, Cody is terrified of falling asleep. At first, they assume his previous unstable homes caused his aversion to sleep, but soon discover why: Cody’s dreams manifest in reality as he sleeps. In one moment they experience the incredible wonder of Cody’s imagination, and in the next, the horrific nature of his night terrors. To save their new family, Jessie and Mark embark on a dangerous hunt to uncover the truth behind Cody’s nightmares.
Before I Wake also stars Annabeth Gish, Dash Mihok, and Jacob Tremblay.
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This actually looks pretty good, bar the PG-13 at the end
Yeah, I’ll give you that. It definitely looks like a PG-13 kind of horror movie, too. I’m interested to see how Flanagan approaches it since Oculus was an R. PG-13 doesn’t have to be a crutch in the right hands so we’ll see!
I liked Oculus but to be hinest with you I liked Absentia even more. This looks like it could another good one from Flanagan.
Oh for sure, he’s a fun director to watch. He’s 2 for 2 in my book. Hopefully this is another hit. I love the concept.
I think it looks pretty awesome! Can’t wait to see it.
Same here! It looks like an impressive follow up to Oculus. Love the idea of nightmares manifesting into the real world!
This does look good, but like Mr. Movie said, I cringe when I think that the scariest moments may already be in the trailer because it’s PG-13. I can’t help but wonder why they keep trying to make PG-13 horror films, because while some think it’s just about nudity and language, it also restricts how scary it can be, how violent, how intense, how gory, how long a scary shot can go on, etc.
That’s very true and why a lot of PG-13 stuff isn’t great. R can be just as bad though, look at Annabelle. All it really comes down to is how much the director understands the genre because a good filmmaker can make scary movies with a PG13 rating.
Absolutely… and yeah, I fell asleep while trying to get through Annabelle… MORE THAN ONCE! Haha!
Annabelle, my god that movie is terrible.
Soooo disappointing, yeah!
Completely unrelated to this post but I stumbled upon your site yesterday and simply CANNOT stop reading your reviews – so many of them are spot on with my exact feelings!
I just wanted to comment on it and tell you how much I enjoy reading them and will be looking into a few of the positively reviewed horror flicks I have missed while living under a rock!
Glad to hear that, Cassandra! There are plenty of great films to discover once you start looking, hope I help point you in the right direction! Thanks for reading!
Hey Ryan,
Firstly – I still love your blog.
Secondly – I can see obvious resemblance to Cameron’s Closet (even the main evil hero seems to be very alike – don’t you think?)
Here is a trailer for CC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgtfezUVGtw
Keep up th good work mate !
W.
Thanks, man! Great call on that, it does look very similar to Cameron’s Closet. It also reminded me of Insidious a little bit!
I really like that Flanagan uses all this Freud symbols – firstly there was a mirror, that the dark corner and he goes directly to dreams area.
I can even forgive all those holes in the scrips (Oculus) or crappy way of acting (Oculus one again).
I always though that Neil Marshall will be the new horror king – apparntly it turns to be Flanagan after all. And thank god for that 😉
Cheers!
Wojtek
Flanagan is definitely an exciting new director, really excited to see how this one turns out. I had a lot of fun with Oculus and really dug the way it was edited.
Cool trailer! I loved Flanagan’s Absentia. Oculus was pretty solid too.
I’m a huge fan of Oculus, excited to see what he does with this one. Using dreams opens up so many doors for the genre, that’s for sure.
Agreed! Have you seen Absentia?
Haven’t seen Absentia but I know that a lot of people really liked it. Going to have to give that one a watch for sure.
It is pretty low key horror but really well done and effective. I reviewed it a while back. May still be on Netflix. I think you’ll like it.
Hell yeah, I’ll give it a shot!