Have said more than once about me not having any bias against anything low budget. It may seem like that when critical about low budget monster films and horror especially, but that is not the case in case anybody is wondering. Am not one of those that thinks that anything modest or less budget is immediately terrible, have never tried to be that close-minded and am aware that a lot goes into making a film and that it's difficult.
There are films though that actually do well with limited resources and manage to be above average or more. So in my eyes, saying a film is low budget shouldn't be that much of an excuse for the overall quality in any film etc. to be bad. There are certainly far worse films than 'Wake the Dead' as there was a little degree of effort seen here which has not been the case with a lot of low budget films seen recently. That degree of effort is still pretty small in a film that had a decent if familiar concept but never really gets off the ground.
'Wake the Dead's' best asset, or should that be least bad asset, is the acting. Actually though the actors did acceptably considering what they were given. They at least had presence and nobody was obnoxious, inexperience inevitably shows but have been infinitely worse acting recently.
Some nice eerie scenery here and there and there are sporadic moments of creepiness.
Aside from all that, there is not much else to recommend 'Wake the Dead'. Aside from the scenery, the film looks very amateurish, with afterthought-like effects and dreary and chaotic photography that indicated inexperience and indecisiveness (that may not be the case, it just came across that way to me). The audio overbears, does not add to or enhance anything (jars if anything) and is used too obviously. The direction is characterless and fais to generate much out of the horror elements, which contributes to why that aspect lacks a lot and why the film overall is as bland as it is.
From beginning to end, 'Wake the Dead' is burdened by a clunky and badly underdeveloped script that never flows and by the characters never being worth investing in or particularly interesting. Even more so by a story that has no tension or suspense and on top of that is quite dully paced and has very little freshness. The horror never really horrify or unsettle, because again it's bland and it looks cheap.
Not a complete waste but is lacking in many areas. 3/10
