Time to take on the Grim Reaper! Dave Campfield’s Awaken the Reaper is a psychological thriller about a man who was already drowning in life before a woman went missing and made things considerably worse.
Keith Lamont (Joseph Winchell) is 33 years old, still lives with his elderly parents and his deaf, epileptic brother, Eddie (Seth Gore). Keith has wasted his life away as a substance-abusing, never-quite-got-there architect. Drifting through odd jobs, drinking too much, and getting in trouble with the law, Keith finds himself in a recovery program led by the charismatic former addict Deacon Tom Dylan (Lance Henriksen). Keith is there because he has to be…then he meets Sarah.
Sarah is 27, always smiling, and Keith falls for her fast. When Deacon Tom organizes a mountain retreat, Keith and Sarah finally get some distance from Danny and start to grow closer. All appears to be going well at the retreat. In fact, the group decides to take a photo, but the fun doesn’t last long. At the campfire, a disgraced ex-cop, Carter, smuggles hallucinogenic drugs into camp. One by one, everyone partakes, except for Keith. As he tries to keep Sarah from indulging, he gets into a fight, and she wanders into the darkness and doesn’t return.
Days pass. No Sarah. Then members of the group start dying in freak accidents — Craig and Anthony in a car wreck, the 19-year-old Tyler not long after. At each death, there’s a rumor that each victim saw a glimpse of a Reaper-like figure before passing. And at each location, the group photo is found with a tear starting from left to right, through the neck of the previous victim. Keith is determined to find out why this is happening, and the logical place to start is by finding Sarah.
“At each death, there’s a rumor that each victim saw a glimpse of a Reaper-like figure before passing.”
Inspired by his real life, filmmaker Dave Campfield dedicated Awaken the Reaper to his brother, who was deaf and epileptic, and the profound impact his brother’s life had on him as an adult. He wanted the film to address an issue he’s had with horror films. Campfield wanted to create a story grounded in a reality that could truly happen to a person, while including all the elements of the horror genre.
For me, I like that he sets up the story in a way that feels completely natural throughout most of the film, then lets it all unravel in the third act. Campfield has a firm grasp of the film’s tone. He wades in the pool of addiction using the lighting, cinematography of Justin Paul, and soundtrack to blur the line between the surreal and the real. Weirdly, the kills fill the spectrum of one’s journey through addiction to recovery.
Joseph Winchell gives a noir flair to Keith. Always so close to coming out on top, only to be knocked down a few pegs. He’s flexing a lot of acting muscle as a man walking the line of sobriety and giving up. Winchell is backed up by a superb cast, including veteran actor Lance Henriksen as Deacon Tom, Louis Gossett Jr. as the mysterious Dr. Locke, and Robin Curtis as the director of the institute that Keith so desperately wants to avoid.
Awaken the Reaper exemplifies the only horror I truly like: the smart ones. A story that everyone can relate to for plausibility. Kills that mean something by the end, and a twist out of nowhere that sends the train off its tracks.
For screening information, visit the Awaken the Reaper official website.
"…Time to take on the Grim Reaper!"
