Awake not Woke!

Gay men in bed together with a kissing scene

And another universe destroyed

Another series that started with a really original and super interesting narrative in the first two seasons, but it got completely wrecked once the DEI rules kicked in. By the last season, they’d turned the protagonists into the villains because, you know, straight cis men and women are apparently evil in the eyes of these militant artists. Another one I’m not even gonna bother going into details about. A universe that had so much potential to keep unfolding with a tight, engaging plot across tons of seasons… totally destroyed by leftist propaganda.

This one was so close to being a really good French horror movie. The acting is good, the Lovecraftian story well done and the writing competent. Everything is very dark and claustrophobic with some tense atmospheric moments. There is also a pretty good amount of well done gore and blood FX. Unfortunately around the 1 hour mark when the creature shows up it loses it's way a bit. While the creatures designs is ok they appear to have used a puppet rather than an actor in a suit and it really just doesn't work. The creature barely moves and it's very stiff, slow and jerky in what little movement it does make. It's just not scary when the monster just stands there most of the time and doesn't do anything. As for woke, there is some diversity in the casting, however France did use a lot of immigrants and foreigners in mines at the time so the casting is probably about right. However the Arab immigrant character is the one pushed as the hero and is the mortally superior one and smarter than the rest. The French character Louis is blatantly racist which doesn't make a lot of sense given many of the miners were in fact immigrants at the time. It also goes against the miners statement at the beginning that they are referred to as 'black-faced' because in the mines they are all covered in coal dust and can't tell the difference in ethnicity anyway. Cant' help but feel that was a little agenda push there. I think it's still worth a one time watch if you like Lovecraftian horror. Just be prepared the second half will be a bit of a letdown.

Really the only thing woke is the token black character. This should of been much more fun than it was. There are no real scares and relied too much on cheap jump scares. The acting is decent, the story is the done before rabid animal attacks variety. The real highlight is the excellent gore FX and some decent kills otherwise pretty average. The biggest weak point is the decision to use an actor in a suit to play the part of the chimp. It is obvious from the first scene on. Everything is off, the movements and actions scream actor and not a real animal. The writing is another weak spot. The plot requires the characters to act like morons and victims the entire time. The house is full of things that could be used effectively as weapons yet not once does anybody grab anything or attempt to fight back. They conveniently ignore or turn their backs to the chimp multiple times to allow it to sneak up on them. Also a lot of the action by the chimp seem implausible or unrealistic. Several scenes meant to be shocking or scary had me laughing instead. The comical cliff dive scene comes to mind. It's not the worst horror movie but don't go in expecting much.