The Awakening

Florence Cathcart exposes hoaxes dealing with ghosts and writes books about it. One day she is asked to come to a school for boys haunted by one little boy, that appears to some of the children there with twisted face, scaring the boys. So much so that one died from an asthma attack.

She sets up all sorts of machines and means of proving that the 'ghost' is only boys playing pranks. When the school closes down for a week, only a few personnel and one boy, Thomas, stay behind with Florence. That is when things get really creepy. Florence starts seeing the ghost and at the same time remember all sorts of things, like a broken statue or a single shoe.

Turns out she is the most traumatized of them all, having grown up in the house the school is in, where - as a young girl - witnessed her father shooting her mother, who couldn't give him a son, and then coming after the little girl but in the end killing his bastard son, instead. That son turns out to be Thomas.

Florence's visit had been orchestrated by Tom's mother who worked for Florence's family back in the day and stayed in the house to work for the school, as well. Her idea was for Florence and Thomas to be together again, so the boy won't be so lonely.

Creepy with a gothic look to it. Too bad I don't like Rebecca Hall, which made the viewing experience less enjoyable. Luckily, this features also Dominic West, Imelda Staunton and the wonderful but underrated Shaun Dooley. Thomas is played by Isaac Hempstead Wright (of Game of Thrones fame).

5/10