Wake Up is directed by Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell both of which previously directed Turbo Kid (2015), Summer Of 84 (2018) and We Are Zombies (2023). 

Wake Up on paper has a really neat idea, a slasher film that takes place in a IKEA like store. I’m actually quite surprised this has not happened up until this point and I will say that the movie does at least get some of that right. However it’s the rest of the movie that really drag this one down, especially with its attempt with trying to say something politically.

The acting is definitely not great, but it’s not the worst either. Everyone gives about as well of a performance as you would expect from a low budget slasher movie. There is admittedly some pretty entertaining moments of “so bad it’s hilarious” acting but there really is not much more to it. The writing really does not do the movie any favors, the introduction to the characters is quick and does not last for long. Which is good in the case that you just want to get straight to the slasher elements. 

The movie exchanges character moments with some pretty gory kills that are by far the best part of the movie, there’s a few thrilling sequences here that are a lot of fun as well. The atmosphere in the IKEA like store is thrilling and is almost able to make the entire movie stand on its legs. It’s somewhat visually interesting with limited amount of space to run, so turning every corner is a thrill ride and basically a coin flip of survival. This makes for some genuinely eerie moments that actually gets you on the edge of your seat.

Unfortunately the movie’s exploration of political topics is what brings this one down, the movie has this view on activism and how it’s meaningless plus how both sides are wrong. Yes the movie is incredibly centrist in its messaging and the way the movie goes about expressing how much on the middle ground it is becomes incredibly annoying. Which is mainly because it has absolutely nothing to say at all, Wake Up is the movie version of a person who barges into the middle of an argument and says that both sides are bad without knowing what the argument is even about. Because of this the movie lacks in political exploration and gives surface level information that the viewer is more than likely already well aware of.

Overall Wake Up is not the worst slasher movie out there, if you took away the movie’s terrible political exploration and wrote more about the characters. I think this would have been a half decent slasher movie that might have gained some sort of following. But unfortunately this is one of those slasher films where the kills are nice and the location is great, but everything else is severely lacking. 

Wake Up releases tomorrow in theaters

4/10 D+