Wake Wood review

            This British horror film attempts to do something original, but instead just seems surprisingly similar to a number of other films instead. This is not always a bad thing as far as the horror genre is concerned, but Wake Wood simply rehashes the plot of many other films, including Pet Cemetery, which was adapted from the Stephen King novel. Wake Wood has a similar concept, but with so many rules and strange additions that the concept is quickly convoluted and more frustrating than frightening.

            The film picks up after the violent death of a nine-year-old girl named Alice. Her parents, Patrick and Louise (Aidan Gillen and Eva Birthistle), move to the remote town of Wake Wood, where they discover a secret. The small village has the ability to wake the dead for an additional four days of companionship. This entices the grieving parents into a short-lived fantasy goodbye.

            Alice returns to the living and even finds a new pet dog within days, despite having been killed by a dog. The grieving process is interrupted, however, when Alice begins behaving erratically.  The villagers want to put her down, but her parents protect the undead child as if it were still living.