THOSE WHO love being frightened in the movies will enjoy “Before I Wake”, from the same team that made the hit horror flick, “Oculus”, writer Jeff Howard and Director Mike Flanagan. The movie stars Thomas Jane as Mark and Kate Bosworth as Jessie, a married couple mourning over the death of their son. To help save their marriage, they decide to adopt another child. They then meet Cody, an 8-year old boy who lost his mother when he was still very young.
Three foster parents have previously tried to adopt Cody but it seems he is difficult to take care of as he is always taken back to the orphanage. Mark and Kate choose him as he reminds them of their late son. But Cody has a big problem. He doesn’t sleep at all. He fights sleep by consuming lots of caffeinated drinks all the time. This is because when he falls asleep, bad dreams haunt him and they later become true in real life. One night, he dreams of Mark and Jessie’s late son and the dead boy suddenly appears before their very eyes.
But in his horrible nightmares, there is always a looming figure, that of a skeletal demon who torments Cody in his sleep and is very dangerous as he can take real people away. Mark and Jessie soon realize that they have to figure out what to do to help Cody before it’s too late and the monster in his nightmares become real and take over their lives.
Will this demon be the way for Mark and Jessie to be reunited with their son and for Cody to be reconciled with his dead and long lost mother? That’s for you to find out when you watch this horror flick. It’s also for you to figure out whether it’s a psychological or a supernatural horror piece. Are the events being shown really happening or are they just existing inside the head of the characters? One thing that makes this movie really worth seeing is that it stars child actor Jacob Tremblay as Cody. Jacob is the amazing boy who played the boy born and raised inside claustrophobic surroundings in “Room”. The actress who played his mom there, Brie Larson, won an Oscar best actress award, but we felt there was an injustice because Jacob was ignored and not nominated at all when he’s even better and more astonishing than Larson.
Jacob reminds us of how good he really can be as a gifted child actor in “Before I Wake”. In the movie’s climax where a back story is shown to explain the strange happenings, he excels effortlessly with just the use of his sad looking eyes. His very persuasive portrayal of a boy harassed by supernatural forces that he cannot explain holds the movie together and is enough reason for you not to miss it.
