There will never not be a market for thrillers. New ways to scare and horrify us; fresh takes on old stories. Netflix’s new thriller, Awake, takes the idea of a global catastrophe and combines it with the oddly unsettling theme of never sleeping – which is scarier than you might think.
Gina Rodriguez and Ariana Greenblatt in Awake / Picture Credit: Netflix
Gina Rodriguez plays former soldier Jill, as she and her daughter Matilda (Ariana Greenblatt) fight to survive in a new age of panic. After a worldwide disaster wrecks electronics and leaves the human race unable to sleep, Jill learns that her daughter is the only exception.
The trailer states that stage one of sleep deprivation is disorientation; a loss of critical thinking. Stage two is after five or six days with no sleep; hallucinations take over your mind. Stage three is hysteria; this is where we are shown images of aggressive behaviour from those people who are starting to feel the negative effects that come from sleep deprivation.
Jill, after learning her daughter can sleep when no one else can, is advised to bring her daughter to Murphy; someone we can assume to be from her life in the army. It seems that the clock is ticking and our heroine must get her child to safety, and let Matilda save the world.
It seems that there will, however, be conflict between Jill and those who want her daughter in order to attempt to synthesise a cure for the madness that has taken over the planet. Evidently, it seems that our titular character must try to save her daughter not only from the new horrors of the world, but also from the hands of the wrong people.
The trailer really utilises the stop-and-go type theme that a horror movie or even action film would use; this gives it a tense atmosphere and only shows us pieces of the puzzle, making it even more interesting.
For a very simple premise, this movie seems like it will be exciting to watch. Original films may be harder to come by these days as many stories have already been done.
Awake appears to challenge that notion and bring us something that, on paper, may not be so scary, but mixing in the apocalypse theme and a child that can save the world is a great new idea that actually feels gritty and rather new.
Will this feature be different and unique, or will it simply fall in with other thrillers of the same caliber?
Awake will premiere on Netflix on June 9th, 2021.
Check out the trailer for Awake below!
Written by Melissa, who you can follow on Twitter @melissajournal
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