Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Awakening Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 5, 2021

There are many mysteries floating through The Awakening, but the one that interests me most is an "extracurricular" quandary, since this film was originally released several years ago by Universal Studios, at least on Blu-ray if not theatrically. I'm always curious how these distribution and or licensing deals morph over the course of time, but in this "new, improved" release from Cohen, the film bears Cohen's imprimatur along with BBC Films (one of the original production entities). The Universal logo is nowhere to be seen. Maybe it's a ghost.

As mentioned above, The Awakening had a prior release on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios. For those wanting a plot summary, I recommend reading Ken Brown's The Awakening Blu-ray review. As usual and per my repeated mantra, "different reviewers means different opinions", and while this Cohen release seems to look and sound the same as the Universal, my scores may be different. This release ports over all of the supplements that were included on the Universal release, but, again, my assessment of their value may differ from Ken's. Finally, I may be a bit more favorably inclined to the film in general than Ken was.

The Awakening Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Awakening is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Media Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. I don't have the previous Universal Blu-ray disc in my collection, but judging solely on the basis of screenshot comparisons, this presentation looks very similar if not downright identical to the Universal release. As Ken mentions in his review, the grading of this film has sucked virtually all color out of it save for a few interstitial moments, and the result is a kind of slightly green-blue tinged affair that is certainly spooky looking at times, if not exactly "natural" appearing in terms of overall palette. As Ken mentions, there's a grittiness to the grain resolution which approaches noisy levels at times, which may be a distraction for some.

The Awakening Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Awakening features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 tracks (it looks like the Universal release only offered a surround track in DTS-HD Master Audio). As Ken mentions in his review, this is a wonderfully evocative track that makes the most of discrete channelization in helping to establish the things that go bump in the night (and/or day) and help lead to a certain fraying of Florence's psychological state. Dialogue and score are also rendered without any issues whatsoever, and dynamic range is appealingly wide throughout the presentation. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Awakening Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Ken imparts a bit of further information about some of the following supplements in his The Awakening Blu-ray review.

• Deleted Scenes with Introduction by Nick Murphy (HD; 28:14)


• Anatomy of a Scene: Florence and the Lake (HD; 15:16)


• Extended Interview with Nick Murphy (HD; 19:29)


• A Time for Ghosts (HD; 24:47)


• Behind the Scenes (HD; 36:02)


• Trailer (HD; 2:29)

The Awakening Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Awakening may not have the same twist quotient as, say, The Others, but in its own way it's a spookily evocative little ghost story, and it benefits from some excellent location work. The film's final act may go a bit too Grand Guignol for some, with maybe one or two too many reveals, but the film as a whole is properly angsty and moody. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplementary package enjoyable. Recommended.