Awoken

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Daniel J. Phillips directs. Michael Tessari ACS behind the camera. Christopher Larkin scores. Sean Lahiff cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Australia. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 187 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 2Released 7 years ago.
• 3Directed by Daniel J. Phillips, shot by Michael Tessari ACS. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Christopher Larkin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Sean Lahiff shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Erik Thomson and Sara West and Benson Jack Anthony carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "Never sleep again.".
• 8IMDB entry: tt7838536 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

Michael Tessari ACS

Original score

Christopher Larkin

Editing

Sean Lahiff

Production design

Robert Webb

Costume design

Theo Benton

Makeup / hair

Beverley Freeman

Sound

Andrew Graue

Runtime

87 min · 1h 27m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

IMDB

Awoken (2019) ↗

Also by

Daniel J. Phillips

• 
  Diabolic

  2025 · ★ 6.0
• 
  The Red Book Ritual

  2022 · ★ 5.2

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Community reviews

What people are saying

• tmdb280390232022-08-28
  ★ 1/10

  Awoken co-writer/director Daniel J. Phillips had a choice. He could have made a movie about demonic possession, or a film about insomnia. Now, stories about people who are possessed by demons are about as dime a dozen as those about people who can’t sleep; the question is, how many films are there that deal with fatal familial insomnia (FFI)? Phillips chose poorly, to say the least. FFI is very rare, but that’s no reason to treat it lightly (quite the opposite, I’d say). I’d never heard of it before; it took me watching Awoken to learn about it, which is good — on the other hand, I still had to do some research afterward, not to educate myself further on it, but to verify that it was indeed a real condition, unlike possession. So here’s another question: why put the two together? In the movie, FFI is either caused by or a gateway for demonic possession. The demon du jour, by the way, is utterly underwhelming; it can only enter a person who has not slept for a long time — as opposed to, say, Fallen’s Azazel, who can possess humans just by touching them. Additionally, Awoken’s demon has a sloppy habit of letting its hosts commit suicide just as it is about to be set free. Set free from what, I haven’t the foggiest. One would think that if a demon yearns for freedom, then it would be more interested in leaving bodies than entering them. This could have been a much better movie if Phillips had removed all the supernatural elements. I’m reminded of My Sister’s Keeper, which revolved around the similarly obscure topic of donor children/savior siblings. That film isn’t perfect, but it is honest, and takes its subject matter with the seriousness it deserves. Meanwhile, Awoken addresses FFI with what is best described as a The Exorcist-meets-Bizarro Freddy Krueger approach.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• MC

  McMahon International Pictures

• ME

  Meridian Pictures

Key crew

• Production DesignRobert Webb
• CastingFaith Martin
• EditorSean Lahiff
• Costume DesignTheo Benton
• Makeup DesignerBeverley Freeman
• Special Effects Makeup ArtistBeverley Freeman
• ProducerCharles Billeh
• ProducerCraig McMahon
• ProducerDaniel J. Phillips
• ProducerJohn Tedesco
• Art DirectionGareth Wilkes
• Special Effects SupervisorDavid Trethewey
• Visual EffectsJoseph Stenning
• Visual Effects ProducerGabrielle Joosten
• GafferRobertto Karas
• Still PhotographerIan Routledge
• Costume AssistantElana Avery
• Costume SupervisorVicky Stimson
• EPK EditorVeronica Buhagiar
• Script SupervisorKelly Haines
• First Assistant DirectorBrad Lanyon
• Foley ArtistAdrian Medhurst
• Foley RecordistSam Rogers
• Sound DesignerAndrew Graue

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2020-05-08

Also known as

International titles

• ПробужденныйRU
• ПробуждённыйRU