Customer Reviews

Dead Awake

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is supposed to be just another b-flick destined to air several times late night on the THRILLERMAX channel. With that mindset, I gave it a chance, and it sold me with its HILARIOUS dialouge.

The characters were fresh, and the dialouge was actually excellent! It has a pulp 50's feel at parts, ghetto at other parts, David Mamet clever at other parts...it is a real doozy! The acting was dead-on!

I'm still shocked at how fun this movie was. I think fans of David Mamet films and Francios Ozone flicks will dig it.

WHAT A DIFFERENT AND ORIGINAL MOVIE! Stephen Baldwin, known for his lowkey often somnabmulent performances, perfectly plays a man who cannot sleep at night, and sleeps with his eyes open during the day..all the while managing to be a top executive at a dishy firm. During one of his nightly jaunts, he witnesses a murder and finds himself a suspect. May sound old hat, but the body of the movie is filled with some pleasant surprises, unorthodox characters, and twists and turns....and a large dose of comic relief. For example:
*Michael Ironside plays a brain-damaged ex-orderly from a mental institution who offers his own sexual interpretation of Bible lore; his scene where he asks Baldwin to touch where his brains were smashed is chilling and tragic.
*The waitress at the Snow White Diner where Baldwin ends up every night is legally blind, yet tends a cash register and wields a powerful gun;
*Not once, but twice, a toughie's guard dog is wasted, in what can only be considered as ironic justice;
*A dead man's foot is placed inside someone's shoe to see if it fits;
*Baldwin's attorney is only interested in getting the rights to his story for a movie;
*A cop is always taking time during investigations to play the lottery, and lo and behold, he wins---off of the address of the supposed dead person;
*Baldwin is pushed off a skyscraper, miraculously lands on a window-washers station, and the window washer chides Baldwin for attempting suicide while he was on duty;

*Baldwin's first assistant is killed when she offers to help a wheelchair-bound man retrieve his briefcase which is in the middle of a railroad track---while she's out there, he drops several jars of spaghetti sauce on the tracks, and zappo...
These are only some of the unique moments that make this movie such a delightful change of pace.
It's off the wall, but it's extremely entertaining!

It's 3:30 in the morning and there's a movie on about an insomniac. As an insomniac, how could I possibly pass on watching this movie? I thought it was a great movie. It's a movie that appeals to the mind. What is real? Is the whole thing just one long hallucination by this guy who can't sleep? I mean with character names like Belladonna (last name of the police detective) and Uno Magic, how can you be sure anything this guy sees and hears isn't just a delusion? If you like weird movies, then this might really appeal to you. If you don't like unusual movies then watch something else. Oh, by the way, don't listen to the reviewer that said this movie was predictable. I can guess most movies within 5 minutes. But I didn't guess this one and the reason is that this movie is so weird/unusual that I just sat back and let it take me where it wanted. Rent it, buy it or catch it on cable but don't watch it the first time until it's 3:30 in the morning.

A good woman in bed with you makes for blissful sleep. I know it would with me. This is a twisted, and somewhat bizarre retelling of the 1965 classic "Mirage". Stephen Baldwin is an insomniac who walks the streets at night, and on one night he is a witness to a murder, and he goes to the police, and all of a sudden he becomes the number 1 suspect. Baldwin keeps his wits about him, or so he tries to as he's driving everyone around him crazy, and the police don't know whether he's telling the truth, or not. I found this to be a good slab of suspense as everyone is above suspicion, and who is credible, and who's not? Well unfortunately, the flashbacks, and the entering into Baldwin's psyche as he sees all the people he goes by in his walk at night tend to make this movie hard to follow at times. It's still a good film, and I find that it may not grow on you if you can't follow it the first time through. Why I was able to stay on top of this movie was around the waitress W.D. as I sensed she was the other genuine character in this movie other than the one played by Baldwin. Luckily Baldwin found that out too, and now why I give you this proverb "A Good Woman In Bed With You Makes For Good Sleep". If you check the closing credits W.D.& Baldwin are in bed together, and Baldwin finally closes his eyes, and is asleep. It's as beautiful as finding your soulmate, and getting married, and happily ever after kind thing, but as I said if you can't pick up on this it will be hard to later. There were ways of making it better, and more easier to follow.

This review is for the Amazon VOD rental of this film. This film is quite a surprise.
It has a very good story, some decent acting with just enough silliness tossed in to
keep things interesting. I know it is the norm to bash Stephen Baldwin as an actor
these days but he is really very good in this flick. Macha Grenon is also very good
as the beauty stuck behind a pair of soda bottle eyeglasses. The film also has a great
song during the closing credits called "El Camino" which I would like to download if
I could find it anywhere. This film is well worth the VOD rental price.

Despite a roster of eccentrics and a surrealistically inscrutable story, DEAD AWAKE (2001) is not a David Lynch picture. Except for Michael Ironside, who played 'Jester' in TOP GUN (1986) (VHS) (DVD), and Stephen Baldwin (he filed for personal bankruptcy in July '09), this hallucinogenic neo-noir has a cast of Canadian unknowns.


SYNOPSIS--
Desmond Caine (Baldwin) is a man afflicted with insomnia and a rare disorder that causes him to slumber at all hours while sitting with eyes open. During these spells, he experiences violently bad dreams. Soon enough, paranoic daymares become reality.

Caine's sleepless late-night strolls usually end at a nearby diner where he encounters such regulars as a CDing male prostitute, an Hispanic man with two nasty pit bulls, a cop who's terrified of patrolling his beat, and a legally blind shotgun-toting waitress. Most prominent is the vociferous pseudo-philosopher, Skay (Ironside). When not spouting demented conspiracy theories, Skay lets brave folks reach into the hole in the back of his skull to touch his brain. White collar professional Desmond just doesn't fit in with these weirdos, but he hangs with them anyway.

When a wheelchair-bound man (Lorne Brass) intentionally electrocutes Desmond's secretary, she's replaced by 'Kick' Birmingham (Janet Kidder, aka Margot's niece). 'Kick' and Udo (the paraplegic) set in motion a plot that makes Desmond's waking moments as nighmarish as his dreams. Udo goes "missing" (only his foot is found) and Det. Gary Belladonna (Edward Yankie) is convinced that Desmond killed him. By the time evidence proves otherwise, the cop hits the lottery for millions and quits the force. And then the story REALLY gets strange!

Despite a roster of eccentrics and a surrealistically inscrutable story, DEAD AWAKE (2001) is not a David Lynch picture. Except for Michael Ironside, who played 'Jester' in TOP GUN (1986) (VHS) (DVD), and Stephen Baldwin (he filed for personal bankruptcy in July '09), this hallucinogenic neo-noir has a cast of Canadian unknowns.


SYNOPSIS--
Desmond Caine (Baldwin) is a man afflicted with insomnia and a rare disorder that causes him to slumber at all hours while sitting with eyes open. During these spells, he experiences violently bad dreams. Soon enough, paranoic daymares become reality.

Caine's sleepless late-night strolls usually end at a nearby diner where he encounters such regulars as a CDing male prostitute, an Hispanic man with two nasty pit bulls, a cop who's terrified of patrolling his beat, and a legally blind shotgun-toting waitress. Most prominent is the vociferous pseudo-philosopher, Skay (Ironside). When not spouting demented conspiracy theories, Skay lets brave folks reach into the hole in the back of his skull to touch his brain. White collar professional Desmond just doesn't fit in with these weirdos, but he hangs with them anyway.

When a wheelchair-bound man (Lorne Brass) intentionally electrocutes Desmond's secretary, she's replaced by 'Kick' Birmingham (Janet Kidder, aka Margot's niece). 'Kick' and Udo (the paraplegic) set in motion a plot that makes Desmond's waking moments as nighmarish as his dreams. Udo goes "missing" (only his foot is found) and Det. Gary Belladonna (Edward Yankie) is convinced that Desmond killed him. By the time evidence proves otherwise, the cop hits the lottery for millions and quits the force. And then the story REALLY gets strange!


"Dead Awake" is available on DVD.

This is really good but, then again, I like the macabre so many of you readers might not like this.

But it could have been told in a much clearer way. The movie does travel very slow and tedious at times but I did like it all in all. I am a Stephen Baldwin fan and do like to see him in movies. This story was a unique one with a "framing" intertwined within the movie. I recommend this movie to anyone that likes mysteries and to people that are also Stephen Baldwin fans.

A MARKETING EXECUTIVE [STEPHEN BALDWIN] IS AN INSOMNIAC WHO WALKS ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT. ONE NIGHT, HE WITNESSES A MURDER AND WHEN HE TELLS THE COPS, HE BECOMES THE NUMBER ONE SUSPECT. WELL-PLOTTED AND DECENTLY ACTED, BUT THE MOVIE JUST SEEMS LIKE IT'S MISSING SOMETHING MOST OF THE TIME. HOWEVER, I WILL COMPLIMENT STEPHEN BALDWIN FOR ACTUALLY BEING ABLE TO DO A GOOD ACTING JOB IN THIS MOVIE. UNLESS YOU LIKE MYSTERIES, DON'T BUY THIS ONE. JUST RENT IT. ONE QUESTION; WHO PUT THAT ANNOYING MUSIC IN THIS MOVIE?!!!!