06th Jan2025

‘Dead Before They Wake’ Review

by Jim Morazzini

Stars: Nathan Shepka, Grace Cordell, Sylvester McCoy, Rebekah Clark, Manjot Sumal, Patrick Bergin | Written by Nathan Shepka | Directed by Andy Crane, Nathan Shepka

Nathan Shepka’s been a busy man, over the past couple of years and working in various combinations of actor/writer/director/producer, has given us a trio of solid, if rather low budget films, the crime thriller Holiday Monday, its sequel Lock & Load and the mystery When Darkness Falls. His first foray into horror, a nunsploitation film The Baby in the Basket, will drop in February.

Today, however, the film up for review is Dead Before They Wake, a crime film that gets considerably dirtier and grimmer than his previous efforts. It opens as Alex (Nathan Shepka) has to break up an attempted rape behind the Glasgow nightclub where he works as a bouncer.

Most of the time, though, his life is rather dull. He lives alone in a trailer park, visits his father in a nursing home and spends his money on Gemma (Grace Cordell; From the Inside, Cara) a teacher who has a side hustle as a stripper/hooker. It’s a bleak picture, and it’s about to get a whole lot more complicated.

He’s approached by Evan (Sylvester McCoy; Dr. Who, The Munsters) who claims to know an old friend of his. He’s willing to pay Alex a large sum of money to find a missing girl, Bianca (Rebekah Clark), who he fears has been kidnapped by human traffickers. Why Alex? His time in the military left him well-equipped to deal with violent men and dangerous situations.

Along with starring in Dead Before They Wake, Shepka also wrote the script and co-directed it with Andy Crane (The Baby in the Basket), who served as the film’s cinematographer as well. Instead of rehashing the well-worn “vengeful hero on a rescue mission” trope we’ve seen in countless Taken clones, they’ve crafted something much darker and more nuanced, with a distinct 70s feel to it. As Alex makes his way through Glasgow’s underworld, he travels through an updated version of the seedy milieu of films like Hardcore and Taxi Driver, the aspect of a man in over his head trying to find a missing person has hints of Chinatown.

The characters Alex encounters in his search for Bianca are, with the obvious exception of the victims themselves, a collection of morally ambiguous figures. They’re all various shades of crooked, compromised, or both. It’s not just the obvious villains like Amar (Manjot Sumal; The Demon Headmaster, Scot Squad) and the enigmatic Mr. Holden (Patrick Bergin; The Kindred, Shark Week); even the seemingly minor characters harbour secrets and hidden agendas. This adds layers of complexity to the story and keeps you guessing about everyone’s true motivations.

The result is a grim and oppressive mystery punctuated by bursts of brutal violence, including a tense, close-quarters knife fight that stands out as one of Shepka’s most impressive action sequences to date. But unlike his previous crime films, Dead Before They Wake isn’t solely focused on shootouts and elaborate action set pieces. The emphasis here is on the characters and their struggles.

Indeed, when we get to Dead Before They Wake’s climactic shootout it’s much more chilling than thrilling, having less in common with a typical action film’s showdown than it does with Travis Bickel’s rage-fuelled rampage at the end of Taxi Driver. From there, the film proceeds to an ending that could have been taken from many films from the same decade.

While there are a couple of plot points that rely on somewhat convenient coincidences, Dead Before They Wake is a powerful film that avoids the self-righteousness of films like The Sound of Freedom. Instead, it opts for a gritty, down-and-dirty approach that feels much closer to reality. The film also touches upon the uncomfortable truth that many victims of exploitation are betrayed not by strangers, but by figures they trust, such as teachers, clergy, or even family members.

Dead Before They Wake is definitely not a feel-good movie, but it delivers a powerful punch and leaves a lasting impression. Driven by its script and several strong performances, it’s a compelling and disturbing exploration of the dark side of human nature that marks Nathan Shepka as more than just a maker of escapist entertainment.

****½  4.5/5

Dead Before They Wake will be available on digital platforms in the UK on January 7th and on DVD on January 27th through High Fliers Films. In the US, it will be released by Deskpop Entertainment.
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Review originally posted on Voices From the Balcony
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