The horrors waiting in the periphery of the sleepless mind come to the fore in AWOKEN, on DVD from Umbrella Entertainment.

With her younger brother Blake's (LEGEND OF THE SEEKER's Benson Jack Anthony) health in serious decline thanks to Fatal familial insomnia, a hereditary degenerative genetic disorder that picks is victims at random, medical student Karla (Sara West, DON'T TELL) is scrambling for the latest in experimental treatments. When the hospital decides that it would be best that Blake spend his last days at home, Karla accepts an offer from family friend Robert (Erik Thomson, 13 GANTRY ROW) – father figure since her own scientist father William (Paul Reichstein) committed suicide after the disorder claimed his wife Sarah (Melanie Munt, AREA 407) – who has been running a top secret sleep lab literally under the noses of the medical faculty in the disused basements of one of the campus buildings. With the help of classmate Alice (Amelia Douglass) and pharmacology student ex-boyfriend Patrick (Matt Crook), they move Blake down to the secret lab where the only other patients are Angela (Felicia Tassone) who has severe night terrors and Christopher (Adam Ovadia) who has a fatal form of sleep apnea. Suffering from insomnia herself, Karla pushes herself despite the worries of Alice and Patrick, discovering behind a shelf a box of videotapes which reveal that her mother was a patient in the lab under observation by Robert, her own father, and a priest (Mark Saturno) who tried to convince them that Sarah's disorder was demonic in nature. As she and Alice investigate, Blake starts zoning out even though both Angela insists that he is trying to kill her. When a fatal accident occurs, the group discovers that they are trapped in the basement due to a malfunction, and that something evil may be about to emerge from sleep into the waking world.

Wearing its influences on its sleeve – the credits lettering is "John Carpenter Font" while the title card font is that of THE EXORCIST – AWOKEN brings nothing new to the table; but it juggles its cliché elements in a novel manner for much of the running time with fairly good performances (particularly Thomson and West). The film stumbles once the possession element is out in the open and different characters spout out Latin alternately trying to exorcise and summon a demon. The final act explanation of the pre-credits teaser was unexpected, although the bookending final image is more tiresome than clever (although the film's most surprising aspect is that it was shot in Australia with no indication that it was anything but an American production). Unavailable on DVD or Blu-ray stateside, domestic viewers are probably better off streaming and then picking up the import if this film's combination of elements really does it for you.