Before I Wake, by The Haunting of Bly Manor creator Mike Flanagan, had a troubled time getting out of the gate. The film was originally slated to appear in theaters May 8, 2015, but after multiple delays and a bankruptcy filing by its original distributor, Netflix finally purchased the rights to the movie (with its United States release rights trailing behind by over half a year).
When the movie finally did see a release worldwide on Netflix late April of 2017 and January of 2018 in the United State, it seemed to slip under everybody’s radar. However, it’s a movie that turns a lot of classic horror cliches on their head, and has an imaginative revelation about the supernatural force the characters are dealing with.
The plot of Before I Wake is that a couple, recovering from the sudden and tragic loss of their previous child, adopts a son, Cody, who they soon find out has a special ability. When he goes to sleep, his dreams manifest in the real world, initially appearing for the couple as their house being filled with butterflies. After having seen the pictures of their deceased son around the house, the child soon begins to dream of him, and the parents are able to see their son again. However, since the son disappears once Cody wakes up, their chance to be reunited is short-lived. How the individual parents react to this becomes a driving force for the plot. That is, at least until Cody begins to have nightmares.
It feels strange to categorize Before I Wake as a horror film. The elements are there, but the film doesn’t go out of its way to scare the viewer aside from perhaps what feels like the occasional obligatory jump scare, all of which are telegraphed well in advance. Right in line with other works by director Mike Flanagan, the film instead focuses on telling an interesting story and exploring the ways Cody’s strange ability impacts those around him. While moments of the film ring out as a bit too saccharine, particularly toward the end, the movie makes a lot of space for the characters’ handling of grief, loss, and trauma. Perhaps it's been categorized as horror more consistently because merging drama with other genres is still relatively untrodden ground.
Attention to small details help to convey aspects of the story. The butterflies that initially manifest don’t have antennae until a child corrects Cody’s drawing at school. A monster, named “The Canker Man” by Cody, is first teased in the opening moments and is on occasion subtly visible in the background in “blink and you missed it” moments leading up to its true debut in the movie. Viewers finally get a clear view of it at about the halfway mark, though one has to wonder if maybe a direct view of the creature so soon spoils the tension inherent in not knowing what lies in wait. A scene directly leading up to its reveal has it take the form of a swarm of moths with glowing eyes, and it looks so interesting in this moment one wishes there were perhaps more moments where it didn’t quite appear in its solid form yet.
The creature’s design isn’t extravagant, but it looks cool, and its unsettling nature plays into the thematic reason for its existence. The fact that it’s a monster borne of Cody’s imagination and thus isn’t bound by the normal laws of physics gives the movie opportunities to play with what it’s able to do, having it on occasion bend the laws of physics and shapeshift itself in impossible ways. However, a certain moment where the monster is seen in brightly-lit rooms doesn’t do it any favors. There are other unsettling visual moments throughout the film, but the Canker Man definitely takes center stage once it starts to appear.
What perhaps works best about The Canker Man is when the viewer learns why it haunts Cody. Revealed in the films final moments, the nature of the creature’s existence adds a new layer of depth not just to Cody’s past and why he is the way he is, but also why The Canker Man is the way it is and why it attacks people in its specific manner. It’s rare that a movie monster represents something so specific and real rather than being as vague and conceptual as “creepy person in mask”. Upon the revelation, the monster takes on a whole new tragic meaning.
The film’s finale is perhaps a little anti-climactic but it does play into the motifs presented throughout the movie, a smart move since the ending can be the most divisive part of a film. Before I Wake is, after all, not strictly a monster movie. It’s an emotional examination on how people process grief, particularly such a young child who is still learning about butterflies, let alone what it means to lose somebody.
There’s not much for the viewer to gain on a second watch of Before I Wake, but it’s definitely worth checking out at least once. Less a horror movie and more of a dramatic supernatural thriller, it’s got a surprising emotional punch to it that hits viewers right in the gut once all its secrets have been laid bare.