Woken review shonky post-apocalyptic horror sends an amnesiac into the plague zone

An amnesiac, heavily pregnant survivor wakes on an isolated island and initially does not realize a pandemic is occurring. She must rely on a smiling neighbor who claims she suffered a fall and that a man is her husband. The situation becomes clear when infected castaways arrive by swan-shaped pedalo and the local group shoots and burns them. The story uses claustrophobic indoor settings, dead insects, and repulsive meals to emphasize fragility and dread. The plot moves from domestic tension to sharper science-fiction elements, including clandestine labs, surgical units, and fascistic hazmat squads. The conspiracy and escape sequence feel reused, and the atmosphere closely resembles Children of Men, leaving the film unable to fully gel.

"Amnesiac and heavily pregnant, she has to trust grinning neighbour Helen (Maxine Peake) when she says Anna has had a bad fall and that James (Ivanno Jeremiah) also prone to smiling a bit too much is her husband. It's only when a swan-shaped pedalo boat deposits a pair of crustacean-faced, infected castaways, and her seemingly lovely friends shoot and burn them, that she begins to realise this is no island paradise."

"The first half covers up some tepid domestic parlour games by prettifying them with seagrass-fringed impressionism, while the second half shifts the needle towards more strident sci-fi, with clandestine labs, ligament-weaving surgery units and fascistic hazmat squads. But the conspiracy Anna uncovers and her gun-toting exit feel regurgitated, while the film's overlapping ambience with Children of Men rapidly becomes a certifiable debt."

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