‘Waking Karma’ Gets Lost In The Woods [FilmQuest 2022 Review]
Waking Karma is about a high school senior named Karma. When Karma’s estranged cult leader father traps her and her mother in a remote forest compound, she must survive a series of psychological trials meant to prepare her for a strange and deadly reincarnation ritual.
Waking Karma is a predictable movie about the offspring of a cult leader. At no point were any of the reveals shocking. None of the twists were inspired. The only moment that made me raise an eyebrow was when Paul, the cult leader, appeared. But it’s only because he’s played by Michael Madsen. This was a fun moment for me as a film kid and my favorite moment of the film. However, Madsen then gets stuck in this movie with everyone else, and I started to feel bad for him, too.
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I was rooting for Waking Karma. The opening credits are serving major cult documentary vibes with a weird little song about prepping a vessel. It even pulled quotes from Oedipus Rex and Charles Manson to set the mood. But that mood sadly never lived up to it. This could have been so creepy as cults often are. However, it quickly devolves into something again to one of those 90s made-for-TV movies we tell ourselves we made up.
Karma (Hannah Christine Shetler) has the sheltered kid thing down. Her mother, Sunny (Kimberly Alexander), looks too young to be her mom, and we immediately mistrust her. The script does not give her anything aside from being the traitor hiding in plain sight. As all the characters are one-dimensional this also makes it hard to believe Karma and Sunny will be safe with Sunny’s friends. We ride into this compound knowing we are about to get betrayed, and the rehashing of their shared history to explain it does not make it any better.
I found myself bored as Paul, Paul’s minion, and Sunny put Karma through seemingly random and uninspired tests to break her spirit. It’s revealed that Paul’s grand plan is to use his daughter as a vessel because he is about to vacate his body. As I watched Karma play around in the bug head that’s supposed to help with this transfer, I found myself wanting this to be a different movie. I found myself doing that rude thing and wishing Waking Karma was the movie it wanted to be instead of the one we got.
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We spend most of the third act watching Karma plead with Sunny and Sunny telling her it was all an act. To be fair the virginity test scene was more horrific than any of the deaths. So, while this section felt super long it gave us at least one moment to raise an eyebrow. Waking Karma is a movie that was made, and I guess that we should celebrate when that happens.
Let me know if you have gotten a chance to watch Waking Karma at @misssharai.
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Waking Karma
Summary
There are no thrills in this thriller. It chose a rich topic delve into but never breaks the surface. It’s a joyless journey with few redeeming moments.
