After She Wakes (2019)— My take on the movie with spoilers!

Plot Summary: Danni thinks she's suffering from night terrors until she finds out something far more sinister is going on. 

Sometimes I think writers purposely write a confusing story just so when no one gets what it is about, they can say "Guess you’re not smart enough".

When in reality, some stories are just not well-crafted to deliver whatever message or entertainment they want to.

After she Wakes, gets really confusing in the second half. Is it a ghost? Is it an intruder? Was it all a dream?

The answer to these questions is... all of the above.

How is that possible?

Well, you have to see it to believe it. And right at the end of the movie, you feel confounded, well, you won’t be the only one. 

AFTER SHE WAKES Movie Plot

The movie starts off with Danni walking around, as a voiceover states how she is too scared to close her eyes. There are hotchpotch scenes of her getting into a car with her family which consists of her husband, her nine-year-old daughter Cassie, and a baby son.

She is advised to drink coffee for the long trip but she says she’ll be fine. She isn’t.

She sleeps at the wheel, the car is hit by something and bursts into flames. The baby doesn’t survive and Danni and her husband escape without a scratch. Cassie is nowhere to be seen.

Sometime later, Danni and her husband are apparently separated and there are more blink and miss scenes to explain the story.

It seems Danni accuses her husband of cheating and things haven’t worked out for them. Cassie isn’t too thrilled to live with her mother and barely exchanges a word with her. She does however film her mother having panic attacks.

At home, Cassie keeps waving at someone from the window, then draws and creates a mask identical to the stranger she saw at the window. She also keeps filming herself as she sleeps.

Danni suffers from sleep paralysis and keeps seeing black demonic hands reaching for her. She wakes up screaming and her daughter tries to comfort her.

There are more confusing scenes that go to and fro and more night terrors until she finds out from her daughter that her husband is seeing someone and that she would like her too.

Just before Danni can react, she receives a call from her friend telling her about the videos she’s been posting on social media.

Danni checks her page to find videos of her having night terrors. Accusing Cassie of invading her privacy, she screams at her.

But that isn’t the end of it. While researching how to deal with a brat, she receives an email of her in the shower. Disgusted and beyond angry, she dumps Cassie’s phone in the toilet, then they all go to sleep because now secrets are going to be revealed. 

After She Wakes Ending Explained

What’s the big reveal? Dani’s husband apparently hired someone to spook her because he didn’t trust his (ex) wife to take care of their only daughter after the accident.

But it all goes haphazard because Cassie manages to run away from the intruder as he tries to kidnap her. Dannie tries to save her by covering her with mud when Cassie hits a branch and is dazed.

More confusing things happen after which Danni and Cassie end up at the house and decide to sleep rather than call the cops.

That’s when Danni’s husband makes an appearance as she suffers sleep paralysis. He reveals his plan, Danni manages to awaken from her paralytic state as he chokes her and she stabs him in the neck when he doesn’t believe she is pregnant again with his child.

She goes out and shoots the intruder who had once again kidnapped Cassie and put her in the backseat. Except she isn’t there and is hiding.

The mother and daughter are safe.

But...But... Danni wakes up to find herself in bed next to her husband. 

After She Wakes: Thoughts about the movie

So many questions...

Was this all a nightmare? Is she really pregnant again? What is really going on?

After she wakes...is there a reality or is everything a dream and she actually died in the accident too and living in a weird realm where she is made to suffer by being betrayed by her own family? 

Nobody knows.

Scare scale: