The Awakening (2026) by Jaime Osorio Marquez, Federico Durán, and José Luis Rugeles

Director: Jaime Osorio Marquez, Federico Durán, José Luis Rugeles

Year: 2026

Country: Colombia

Alternate Titles: El Despertar; Operation Black Jungle

Genre: Creature Feature

Plot:

Undertaking a new assignment, a team of special ops soldiers are sent into a supposedly cursed forest to investigate a suspected target thought to be hiding in the area, but when they arrive find that the section of rainforest is protected by a deadly supernatural entity that won't let them leave.

Review:

Overall, this was an immensely chilling, if problematic, genre effort. Among the better features here is the rather likable and incredibly chilling work done here to make the group heading into the jungle feel incredibly oppressive and claustrophobic. The series of scenes here trying to make the jungle feel alive, starting off with the impressive story about the history of the forest serving as a protective force for the natives and killing off the intruders in the area, creates a solid background bit of information that comes to pass quite well with the action here to help make that come to pass. There's a lot of genuinely eerie work done here to play that up, focusing on the subtly, ethereal howling wind in the background as victims wander around in the middle of a clearing surrounded by strange figures lurking in the darkness around them, regardless of this being the present day material or the flashbacks to the troops moving through the forest looking for the treasure buried within.

That gives this some immensely enjoyable features that showcase the action that comes along with getting the controlling force to combat the different intruders in various times. The old-school throwback sequences focus on the period-set hunters getting ambushed and grabbed in the darkness of the jungle, where the only thing we get out of the encounter is the burning pitchforks used to illuminate the sequence where they get dragged into the darkness. Given that the whole thing is based on the discovery of the bodies left behind and knowing about the treasure in the jungle that the creatures are protecting, this one has some intriguing moments where the mystery of the jungle coming to life is quite impressive, which is somewhat better than the later scenes of the current commandos encountering the same creatures in full view, where their blazing guns and modern tactics give this some strong action setpieces overall here. These manage to provide this with some really likable factors to hold it up.

There are some big issues at play here. The biggest factor with this one is the rather confusing and generally underwhelming story that never makes much sense despite being ripped from several different films. This one attempts to bring up the idea of dueling storylines involving the commandos from the present day hunting their terrorist target and getting caught in the crossfires of a supernatural entity that begins killing them one by one within the jungle, an idea that manages to feel immensely familiar due to the similarity to another standout genre effort that came out decades ago which had the same general storyline, and doing this with a flashback using Conquistadors who encountered the same creatures. It gradually becomes tiresome switching back and forth between these different stories, as neither one works to establish a consistent mood, with the eerie and atmospheric flashbacks contrasting greatly with the action-packed military operation, keeping this down for the most part.

Overview: **.5/5

An intriguing, if overall problematic, genre effort, this one has enough going for it to be quite enjoyable at times, even though a lot of its issues here are enough to bring this down quite heavily. Those with an appreciation for this style of genre fare, or who are fine with the issues presented here, will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.