Shame on me for not paying enough attention to The Awakening, but that’s what the modern status of the horror film will do to you. When I first laid eyes on the film’s one-sheet, which has steamy fog surrounding Rebecca Hall‘s feet and the not-so-terrifying tagline of “Sometimes Dead Does Not Mean Gone,” I subconsciously dismissed it as another tired retread of the genre, skipping over the fact that, by generating positive word-of-mouth at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Awakening had already cemented itself as an exception long before its pending arrival in the States.

But with a director as little-known as Nick Murphy — he’s done plenty of TV work before, but this is his first feature — and a cast without much to show for in terms of box-office appeal, the people at Cohen Media Group, the film’s domestic distributor, are understandably racking their brain for ways to increase the hype enveloping the August 17 release date. And they’ve certainly come up with one today: You can now watch the opening 10 minutes of the film over at Apple or below.

A similar stunt was pulled earlier this year by the folks handling Lockout, but, having little personal investment in seeing that film, I didn’t bother checking out the early-look at all. If I don’t wind up watching the curtain-raising minutes of The Awakening, however, it’ll be for the polar-opposite reason — judging by the recent trailer, Murphy‘s film has atmospheric strength in spades, and I’m not sure I want to dive into that, head-first, on my minuscule MacBook screen.

But there’s an argument to be made for taking a few minutes to watch it. For one thing, it would hardly be a financially irresponsible decision — if you don’t like what you see, you don’t have to buy a ticket, right?

Do you plan on watching the first 10 minutes? If you’re reading from overseas, have you already seen The Awakening?