Await Further Instructions

Wow, I actually god tricked by somewhat good direction for like the first 30% of the movie. Then it all just shatters completely. It's not long before you understand the super straightforward message they are trying to deliver. Around 1 hr in the script ended and it sort of just dragged along for another 30 mins of nothing (they just kept repeating themselves in cause you're completely braindead so you won't understand what they mean). It lets you know in advance that there will be no interesting resolution, so you won't get disappointed anyway.

None of the characters make any sense and they change their decisions so often you can' really take them seriously. The effects are passable yet some of the stop motion was just too hard to believe. I actually feel bad that I let myself get baited on this one.

P.S. Kudos to the writers for writing the most ignorant and disgusting character I've ever seen in a movie (and I've seen lots of them) - the dad. They should've called this - "Hateful Ignorance: The Movie"

I'm very torn on how I feel about this film, the quality really is all over the place. The acting is pretty consistently bad, the characters are boring and exaggerated, and the characters constantly make hilariously bad decisions.

That said, it does play with some interesting ideas and themes (even if it comes off as absurdly over the top and exaggerated at times). The ending will no doubt be divisive, but I personally found it intriguing.

I'd recommend watching, as long as you can overlook some of the hilariously poor dialogue and acting, as well as some logical inconsistencies and the grossly overused green lighting early in the film.

5/10, though I could see my opinion changing slightly as time goes on

This film almost got there. The brutal reviews don't make sense to me, because it's honesty not that bad. Average. Started off strong then fizzled out. This film had premise but didn't know what to do with it. Still an enjoyable watch.

*Not* for a dumbed down audience that thinks good sci fi means more lasers and space ships.

Awesome story about human nature, how suspicion can drastically change people.

Similar to an original Twilight Zone episode, where aliens secretly controlled the electricity in a neighbourhood and good friends quickly started turning on each other.

If your head still has synapses that have spark, you will enjoy this.

If not, for you there's another Disney sci fi loaded with pretty explosions and social agendas, churned out by a machine weekly.

'Await Further Instructions' did have much going for it. The premise was one of the best for any film seen recently (pretty bold and creative for low-budget), there were some really interesting ideas, the cover was so attention-grabbing and it looked great. So there was a lot of promise, this was hardly and a long way from being a film that was doomed from the start.

Did 'Await Further Instructions' live up to the potential it had? Not quite. Did it waste it? No. For me 'Await Further Instructions' was one of those difficult to rate and review films due to not being sure what my thoughts are between liking/loving or disliking/hating it. If needing to choose, my opinion would be somewhere in between and being neither extreme. It is a wildly uneven film, but did find myself appreciating what it tried to do and the effort that was put into it, because 'Await Further Instructions' was not one of those non-trying films (a try-too-harder actually).

There are good things. For low-budget it looks pretty good, there is a great moody atmosphere, stylish photography, editing that is actually coherent and far from shoe-string-looking production design. The haunting moodiness is also present in the music score, which didn't feel intrusive or obvious.

Found the acting better than average on the most part, with good performances from Sam Gittins and David Bradley. 'Await Further Instructions' started off very well, it does have tension and suspense and the mystery element intrigued and compelled. The direction has assurance generally before losing control a bit later on.

However, there are exceptions to the acting and they are Holly Weston and Neerja Naik, both try too hard and irritate. It is largely to do with the characters themselves, their characters coming off worst in a film full of indecisive and not always logical character writing which makes the characters not as easy to endear to as needed. The writing is uneven, sometimes thought-provoking and at other times very corny and rushed.

It is a shame that some of the second half didn't live up to the standard set by the first. The tension, suspense and creepiness isn't as strong and things become predictable, silly and contrived with some suspend disbelief parts and a mess of too many ideas not explored enough or gelling together. The ending is sadly one that ends on a whimper than a bang and the lack of polish in the effects does stick out like a sore thumb (sure there have been far worse in film history, but it was obvious that the writing and effects weren't paid much attention to).

Overall, very mixed here but appreciated the effort. 5/10 Bethany Cox