It Waits

Okay - I realize this movie belongs to a genre that is, for the most part, immune to scrutiny. Nevertheless, it is always disappointing to see the same ridiculous clichés about stupid people doing stupid things in order to give the unseen monster easy pickings (not to mention to keep the writer, director, and producer from exerting themselves by actually trying to think up a fresh idea.) How many times do we need to see someone skipping out into the woods in the middle of the night when they know there's a monster bumping people off? Or the contrived love scene (after a bloody discovery) designed to show off the lead actress's exquisite breasts? And the talking bird sidekick? Bottom line: bad acting, worse script - would have been more satisfying to see everyone killed in the first five minutes and then watch the monster wander around aimlessly in the woods for a few hours.

Casual channel surfing this morning-and ended up watching this On SciFi Channel. I was kind of impressed- The main character's angst and predicament and her guts in confronting the bad stuff reminded me of Siggy Weaver's Ripley character. I liked the setting and the Ranger stuff. I liked Dr Riverwind(for all of 5 minutes). The character parts of the story were more interesting than the actual "horror movie" stuff. Actually made me care enough to sweat out the action sequences. I was curious who the writer was and when I saw Richard Matheson it confirmed my suspicions that this script was not dreamed up in a frat house over a vat of vodka jello shots but was the work of a decent writer. I thought Cerina did a great job in her portrayal.

And Hoppy ROCKS! He and Jonesie from Alien should get together someday( over vodka jello shots) and trade war-stories.

You have to give the writers and producers at least some credit for daring to release a horror movie that is called "It Waits". That's like openly claiming: our movie will be boring and don't pretend we didn't warn you in the title. The good news, however, is that "IT" (which is this time a mythological Indian demon instead of Pennywise the Clown) only waits for a good half hour – until the inevitable dramatic sub plot and dull character drawings are over and done with – before going on its outrageous murderous rampage. I even daresay "It Waits" is a fairly enjoyable creature feature as long as you manage to look past all the dreadful genre clichés and nonsensical plot elements. The central character is a young and hot Canadian ranger stationed in a tower post somewhere in the middle of an extensive forest. Poor Danielle St. Claire drinks a lot of Vodka because she can't deal with being responsible for the death of her best friend in a car accident. This means that for the first half hour, "It Waits" only features dull guilty speeches and a forced dramatic atmosphere. Danielle's traumas all become meaningless when she and her boyfriend Justin face the bloody battle with a demon that accidentally got unleashed from its prison cave and now runs amok in the woods. There's a terribly lame sub plot trying to trick us into believing the mythological creature actually feeds and strengthens on misery and sadness (and thus Danielle herself attracts it), but I strongly advise you to disregard the ludicrous dialogs and fully focus on the special effects and gory massacres. "It Waits" borrows ideas and elements from at least a dozen of other (and more successful) horror movies, but hey, you've surely seen a lot worse already and at least the second half provides plenty of carnage and the creature's design is reasonably horrific. The filming location is stupendous and reminded me of those glorious early 80's slasher movies that also entirely took place in forestry regions, like "Just before Dawn" and "The Final Terror". Cerina Vincent isn't very believable as a park ranger heroine, but she has obvious other qualities like her incredible good look and an impressive rack. Yes, I am aware that's a shallow remark but it had to be said! Besides, her tight ranger outfit as well as the smooth cinematography leave no opportunity untaken to emphasize her yummy boobs, neither.

For some reason while watching IT WAITS it occurred to me that this movie looks and feels a bit like some sort of 90 minutes long stand alone episode of THE X-FILES (but only without Scully and Mulder running around in it and it's not about aliens either). So that already hints that IT WAITS isn't that bad at all. But as far as 'look & feel' goes, that's where the comparison ends. While on the surface IT WAITS looks like your standard run-of-the-mill creature-in-the-woods feature, it does have a little more to offer. The drama-aspects, predominant in the first half of the movie and coming back with a final twitch in the end, were something you wouldn't exactly expect in the first place from a movie like this and they were even well-developed too. So what am I talking about exactly? I'll keep it vague, so no spoilers. Cerina Vincent (looking good as ever) plays a troubled young ranger, Danielle, coming to terms with her personal demons from the past regarding a traumatic experience and her on-going issues with her boyfriend Justin (played by Dominic Zamprogna, who has a pleasant on-screen charisma). Her location of choice to do all that (and get wasted on alcohol during the process too) is a remote forest outpost. Like I said, the dramatic subplot is interesting, told in a decent fashion and very well portrayed by Miss Vincent. I could only appreciate it, even though I think they over-used the inappropriate tragic/romantic rock songs on the soundtrack.

What about the creature? You very soon learn that it's some demon from a Native American legend. But only later in the movie you learn a bit more about its history and characteristics. The sequence where you learn all that information really felt a bit easy and out-of-place. But I agree that it was necessary to flesh out the character of the creature. The demon-beast itself is a nice creation by Tony Gardner (check out his resumé and you'll find out that the guy always does a good job). It might remind you of The Creeper from JEEPERS CREEPERS mixed with a little bit of PUMPKINHEAD and a face ten times more vicious than any possible demon from the BUFFY series. But it still looks pretty unique. Some of the CGI shots of the creature where a bit less convincing. The kills in this movie are pretty good and gory, and the fun stuff includes that some of the corpses tend to pop up here and there, because our demonoid creature is just a bit more cunning and devious than your average beast.

Another nice touch about IT WAITS is that it's not about a bunch of people (whether it be teenagers or military folks or whatever) fighting some creature in the woods. From the second half of the movie onward, it's Danielle who has to battle it out on her own with the creature. It's Woman vs. Beast here, where the beast could easily be a metaphor for her own dark demons she has got to come to terms with before the movie's closure. And then there's also a nice little supporting role for… a parrot! Now if you want to know how all that works out, you'll just have to watch the movie. I liked IT WAITS more than I expected, but I'll try to temper my enthusiasm in my final rating. Because it still remains just an above average creature feature with a few extra merits going for it (the nice cinematography and the beautiful, mist-laden Canadian forests as scenery being two I haven't even mentioned yet).

How many times have we been down this path before? This low-budget production is a basic run-of-the-mill monster on the loose in some backwoods. A demonic creature (of negative energy) from Native American Indian folklore. But you can't argue that it doesn't deliver what it achieves to do. However it's not particularly exciting in its durably slick execution, despite sensational location choices and the best efforts from its dependably committed cast. I had a hard time believing the very beautiful Cerina Vincent in the lead role as a park ranger, but that's not taking anything away from her performance because she does carry the film. Her character is a complex one, albeit rather clichéd in that she's exorcising her own demons and drowning her sorrows with alcohol. Her boyfriend ranger is played by Dominic Zaprogna and he brings a confident likability to the role. For comedy relief a talking exotic parrot is chucked in. While it can labour a bit, there are some eventful moments of suspense with the creature toying with its victims (mainly at the back-end involving Vincent's character) and when it decides to finish the job it does leave a bloody splatter with jolts few and far. Some instances seem laughable though. The camera-work has numerous monster POV shots and that frenetic hand held photography shows up. The monster FX is decently captured and does look impressive when we see it in full sight. Standard, but modest creature-feature entertainment.

"If its coming after me. How do I kill it. "