They Wait

I caught this at the Toronto Festival like the other reviewer and was very surprised by how entertaining it was. A terrific ghost story. Jaime King puts in a very strong performance and the whole cast is solid. It's been a while since I've witnessed entire audiences jumping in fright and screaming. There is incredible atmosphere in the film and the underlying story is actually quite brilliant in the way it combines multiple cultures, the immigrant experience, Chinese folklore and actual history and fuses it into a genuine crowd-pleasing genre film. Highly original on that front. I'm a pretty well-rounded J-horror freak-boy and I couldn't see any clichés here which was amazing. Great work from director Barbarash as well.

I'm giving it an 8 as it was certainly the cream of the Canadian film crop at the festival (not withstanding Eastern Promises, which is not a Canadian story with Canadian actors). There is an obvious very large audience for it and it's well made. Looking at the IMDb scores, while I write this, there's a couple dozen 1's dragging the score down. How could that be? This is a pretty good film! Is this because Uwe Boll has his name attached as an executive producer? People are rating it with 1's and trashing it on their blogs without even seeing it. Sad. What a shame for the sincere filmmakers behind this quality movie.

I have reviewed this under another name. I saw it again today and am as impressed with it now as I was on first viewing. Jamie King and family return to North America after living in China. Her young son falls ill and apparently is possessed by a vengeful spirit. As she seeks to find a way to save him, King begins to unravel an unspeakable mystery involving Asians working in a nearby sweatshop. To say more would be to give it away. This is a terrific little ghost movie/crime flick with plenty of scary images and some moments that will make you jump right out of your seat. Some Chinese folklore is woven into the plot, although I do not know if is the real thing or not. Highly recommended. It pops up on cable once in awhile.

Don't get me wrong, I love The Ring, The Grudge, and most J-Horror movies with the jerky movement ghosts and tales of revenge.

However this movie seemed to be able to communicate the same concepts that make the Asian ghost stories so intriguing without resorting to all the same clichés. And when they do decide to throw in a jump scene, it is usually not where you expect it or completely out of nowhere.

It is a simple story that has been told over and over, but this adds and Asian twist with concepts such as Hungry Ghost Month and Spirit Money without alienating a western audience.

Overall the story is pretty predictable and that is the only downside to this movie. Once you figure out what is going on, it's pretty much a "which road will they take to the end" as opposed to a surprise around each corner. The acting is pretty decent for this type of flick. The kid actually does a good job - never know how they will do in these.

I would recommend this if you want to introduce some of the elements of a good Asian horror story without all the oddness that is directly copied in some of the other remakes. Many of the concepts of the genre are there without the kabuki inspired movements.

Seeing THEY WAIT at the Vancouver Festival, people were screaming at the scares, and the audience broke out into applause after a tense, white-knuckle 89 minutes. THEY WAIT leaps into action with a highly engaging first half, and then escalates quickly into a harrowing and riveting second part. Surprisingly strong performance from Jaime King and excellent turns by the rest of the cast. THEY WAIT - quite frankly - really does have blockbuster theatrical hit written all over it as another commentator has said, and has remarked the only legitimate print journalist to review it so far; everything, from the visuals to the performances, seems to be operating at a Hollywood movie level, far beyond its budget and seemingly nothing like the usual unpopular and noncommercial Canadian film disasters. Does this film mark the return to the days when Canadian films like SCANNERS or PORKY'S could take the box office crown away from the Hollywood studios? People applauding at the end, swarming around the lobby talking about how good it was -- that tells you everything you need to know about the reception to the film by an audience. With a decent release and a good ad campaign, this will be a hit. Though not perfect -- there is a certain clunkiness to a flashback sequence, for example -- the film is a revelation in doing what it sets out to do. It bangs virtually every mark. Director Ernie Barbarash has grown leaps and bounds from his previous efforts with the mediocre to dull low-rent CUBE ZERO and has hit the Hollywood Standard here. This film shines and looks and sounds terrific.

Paul Kael @ rotten tomatoes

Oh no, they didn't let them rest. And now they have awakened. Or something of the sort. They used all the clichés of the genre: Chinese obscure habits, disturbed bones, demons that take a child hostage while the mother must perform some sort of task while no one is helping except "the old sage". Also the usual scene that begins in a way and ends in blood or scary deformed faces or other things like that. Don't forget the sudden loud violin sounds and sudden movements.

Yes, you have seen it before. And as long as you will watch this kind of recycled junk, you will continue seeing it. My advice is to boycott such farces and make way for real movies.