Customer Reviews

It Waits

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Some monster chases some girl around in the woods. The scenery is gorgeous and the setting excellent; one of those ranger towers way up above the forest canopy. Unfortunately, all the other reviewers are dead on when they say this thing is a Lifetime movie of the week. The main character spends the first half of the movie wallowing in a pool of self pity over causing the accidental death of her friend in a drunk driving accident. We get numerous flashbacks. All this crap has absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the movie, it's just filler and tedius dreck filler at that. The theme music absolutely sucks - it would be more appropriate for a movie about a heroine addict slowly spiraling into oblivion.

The movie gets better in the last half, but by then it's way too late. The dialogue has a real TV show quality about it as well, witless and not at all realistic. I give it two stars for the setting and the hot babe, but it's a complete failure as a horror movie. These people have no clue what they're doing in this genre.

It Waits is one of those modern day, low budget horror snooze fests that we've been getting a lot of lately, and it's abysmal from start to finish. Cerina Vincent (from Cabin Fever, whose large "attractions" are the only thing that'll keep your eyes on the screen) stars as an alcoholic forest ranger (yes, you read that right) who gets stalked by a murderous, blood thirsty creature (because there are no other kinds) from Native American mythology that makes short work of her boyfriend and a few hikers. Normally, under the right circumstances, I try to be understanding of a low budget horror flick of this type, but everything about it so bad from the wooden acting, creaky attempt at giving Vincent a weak backstory, and the poppy soft-rock is about as welcome here as a claw in the guts. The gore and makeup are halfway decent, but that's it. Beyond bad, avoid.

"It Waits" begins with a group exploring a cave and unleashing the titular "It," which promptly kills them all (off screen). Fast forward a bit, and we meet Forest Ranger Danielle St. Claire (Cerina Vincent), who is the sole tenant of a Ranger station deep in the forest. Having survived a car accident that killed her friend, Danielle is trying to find solace in the bottle to assuage the guilt that she feels because she was the one driving. Her boyfriend arrives, and Danielle confesses her role in the accident to him. Before the night is over, though, the tower is attacked by an unseen creature that destroys the sole transportation from the tower, a Jeep, and sabotages the communications. Before long, the creature kills two campers and turns its attention to Danielle and her boyfriend.

This film is hard to assess. On the negative side, it is entirely predictable, so much so that I felt as if I had the script in hand and were reading ten pages ahead. The disparate aspects of the plot (i.e., Danielle's grief and the creature's murderous spree) do not mesh well or indeed much at all. There is also an attempt to link the creature to a vague, apparently Native American, mythology, but this attempt falls flat--very flat, in fact. Danielle comes upon someone who seems to know about the creature, lectures her, and provides her with something to read so that she can defeat the thing. As it happens, though, these elements play almost no role in the film's resolution, and they seem pointless as a result.

On the other hand, there are a great number of things that work well in "It Waits." Foremost among the positives is Cerina Vincent, who must carry a large part of the film since she is the only human on screen for long periods of time. The scenes with her boyfriend (Dominic Zamprogna) seem genuine, and both actors make their relationship thoroughly believable. Vincent's vulnerability and Zamprogna's support amply convey an implicit longstanding relationship and a back story that make the characters seem much more real. Their scenes are accompanied by a couple very nice songs (especially "Believe in Me" by Melanie Monroe, who was previously unknown to me).

Danielle's vulnerability early in the film contrasts nicely with her strength in the second half of the film. Determined to stop the creature, Danielle finds the strength to fight, but this strength is not so over-the-top that her past is forgotten.

The strengths of "It Waits" outweighed the flaws for me. The beautiful scenery, the masterful performance by Vincent, and the good, old-fashioned sense of suspense here made the eighty minutes enjoyable. As I write this, though, I am aware that there are several negative reviews here. I am not entirely sure why those who wrote the reviews were so unimpressed by the film, but I wonder whether they expected something more like most contemporary horror films. In trying to come up with a similar film, I kept thinking of Creature from the Black Lagoon. For those who enjoy that type of monster movie, "It Waits" should prove enjoyable.

What are the odds of finding a marauding, mythological monster AND the world's hottest ranger in the same forest? It boggles the mind! Cerina Vincent (CABIN FEVER) plays said hottie -a forest ranger named Danielle- going up against one horrid beasty! Unfortunately, the first half of IT WAITS is mostly about our heroine's breakdown after losing her best friend in a car crash. She drinks vodka, cries, and feels guilty. Verrry guilty. Luckily, the monster emerges from it's cave lair and goes on a murderous rampage! Oh yes, there will be gore! Meanwhile, Danielle is consoled by her worried boyfriend. Everyone gets in touch w/ their feelings. Then, the monster attacks w/ a vengeance, forcing Danielle and co. to stop their therapy session in order to survive. Blood flows, heads are removed from shoulders, and Danielle forgets all about her emotional upheaval. IT WAITS is a decent monster movie w/ a slow beginning, an ok middle, and a superb ending. The only thing I actually hated was that stupid parrot! Jeez, that bird was annoying! The boyfriend was goofy, but at least he ran head-on into the creature! As for Ms. Vincent, she has convinced me to serioiusly look into the forestry service. She's hot enough to melt lead!...

A sexy but unstable forest ranger named Danny (Cerina Vincent - the naked chick from Not Another Teen Movie) who recently lost a friend seeks refuge within a Smirnoff bottle. Along with a hilariously prophetic and verbose parrot named Hoppy (who steals every scene), and an underdeveloped love interest with a barely post-pubescent pseudo Jake Gyllenhal, she has various responsibilities, to include searching for lost hikers or the bodies of a massacred archaelogical dig. Little does Danny know - mostly because she's a morally loose, easy, drunk emotional wreck - that the college archaeologists unearthed an alien, skeleton zombie (ASZ) of some kind. In the words of Hoppy before every tense scene, "Uh oh."

With a complex understanding of electronics, engines, and a rudimentary concept of pulley-based booby traps, ASZ is a formidable foe. Factor in the strength to lift a jeep, the ability to jump 20+ feet, and claws that make Freddy's knives look like a fresh manicure, and there's a guaranteed gutting on the horizon. Oh, it gets better. My boy FASZ (Freddy Alien Skeleton Zombie) alos likes to leave mangled and decapitated body parts for survivors to discover, and voyeuristically watches their shock from behind a row of trees (think flaming bag of poo on the doorstep, but for psychopathic monsters). Playful AND murderous! Look for the corpse dinner table and the anal Indian impalement scenes; they're a hoot.

I won't ruin the ending, or spoil the surprise, but the lead up to the final battle involves a rural alarm system of tin cans on a string, some of the worst marksmanship in cinema history, and a ridiculous Native American mumbo-jumbo lecture about cross-dimensional demons or something.

Overall the production, music, sets, scenes, and gore are fairly well done. Nothing spectacular, but nothing incompetent. Cerina Vincent is beautiful throughout. The only downside of the movie is final unveiling of the monster, which looks so much like the Jeepers Creepers beast that this may as well have been the prequel. Overall, it's lacking true scare, and most of the typical horror fare, but it's still enjoyable enough for sadistic horror fans to cheer for FASZ.

This movie surprised me. I wasn't sure about it at first. Cerina is awesome. She is why I thought this one worked. The monster was brutal and I liked how it played emotional games. I saw it twice already and would probably watch it again. Now you also have to understand that it will be a little cheesy, but that helps me to get through some of them better. I say watch it! give it a chance. I think you may be surprised.

IT WAITS is a notch above many similar-themed movies, but does suffer from trying to be a psychological study as well. Cerina Vincent plays Danni, a forest ranger who feels guilty after the auto accident death of her best friend, Julie. Moreso because everyone thought Julie was driving, but Danni was actually behind the wheel. She has a supportive and loving boyfriend, Justin, and she has turned to booze for escape. What this has to do with the movie is not clearly stated, but once the monster starts killing off people, IT WAITS becomes a pretty intense and spooky thriller. While the monster isn't up to standards these days, it's not as bad as some of the more obvious men in costume howlers. It also has the cutest parrot, Hoppy, seen in recent movies..a point for that original addition. Cerina Vincent and Dominic Spangrora are allright in the leading roles.

The only way to acurately describe this movie? a horror film pre-empted by a lifetime drama. This film dragged bigtime with some b.s. about Cerina Vincents characters guilt over a car accident she caused that kills her friend...lush! The amount of time spent on these flashbacks of drunken guiltiness has nothing to do with the problem at hand; some supernatural creature killing everyone in the forest valley. I would have given this film another star if it had one of two things, more gore,or if Cerina vincent took off her top. Bottom line..Dull.

It Waits is a A Jeepers Creepers Carbon copy almost. it is a little scary and it's not horrible but it kind of drags on and the monster could have been scarier.

It Waits is a movie that stuck with me since I saw it, back in 2007. It has some decent visuals and an interesting monster. It also has decent characters, although other than Cerina Vincent's character they aren't that central to the film.

Fans of older monster movies will be relieved to hear this monster does have some personality. It's intelligent and enjoys messing with its victims' heads before killing them.

Actually the biggest downside can probably be written off as character stupidity, Other than that, it seems (its more apparent in the trailer) that there was supposed to be some kind of duality or parallels or something between Vincent's character and the monster, which didn't really work...

The only real emotion I felt was in the sad scenes; I've seen movies where the feel of isolation came across better, and during some attack scenes I didn't really feel the sense of urgency they should have had.

Don't get me wrong I like this film but because I try to be analytical in my reviews I don't think I can justify giving this four stars. I think Steven R. Monroe is a good director and while this isn't Wyvern or Sasquatch Mountain i think it's worth watching.