Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
It lurks, it prowls...it reaks, November 4, 2006
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.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Lifetime network tries its hand at a horror movie, July 17, 2006
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.
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good monster movie, April 4, 2007
"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.
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