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Overall Rating : 5/10
Directed By : Steven R. Monroe
Cerina Vincent (Cabin Fever)
Dominic Zamprogna (Bloodsuckers (TV) )
Greg Kean (The Dead Zone)
Eric Schweig (The Missing)
Supplied By : Anchor Bay Entertainment
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : May. 8, 2006
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| PLOT It is a vengeful beast of Native American legend, sealed deep within a cave for over one thousand years. Nearby in a remote forest outpost, troubled young ranger Danielle St. Clair is struggling to confront dark demons of her own. But when the creature is accidentally released from its secret tomb, Danny’s inner conflicts meet a flesh-and-blood nightmare: A monster that hunts without equal, slaughters without mercy and savors the taste of human torment. Now its wait is over. And tonight, one woman must face – and destroy its flesh-ripping fury ... alone! |
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| THE REVIEW In IT WAITS, Danielle(or Danny) St. Claire is a young forrest ranger. Danny has been through some rough times, her best friend Julie was killed 2 months prior and she feels at fault for it. She along with Julie's surviving bird "Hoppy" retreat to a ranger tower so that Danny may clear her head and get it on straight, but what seemed to be the perfectly nice getaway turns into a nightmare. Everyone is worried about Danielle, including fellow ranger Justin, whom has seemingly fallen for the beautiful ranger. While the 2 rangers are sitting down to a romantic picnic, they are suddenly disturbed by something massive...so massive that it almost shakes their housing cabin from it's foundation. On further inspection they see that the satellite from the tower in which to get help and other means have all been destroyed - clearly what they are up against here is highly intelligent yet dangerous. Soon Danielle finds everyone dying around her including her friend Justin - shortly she meets an Indian man that explains to her that what is after her, is a mtylogical beast from the Native American culture. It seems that a few months ago, some college students exploring the caves, caused a blast, that would unearth the creature at it's angriest. It would kill the college group and now months later stalk the woods. Danny see,s to be the only one strongest to outwit the beast - she must ultimately become the stalker and put an end to this beast that no one seems to believe her about. Before I had actually seen the film, I had high expectations for IT WAITS. First and foremost, the story sounded awesome it has really cool box art in my opinion, and last but never least stars one of my favorites Cerina Vincent - whom is becoming a Horror goddess as of late. I can't say that IT WAITS was all I was hoping for, yes we got a menacing looking creature, good acting and Cerina Vincent, but it is all wrapped up in a plot that is very slow and takes a while to get anywhere. I had read a viewers review of this on IMDB and the title read "It waits......we wait" and I could not agree more there. With the acting that the film has from Cerina Vincent and Dominic Zamprogna(who have great chemistry here) you'd expect a lot more action instead of all the waiting you have to sit through as the the plot tells us this long slow and boring love story.....excuse me there is a huge monster lurking outside, but you would rather roll around on the bed than save your life and get your ass out of there? I also thought that a majority of the film was too "paint-by-numbers" Horror, what I mean by this is that some of it is entirely too predictable. For instance, the creature destroys the satellite system, but just so happens to destroy the walkie-talkie radios as well? It also manages to somehow transport the corpses of the ones it kills back to Danny as if it is playing mind games. To me it seemed a little improbable and unbelevable that the creature could be so smart. Also there is NO originality in the creature's appearance itself, which was a huge downfall for me. The creature looks like a cross between Pumpkin Head and The Creeper from JEEPERS CREEPERS, even flying like The Creeper, it is like watching JEEPERS CREEPERS in the woods, quite honestly.... The acting as I mentioned before, is great. Cerina Vincent, predictably takes the cake for top performance as she is ultimately the heroine. Vincent's acting seems to get better and better each film she is in, and is now being seen as a main star and not just someone that needs to be nude all the time and I think it's great(and i'm a guy no less!). Dominic Zamprogna, was a great complement to Vincent here, and a great supporting actor, I had not seen him prior to this, but was impressed - I just wish he could've had more screen time. Overall, to be fair the film has great direction by Monroe, but a plot and pace that lags and is too slow to deliver. I di enjoy the last half of IT WAITS and will be honest, it would be one reason that should intrigue viewers to watch, it is however not strong enough to garner a higher rating from me.... |
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| GORE
METER 4.5/10 There are not too many kills showcased in the film, as you'd probably expect more. The gore is moderate and should have been far more graphic in nature in my opinion. Films like Ryan Schifrin's ABOMINABLE, had the same amount of gore but it had that one kill that was such a defining moment |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 2.5/10 Honestly, I hated this score. It had a lot of slow tunes that seemed to not be at home in any Horror movie for that matter, The occasional Native American ambient sounds did fit but were not shown enough throughout. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Overall, as a Cerina Vincent fan, i'd have to say that sadly, IT WAITS is one of her weaker films to date. But as mentioned it does pick up towards the end and that makes it a worthy watch i'd say. IT WAITS should attract fans of the JEEPERS CREEPERS, PUMPKINHEAD series, or even CABIN FEVER alike...definitely worth a watch, just don't expect anything original. The DVD will be available on May 23, 2006 |
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