It Waits (2005)

I believe I almost saw this film a number of years ago but snubbed it in order to go with a more promising looking movie. So many years later, in search of a good creature feature, I "legally purchased at full price a copy of the DVD and waited to have it mailed" since that's how we all watch movies in 2012 because torrenting is illegal, right? :)The movie starts off remotely promising, a goreless intro with implied off-screen killings (grrrrr....) that explains how the creature is discovered. We are introduced to a lonely isolated character with huge breasts and a sizeable nose as well (i'm just saying if she was going to go through the trauma of making her boobs so huge she might as well have reshaped her clearly too-large-for-TV nose)I started off kind of liking the main character, she's SOMEwhat relateable in that she struggles with guilt and subsequent alcohol abuse. You get the impression that maybe this girl is someone we can tolerate through the entire film; sadly this is not the case.The movie is limited to about 5 other characters. The sappy love story between our heroine and her boyfriend is developed wayyyy too long just in order for it to end in possibly the stupidest set of decisions made in any horror movie.For a gore lover like me the movie touches on being decent in that aspect but there is definitely a sense of modesty as far as the length of the kill scenes and what the director allows us to see. He certainly lets us see a lot of the creature which looks not similar but looks and exacts completely identical to the creeper in 'Jeepers Creepers'. Not an homage, not similar, but a bit-for-bit recreation and ripoff.Normally I wouldn't have a problem with this since J.C. was a great creature movie (probably the best out of the 2k's) but J.C. excelled because Victor Salva incorporated lots of backstory, mystery, and subsequent fear of the creature based on what we did not know about it or what exactly it was. "It Waits" doesn't really explain the creature other than referencing some Indian religious relation (which i'm not sure is factual lore or not and certainly not intriguing enough to look up.)What i couldn't stand the most was the CLEARLY CONTRIVED INSERTED SOUNDTRACK featuring songs that not only don't belong in the horror movie. The music is so corny in fact I felt like slamming my head into the wall. It's almost like a giant farse of a creature movie in order to plug some "up and coming" artist's new album of boring soft-rock-pop singles.There isn't enough gore for a creature feature. And the few would-be gory shots are quick cutaways or take place off camera for the most part (pure laziness on cgi/special effects/directorial team considering the nature of the movie.) The ending of the movie is equally horrible.I am sure this director is (and was) capable of far better in the realm of drama, but based on this screenplay he was probably left with mostly dead-ends. This movie certainly hits a dead-end relatively early and meanders around for the remaining last 30 minutes. If you enjoy watching unintelligent women with extraordinarly large breasts run around aiming her gun with 0 accuracy then this movie MAY be for you. However if that's your kind of movie I would try and track down one of the "Slumber/Sorority House Massacres" instead.

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. "

Really not a bad flick, but hardly a novel experience. We've got several clichéd main characters trapped in the deep Canadian woods. Great locations. A monster on the loose. A lead actress (Cerina Vincent) with a tank top. Good cinematography. Even a lovable parrot that somehow acts like a homing pigeon.Oh, did I mention the MOR soundtrack? For some reason, this picture feels the need to break into song every so often. We get music by Melanie Monroe (?) designed to underline the poignancy of the moments...with a sledge hammer.Meanwhile, the monster flies around making Predator-like sounds. Why, oh why, has that noise become such a horror movie staple? A passable time waster, but it with a little work it might have been so much more.

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.