Der Mörder wartet schon

I suppose I shouldn't worry to much about such things in modern movies, particularly the made-for-TV variety, but the anachronisms were just a bit much for me. For instance:

The film's action takes place in Massachusetts; central to the plot is the story of a burned-at-the-stake witch whom apparently used to live in a certain house. Said burning occurred during the Salem witch hunts of 1692, but the house is an unmistakable Victorian. It doesn't take an expert to realize that the style is eponymous with the English Queen, which meant that it couldn't have existed in that form until the mid-1800's, at least 125 years after the murder.

The accused witch, according to the (twenty-something) "high-school kids", supposedly was kept in a "straight-jacket in a padded cell in an asylum". I don't believe any of these things existed in Seventeenth Century Massachusetts; and even England's notorious Bedlam was more of a convenient dump-site for loonies, rather than a real mental institution.

And for a three-hundred-year-old tombstone, particularly one exposed to the corrosive effects of urban New England's infamous acid rain over a good part of that time, the carving sure looked sharp and fresh.

Otherwise, I rather enjoyed "I've Been Waiting for You", simply because, like most "slasher flicks", it gives me--someone whom worked at a state university for over a quarter-century-- the opportunity to watch college-age kids get tormented--even unto death.

Mmmm...yes....

Single mom Rosemary Zoltanne (Markie Post) and her smart-ass teen daughter Sarah (Sarah Chalke) move from L.A. to a big house in Massachusetts where a witch was burned at the stake 300 years earlier. Sarah makes friends with a geeky outsider (Ben Foster) but also attracts the attention of teen members of the "Descendant's Club"-- obnoxious jocks (led by Christian Campbell, brother of Neve) and the high school bitch queens (led by Soleil Moon Frye) who think she's the reincarnation of the dead witch. Sarah gets harassing phone calls ("I've been waiting for you!") and a masked killer with a steel claw lurks around.

This is resolutely typical post SCREAM/I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER fare (supposedly from the "author" of the latter) with offscreen violence, but the performances are surprisingly good and it's watchable, though it all seems like a big build-up to nothing by the end.

I didn't know it at the time when I rented the video, but frequent fade-outs to black and someone credited with the teleplay soon made me realize I'd rented a TV movie that was inexplicably (and erroneously!) rated R to bulk up it's distribution value. Don't be expecting to find gore, nudity or four-letter words in this film.

I'm sorry, but this movie just wasn't all that great. I rented it because it had a shiny cover, it said that it was by the author of I Know What You Did Last Summer, and it starred Soleil Moon Frye. But it just didn't work for me. The little attempts at romance were never fleshed out and should have either been strengthened or edited out. And I understand that the TV aspect lowered the body count drastically, but if they scared one girl to death (hokey hokey hokey), they could have used that excuse to ice another character or two. Instead, they just have some little troll-thingie with a cool looking weapon (4 nails... would have been better as 4 blades) who threatens his victims. Nope. But the acting was better than the average TV movie (worse than the average film, but hey), and some of the humor worked.

I saw this movie when I was eleven, and I haven't seen it since. I was absolutely scared out of my wits, now as for the acting- -well it wasn't so bad! Sarah Chalke-who had a small stint as Becky no.2 on the Roseanne show-is very pretty, and a pretty talented actress, I know that the other guy who gave a review for this totally bashed it, but I saw it on T.V one time, and it was good enough for me to go searching about it on IMDB. The Story is basically about a teen age girl named Sarah who is very pretty, but a little strange. She lives with her single parent mother, and moves to a new town where she knows no one and has no friends- -excepting some strange curly headed blond kid-played by Ben Foster from the kid's show Flash Forward ever see it on Disney?-Who has a big crush on her. She likes the hunk in town-Who I think has great eyes if nothing else-played by Christopher Campbell-who just happens to be Neve Campbell's kid brother-Now of course the hunk in town has a super snotty girlfriend who makes fun of the somewhat strange Sarah because she's prettier than she is and her boyfriend is crushing on Sarah. Anyway! There is a serious witch burning legend about a girl that lived in Sarah's house and was accused of being a witch- -thus she was burned! Then as a joke Sarah is wrangled into being the 'Psychic' and some stupid teenage party or carnival, she doesn't have to be wrangled too much seeing as how she's in love with the hunk in town. So Turns out that kid's are being killed, lot's of them, and they die of natural causes--A Heart Attack! They are being scared to death by someone dressed up in a witch's outfit! Is it the dead witch's ghost come back for revenge? Is it Sarah? Is Sarah inhabited by the dead witch's spirit?! WHO WILL DIE NEXT!? Watch this movie! It was made for T.V- -but it is a down right scare-you-to-death, make-your-hair-turn-white! MOVIE! Final words: For a T.V Made flick FIVE STARS!

Actually it wasn't too bad… for a made for TV horror and post-Scream outing. "I've Been Waiting For You" (another eye grabbing title) is a feebly light-weight teenage aimed story mixing elements of witchcraft (leading girl interested in the occult / the town living in fear of a curse) / slasher staples (killer with metal claws, black cloak and a hokey looking mask) that when it came to the crunch it's rather diluted, but doesn't hurt. Fashionable, but formulaic we've seen it all before. The story (taken off the novel of Lois Duncan --- Gallows Hill --- who was also behind "Stranger in Our House" and "I know What You Did Last Summer") might consist of messy plot details (trying to be too clever at times, than letting it flow), an terribly incoherent staged climax (which is risible for all the wrong reasons… and so are the flimsy attacks sequences) and bestowing a heavy-handed script, but in all it keeps you wrapped within the shallow mystery thanks to largely the agreeable performances (of mainly not particularly likable characters). Sarah Chalke is exceptionally good in the lead, giving her character spunk with her smart-lipped lines. The rest of the cast get your basic teenage sketching. Director Christopher Leitch (''Teen Wolf too'' (1987), oh yeah!) offers no real surprises by doing a pedestrian job, creating a decent image or two, but suspense and atmosphere is weakly conceived. Even though it begins to lose its puff towards the end, gladly the time still breezes by if transparently.