Es lauert

You have to give the writers and producers at least some credit for daring to release a horror movie that is called "It Waits". That's like openly claiming: our movie will be boring and don't pretend we didn't warn you in the title. The good news, however, is that "IT" (which is this time a mythological Indian demon instead of Pennywise the Clown) only waits for a good half hour – until the inevitable dramatic sub plot and dull character drawings are over and done with – before going on its outrageous murderous rampage. I even daresay "It Waits" is a fairly enjoyable creature feature as long as you manage to look past all the dreadful genre clichés and nonsensical plot elements. The central character is a young and hot Canadian ranger stationed in a tower post somewhere in the middle of an extensive forest. Poor Danielle St. Claire drinks a lot of Vodka because she can't deal with being responsible for the death of her best friend in a car accident. This means that for the first half hour, "It Waits" only features dull guilty speeches and a forced dramatic atmosphere. Danielle's traumas all become meaningless when she and her boyfriend Justin face the bloody battle with a demon that accidentally got unleashed from its prison cave and now runs amok in the woods. There's a terribly lame sub plot trying to trick us into believing the mythological creature actually feeds and strengthens on misery and sadness (and thus Danielle herself attracts it), but I strongly advise you to disregard the ludicrous dialogs and fully focus on the special effects and gory massacres. "It Waits" borrows ideas and elements from at least a dozen of other (and more successful) horror movies, but hey, you've surely seen a lot worse already and at least the second half provides plenty of carnage and the creature's design is reasonably horrific. The filming location is stupendous and reminded me of those glorious early 80's slasher movies that also entirely took place in forestry regions, like "Just before Dawn" and "The Final Terror". Cerina Vincent isn't very believable as a park ranger heroine, but she has obvious other qualities like her incredible good look and an impressive rack. Yes, I am aware that's a shallow remark but it had to be said! Besides, her tight ranger outfit as well as the smooth cinematography leave no opportunity untaken to emphasize her yummy boobs, neither.

OK, but basically an average horror movie.

The most-excellent Cerina Vincent makes this better than it has any right to be.

I was not aware that US Forest Service rangers regularly operate hydroelectric generation plants. I also thought that they were armed, but apparently not.

The idea of a ladder-climbing elk is pretty good, though. But I didn't know that elk could turn vehicles over with their antlers. Guess you learn something new every day.

Very non-scary beast/demon/creature. Fortunately, they hold off showing it until a good way into the film.

Again, Cerina Vincent rescues this from the ho-hum.

Okay - I realize this movie belongs to a genre that is, for the most part, immune to scrutiny. Nevertheless, it is always disappointing to see the same ridiculous clichés about stupid people doing stupid things in order to give the unseen monster easy pickings (not to mention to keep the writer, director, and producer from exerting themselves by actually trying to think up a fresh idea.) How many times do we need to see someone skipping out into the woods in the middle of the night when they know there's a monster bumping people off? Or the contrived love scene (after a bloody discovery) designed to show off the lead actress's exquisite breasts? And the talking bird sidekick? Bottom line: bad acting, worse script - would have been more satisfying to see everyone killed in the first five minutes and then watch the monster wander around aimlessly in the woods for a few hours.

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.

This movie is the reason why I scour the video store shelves for low budget horror flicks. Most of the time, of course, I am sadly disappointed but other times - like this - I am pleasantly surprised. Considering Richard Christian Matheson wrote the story I was fairly confident, although it is a rather pedestrian story about an ancient Indian demon, inadvertently released from a cave, wreaking havoc on a mountainside. A female park ranger, wrestling with her own demons, has to find the ability to battle this monster and save herself. The horror elements were standard and fairly well done and the script, while spotty, was okay. "It Waits" is decent horror fare, better than some of the dreck that is getting released in movie theaters.