Await Further Instructions

This film immediately got my attention, it seemed to fall under a sub category that I love and I was gripped. Sadly it didn't deliver the way that I expected and that's a real shame.

You see Await Further Instructions tells the story of a family brought together for Christmas. When drama occurs two of them decide to leave at the crack of dawn but find themselves locked in. Every door and window is sealed by some kind of metal and now the television is giving them instructions! So what is going on? Terrorism? Quarantine? Or something more nefarious?

I liked this, I liked the family dynamic and how they each reacted. Some rationally, others counter productive. The movie also touches upon religion, how they badly "Reached" to deem what was taking place as relevant to their particular faith causing further irrational behavior and hysteria.

Starring GoT/Harry Potter/The Strain star David Bradley I was thoroughly hooked by the movie and fascinated to see where it would go next. Trouble is, where it goes isn't as entertaining.

A slow burner, the pace works and kept me engaged but as soon as certain revelations take place and questions get answered you realize just how badly the writer has dropped the ball. They took a really enjoyable movie with a great concept and tagged on the end a moronic, awful finale that looks terrible and simply isn't very good at all.

Personally based on everything we found out I'd like to see a sequel to this, but one where they give more thought to the ending.

The Good:

Solid concept

The Bad:

Dreadful finale

*Not* for a dumbed down audience that thinks good sci fi means more lasers and space ships.

Awesome story about human nature, how suspicion can drastically change people.

Similar to an original Twilight Zone episode, where aliens secretly controlled the electricity in a neighbourhood and good friends quickly started turning on each other.

If your head still has synapses that have spark, you will enjoy this.

If not, for you there's another Disney sci fi loaded with pretty explosions and social agendas, churned out by a machine weekly.

In one word it's 'naff' in another word 'intriguing'.

The plot does just enough to keep you watching,, and the payoff is decent (just don't watch the trailer before hand or it will be spoiled)

The characters though are awful, only 3 of them are consistent but the other 3 literally change their personality from one scene to the next, making it a bit frustrating as a viewer who dislikes lazy writing. But, there is still fun to be had here. Just go into it expecting the worst and you'll have some entertainment.

Ps; I hate kate, she was just the worst.

'Await Further Instructions' did have much going for it. The premise was one of the best for any film seen recently (pretty bold and creative for low-budget), there were some really interesting ideas, the cover was so attention-grabbing and it looked great. So there was a lot of promise, this was hardly and a long way from being a film that was doomed from the start.

Did 'Await Further Instructions' live up to the potential it had? Not quite. Did it waste it? No. For me 'Await Further Instructions' was one of those difficult to rate and review films due to not being sure what my thoughts are between liking/loving or disliking/hating it. If needing to choose, my opinion would be somewhere in between and being neither extreme. It is a wildly uneven film, but did find myself appreciating what it tried to do and the effort that was put into it, because 'Await Further Instructions' was not one of those non-trying films (a try-too-harder actually).

There are good things. For low-budget it looks pretty good, there is a great moody atmosphere, stylish photography, editing that is actually coherent and far from shoe-string-looking production design. The haunting moodiness is also present in the music score, which didn't feel intrusive or obvious.

Found the acting better than average on the most part, with good performances from Sam Gittins and David Bradley. 'Await Further Instructions' started off very well, it does have tension and suspense and the mystery element intrigued and compelled. The direction has assurance generally before losing control a bit later on.

However, there are exceptions to the acting and they are Holly Weston and Neerja Naik, both try too hard and irritate. It is largely to do with the characters themselves, their characters coming off worst in a film full of indecisive and not always logical character writing which makes the characters not as easy to endear to as needed. The writing is uneven, sometimes thought-provoking and at other times very corny and rushed.

It is a shame that some of the second half didn't live up to the standard set by the first. The tension, suspense and creepiness isn't as strong and things become predictable, silly and contrived with some suspend disbelief parts and a mess of too many ideas not explored enough or gelling together. The ending is sadly one that ends on a whimper than a bang and the lack of polish in the effects does stick out like a sore thumb (sure there have been far worse in film history, but it was obvious that the writing and effects weren't paid much attention to).

Overall, very mixed here but appreciated the effort. 5/10 Bethany Cox

A low budget British horror, which for 75% of the film is interesting, and thought provoking... The main problem is the last quarter, which gives the appearance that the director ran out of ideas and budget... It becomes a 'B' movie horror with special effects straight out of 1970s Dr Who... Such a shame..