IT WAITS

IT WAITS
By M. Jarvis

Cerina Vincent of CABIN FEVER fame plays Danny St. Clair, a forest ranger hiding from her past in the watchtower deep in some wooded national preserve. She soon finds to her dismay, that the demons from her past are not the only demons that she will have to deal with.

Screenwriter Richard Christian Matheson, Thomas Szollosi and Stephen J. Cannell draw on Native American mythology to come up with a demon story which always threatens to be cool but never really does. First off, while I like Cerina Vincent, I have yet to see any acting from her that’s more interesting than her tits, which are on display thanks to the tank top she is mysteriously wearing throughout the whole film. That hardly qualifies as standard issue for the National Forestry Service as far as I know. Anyway, I don’t buy Cerina for one second in this film. Her alcoholism is pretty unconvincing. I mean at least try to pretend you’re not really drinking water. In fact everything about her is unconvincing in the film. But it’s hardly her fault. The script, while having an interesting legend to work from fails to deliver dialogue and character to match.

It seems as if every action that characters have in this film is only because the scripts says so. Nobody behaves in a believable manner and there are way too many convenient disasters to cut every one off from escape. In one real groaner moment, Danny is held from escaping when her shoelace is caught on a jeep gear shift. I mean COME ON!

It’s all the more depressing because the writers, veterans all, should know better. At least they had the decency to not do the dreaded “it’s not really dead ending.” If that had happened I think I would have fucking blown my brains out.

On the plus side, I liked the look of the film. The demon was cool as were the corpses. At least Tony Gardner and his people brought their game with them. And while the weather was not planned, it did add to the overall atmosphere. I could have done with a little less hand held camera and the always hated overly lit night scenes. I’m sorry but the moon is not as bright as a 12K. It just isn’t. Wait, maybe it is, there’s a real bright light coming through my window. Oh, it’s just a police helicopter shining down on some raving lunatic woman. The cops are here and guns are being drawn. Ah life in Los Angeles. Could be worse, a demon could be outside.