They Wait Movie Review

*repost from 04/01/2008

directed by Ernie Barbarash

starring Jaime King

produced by Uwe Boll

Availability: out on 09/16/2008 on dvd

This movie caught my interest because it was #1. an Asian horror themed movie that was filmed in Canada, and #2 it was produced by the great Uwe Boll. I know the whole Asian/J horror phase is getting pretty old by now but im still up for a good ghost story on occasion. The ratings are to the extremes on imdb. The majority have it rated either a 1 or a 10. I suspect a lot of the 1's are because they are Uwe Boll haters out there that automatically rate low any project that he's involved with. Like Ive said before I dont love Uwe but he is far from being the worst director. This movie also was screened at Toronto film festival and received a lot of rave reviews.

The story is basically about this family that is stationed in China for the husbands job. While they are away from America the husbands uncle in Chinatown in America is killed and is having his funeral. The family flies back to America to attend the funeral. While they are in Chinatown there is a celebration going on that is called "hungry ghost month". Its suppose to be the one time of a year that spirits are closest to the earthly world. There are fruit and other sacrifices that are made to keep the spirits happy. Some people such as the wife and their little son have the ability to "see" the wicked ghosts. Once they get back there are spirit encounters and the son is attacked by one of the demonic spirits. The rest of the movie the mother (Jamie King) is on a mission to save her son and find out the hidden truth behind her husband's uncle's sweat shop that they use to run.

I really liked the movie more than I thought I would. As Ive said before im not a fan of ghost movies but I am a fan of a solid interesting story. How much this story is based on actual Chinese tradition im not sure of but I was really interested to find out about some of their ancient rituals and customs that Ive never heard of before. The scene towards the beginning of the movie at the pharmacy was fantastic. There really wasnt much gore but it has a few spots where there is a decent amount of tension built up. The ending was kinda predictable and nothing too original but I was semi satisfied. The production was slick and felt like a movie that could have easily been released and made a decent amount of money. Especially if crap like the other Asian horror remakes that keep on making money hand over fist. The acting was solid and I really enjoyed the overall story. This might have a been there done that feel to a lot of people but I still enjoyed it enough to recommend it supernatural or Asian horror fans. On a scale of 1-10 I give this a black dyed arms 7.1 out of 10.
Heres the trailer....thats almost spoiler free compared to other ones out there. If this is a movie you were considering watching I wouldnt watch the trailer at all.