OakieRF Review of Await Further Instructions

Await Further Instructions (2018)

Decent on tension, but leaves unanswered questions

[5/10 · 8 April 2020]

Good at creating tension based on the premise of being trapped in your own home but some unknown 'covering' around the whole house. Probably would have helped to have more likeable characters in jeopardy. Most of them, you're hoping they get theirs and quickly. In the end, other reviews covered the basics -- turns out to be what they call a 'parasite' that has taken over the whole town (maybe even beyond that?...sort of War of the Worlds-ish?). That's well and good but it's basically some sort of living electrical cables with 'eyes (cameras)' in each tentacle. Creep factor was ok, but when you take a minute to think about it, the 'parasite' doesn't behave like how one might think a parasite would -- they want to feed on the host and suck it dry for nutrients in general, right? So, why does this one kill everyone? Maybe it can still feed on dead as easily? Don't know. Where does a parasite get the understanding to take over the TVs and put up messages that specifically are understood by humans (about quarantine, radiation symbols, infections, etc.). How do cables put seven syringes filled with (?) into a zip lock bag and drop it down the chimney? Why bother inciting people to not eat or be paranoid of members within the group? How can cables make a dead person speak perfect English in their own voice? For that matter, how did it get into the small TV that wasn't even plugged in and stuck in a closet? The big TV was plugged in, so that at least made some sense. In the end, some elements of it seemed more like a man-made experiment kind of thing though at the end, we're left with more of an 'alien / end of the world' feel to the parasite. Feels like the writers couldn't decide which way to go with it's origin so said 'screw it' we'll toss in bits and pieces that cover both bases and leave it at that and just do 'style over substance' when both together would have made it a stronger movie.