Seeing THEY WAIT at the Vancouver Festival, people were screaming at the scares, and the audience broke out into applause after a tense, white-knuckle 89 minutes. THEY WAIT leaps into action with a highly engaging first half, and then escalates quickly into a harrowing and riveting second part. Surprisingly strong performance from Jaime King and excellent turns by the rest of the cast. THEY WAIT - quite frankly - really does have blockbuster theatrical hit written all over it as another commentator has said, and has remarked the only legitimate print journalist to review it so far; everything, from the visuals to the performances, seems to be operating at a Hollywood movie level, far beyond its budget and seemingly nothing like the usual unpopular and noncommercial Canadian film disasters. Does this film mark the return to the days when Canadian films like SCANNERS or PORKY'S could take the box office crown away from the Hollywood studios? People applauding at the end, swarming around the lobby talking about how good it was -- that tells you everything you need to know about the reception to the film by an audience. With a decent release and a good ad campaign, this will be a hit. Though not perfect -- there is a certain clunkiness to a flashback sequence, for example -- the film is a revelation in doing what it sets out to do. It bangs virtually every mark. Director Ernie Barbarash has grown leaps and bounds from his previous efforts with the mediocre to dull low-rent CUBE ZERO and has hit the Hollywood Standard here. This film shines and looks and sounds terrific.
Paul Kael @ rotten tomatoes
