They Wait
Starring: Jaime King, Regan Ouy, Terry Chen, Pei-Pei Cheng
Directed By: Ernie Barbarash
Written By: Trevor Markwart
Released: 2008
Grade: B-
They Wait is another American take on the Asian environment meant to give us sudden and unexpected scares. In a lot of ways this film seems like a million of its’ kind that we have seen before. There are the typical high pitched sounds and sudden flashes of light that leads to the ghosts. This doesn’t give us any explanation and certainly doesn’t scare. It really just shows a lack of substance. While most of the film is fairly predictable, it does give us some interesting moments that even stumble across some depth and societal wrongs. This alongside some likeable characters gives us a reason to care a bit more and take the good with the bad.
Sarah (King), Jason (Chen), and their 6-year-old son, Sam (Ouy) have been living in Shanghai for over a year since that is recently where Jason’s work has brought him. When Jason’s uncle dies, they go back to the U.S. for his funeral and to console Jason’s Aunt Mei (Cheng). Jason’s uncle owned a company and ran a benevolent society. Jason feels very proud of him for this and the impact he believes he made on those who really needed it. One less talked about aspect of his work was sending the bones of his workers who had died back to their country that they were born in. The myth says that having the bones near their ancestors was the only way for the spirits to be at rest and for them to have peace, allowing them to move on to the afterlife.
When they arrive in Chinatown it is Hungry Ghost Month. It is believed that the ghosts of the dead who are not at rest come back and visit the living at this time. It is not long before Sam begins to see ghosts, particularly a young girl that has a blood inducing scar across her head. She is completely silent but it is clear she isn’t going anywhere until she gets what she wants. After the constant nightmares and intense sleepwalking that Sam goes through, this soon becomes out of his control. Right around this time his father leaves to go back to Shanghai for work while Sarah and Sam stay behind to be there for his family. After sleeping throughout the next day, once Sam wakes up he is in such bad condition that he is rushed to the hospital. Even once he gets there though, the doctors run all kinds of tests but still can’t figure out what is wrong with him. Sam goes in to a coma and Sarah begins seeing some of the same things that he did such as the young female ghost. She sees him harming Sam and an old medicine man clues her in that she wants something from her and won’t let Sam live unless he gets it. Sarah has the box for her bones that were meant to be shipped off upon her death. This never happened though after over 50 years and as a result her spirit is unable to move on. Sarah finds out that this woman worked for Jason’s uncle, so she has to go back to the factory where she worked to find her bones. Meanwhile, she has to convince those around her that she hasn’t gone insane, otherwise she might miss the last chance to save her son.
The acting was actually pretty good and was one element that made the characters more real and believable. Jaime King does a great job as Sarah, a very caring mother who happens to be going through a lot between wanting her old life in the states back to holding on to her son with her dear life and fighting the horrors that are now surrounding both of them. She was also believable as an intelligent woman and given her past of being a reporter, uncovering the truth is a strong suit of hers that pays off in the end. Regan Ouy and King worked very well together, really capturing the mother/son bond. Terry Chen did a decent job, although he did not give us as much as King or Ouy did. He was a smaller part of the essential story though, so this wasn’t too distracting. Pei-Pei Cheng committed to her role as the cold, judgmental Aunt Mei. Sarah particularly felt that she didn’t approve of her while Jason stood up for her. Cheng worked with these two opposing beliefs about her character and gave us a sense of mystery, making us question who she really was.
Although, They Wait, uses some of the typical ploys of manufactured suspense and cheap scares, it does give us a bit more material to deal with making it a more worthwhile film as it goes on. This makes it one of the better American takes on Asian horror. I did appreciate that it took the time to go in to Hungry Ghost Month, an real and important part of Asian culture. It used the dead visiting the living elements to spur this ghost story in a very logical and in the context of the film, vital way. Obviously, the film left out the elements that didn’t work as well for what they were trying to achieve and kept the more horrifying deadly spirit elements, developing them to fit the story and the direction they were trying to go towards. The best part of the film comes with the information that Sarah uncovers, the thing that is causing this ghost to hold Sam captive until she is freed. Unfortunately, although it is the best aspect of the film, it is one that I cannot go in to too much since it happens in the turn of the film. It deals with essential human right deprivation. There is major greed and cold-hearted motives involved that form in to an entire lifestyle. Many people have been deceived and hidden this secret only causing more damage that has been bottled up for years. This gains our sympathy, makes us question what is going on around us, but most importantly it switches the roles of what we thought was good and what seemed so purely evil, questioning if these traits should really be reversed.
