Await Further Instructions (2018) User Reviews

Half decent but all over the place

[donttouchmeprimate · 5/10 · 7 October 2018]

In one word it's 'naff' in another word 'intriguing'.

The plot does just enough to keep you watching,, and the payoff is decent (just don't watch the trailer before hand or it will be spoiled)

The characters though are awful, only 3 of them are consistent but the other 3 literally change their personality from one scene to the next, making it a bit frustrating as a viewer who dislikes lazy writing. But, there is still fun to be had here. Just go into it expecting the worst and you'll have some entertainment.

Ps; I hate kate, she was just the worst.

Torn

[frondutom · 5/10 · 25 February 2019]

I'm very torn on how I feel about this film, the quality really is all over the place. The acting is pretty consistently bad, the characters are boring and exaggerated, and the characters constantly make hilariously bad decisions.

That said, it does play with some interesting ideas and themes (even if it comes off as absurdly over the top and exaggerated at times). The ending will no doubt be divisive, but I personally found it intriguing.

I'd recommend watching, as long as you can overlook some of the hilariously poor dialogue and acting, as well as some logical inconsistencies and the grossly overused green lighting early in the film.

5/10, though I could see my opinion changing slightly as time goes on

Decent on tension, but leaves unanswered questions

[OakieRF · 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.

The Creature With No Instructions.

[S_Soma · 3/10 · 7 October 2018]

SUMMARY (in case you don't want to read the whole long-winded bit):

Unpleasant and highly dysfunctional British family comes together at the family home, together with a brother-in-law and the scion's girlfriend, to "celebrate" Christmas. Early the next morning the family discovers the house has been entirely encased in some strange, black substance; escape proves to be impossible. Family solidarity, virtually nonexistent to begin with, completely collapses in short order as cryptic instructions begin appearing on the widescreen TV. Almost instantly, everyone is literally at each other's throats. The strange, black substance turns out to be a "parasite" (as eventually described by one of the characters) comprised of innumerable thousands of black tubes that operating in unison like tentacles, each individually about three-quarter inches in diameter. By the end of the movie everyone is dead except the newly born baby. A closing aerial shot reveals that this particular home is not the only one affected.

FULL REVIEW:

If we tick off all the things a movie needs to be an enjoyable, entertaining experience (high production values, good music, talented cinematography, satisfactorily skilled and experienced actors, attractive lighting, high quality sound engineering, etc.), AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS has them all... except an even vaguely passable story. The fundamental premise of the movie is that a giant monster (or monsters), consisting of untold thousands of lengths of tough, black three-quarter inch diameter tubes, has suddenly taken over at least one neighborhood (that we can see) and the course of the movie is an account of one family's experience with this frightening and unexpected situation. Throughout the movie, never is there even a rudimentary attempt to account for how this comes to pass, what the nature of the creature or creatures may be, no insight as to what its or their objectives may be, and so on. Just "here's your monster; deal with it".

Tacked on moments before the end are some references to the thing's desire to be "worshiped", and we could TRY to read this as a motive. But this could be just as easily accounted for as being the result of the fact that the unhinged patriarch of the story DID start worshiping the monster as one of his many random attempts to cope with what was happening and the monster simply picked up on it. Given the "story" of this movie, this is entirely possible because this hose-monster is evidently magically capable of any skill or insight necessary to clumsily shove the plot forward. Somehow the creature knows how to: invade and control the complex electronics of TV sets so that it can display any image it wants; selectively disable only the clocks in the house, apparently knowing what clocks are; invade a dead human body and control it like a puppet, even to the point of making it speak English; PERFECTLY macerate an entire skeleton with clinical exactitude in seconds while leaving a fetus enclosed therein utterly untouched other than being rendered squeaky clean. And by the way, the baby had been left inside the dead mother for quite some time at this point; HOW is it still alive, again?

Fundamentally, there are only two significant plot points for the entire picture. There is the shocking discovery of the entire house being encased in some unknown substance (not known to be a living thing at that point in the movie), and secondly the giant reveal and resultant dénouement close to the end of the fact that the mystery substance is actually a giant, living hose-monster (yeah, I know; I said "hose-monster". Stop giggling.). Since there are only these two plot elements to cover the entire picture, some method of wasting the other eighty minutes had to be found to pass the remaining airtime. So, instead of having an interesting movie where a determined and close knit family intelligently explore and combat a new and frightening enemy with determination, family loyalty, and resourcefulness, what we get is a pack of giant a-holes raking away at each other while being goaded along by a piece of the hose-monster hiding in the family TV. As an example, at one point, the sociopathic, inferiority-complexed patriarch of the family hog ties his own son and proceeds to work him over with a box cutter and other sharp instruments because... the TV told him to. THERE'S family values for you.

A bankrupt and un-interesting "story" driving universally repugnant characters, whose behavior towards each other would only have been marginally better even had the monster never made an appearance, makes for a movie experience that is mostly irritation and frustration. Literally NOBODY is a sympathetic character in AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. The primary reaction one feels towards ALL of the characters is that they need to be lumped up with a set of golf clubs because they're either a mentally deranged sociopath OR they're a bleeding moron too weak willed to lift a finger to halfheartedly defend themselves, nevermind anyone else.

Every character is a stereotype of themselves: the detestable old creep grandfather; the mentally unhinged patriarch, probably that way because of decades of psychological torture from the old creep grandfather; the weak and whiny matriarch ("can't we all just get along..."); the dumb jock brother-in-law and husband of the pregnant sister whose IQ can't be more than three or four; the whiny and entitled pregnant sister; the "good" brother whose only purpose is to virtue signal his way to happiness; the East Indian girlfriend of the "good" brother whose only purpose is to help reveal how everybody is a racist except her virtual signaling "good" brother boyfriend. Somebody PLEASE... shoot me in the head. Clearly, WAY more than anything else, AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS is nothing more than an orgasm of icky British guilt.

The only possibly salvageable character would be the newborn infant. But you should bear in mind that the ONLY reason I'm suggesting the freshly newborn infant might... MIGHT... garner a pass is because it's only on screen at the very end for a few seconds. So we don't really know anything about it. But I'd place better than even money that if we HAD gotten to know it, given the family it came from, we'd have decided it was in desperate need of a nice tuneup from a number one titanium Titleist as well.

The moment the house became engulfed in the parasite the family was doomed. There was never a possibility they might survive this. There's a great story for you: doomed as a family, doomed as individuals, just doomed doomed doomed. Wowee.

AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS is listed as horror, mystery and sci-fi. There's nothing sci-fi about it. "Science" doesn't make an appearance in this movie. It COULD possibly be a mystery since it's definitely a mystery why anybody would write such an inept story. It IS definitely horror because incompetent horror writers often make no effort to make any sense or offer a coherent plot. And that describes this movie PERFECTLY.

Silly, amateurish and utterly ridiculous

[nicksstory · 1/10 · 5 January 2019]

Although I watch about 10 films a week and I'm a massive horror fan, I don't usually write reviews. However, after watching this terrible film, I felt compelled to leave a review and prevent others from wasting an hour and a half of their life. The script is really weak, with poor dialogue and inconsistencies throughout, for example, since when has 3 out of 6 been the majority? Or how does Nick know where his mum and dad keep the axe when he hasn't been there for over 3 years? However, the performances are equally as bad, especially Holly Weston who plays Kate, her performance wouldn't be out of place in a primary school pantomime; she truly is awful. I get where they are going with the whole idea that TV is such a massive influence on our lives and how we are manipulated and brainwashed by it, however, it really doesn't develop this concept with any clarity or imagination. Adding to this, the finale is silly and laughable. Whoever is reponsible for continuity in this film, deserves to never work again, it's appalling throughout. Scott's t-shirt changes 3 times in one scene - just after he speaks to the dad upstairs. Plus, why would they bleach their bodies after thinking they have been contaminated and then put the same clothes back on? It's laughable. The whole film is a complete joke. Anyone that enjoys the film needs to re-evaluate their love and understanding of horror.

How is this movie getting so many good reviews

[tmdarby · 2/10 · 8 December 2018]

I'm typically not the kind of person to complain about a movie. This one though...I was actually angry for have wasting my time watching it. The first 45 min or so isn't bad, except for the way over the top stereotypical characters. The acting wasn't horrible, the dialogue was okay. The main issue with the movie for me was the the ending. The ending was so unbelievably horrible it made me angry. I can think of at least 12 other endings that would have been better off the top of my head. The ending of this movie is just so childish and cartoonish almost that it turns the movie on it's head from a horror to a comedy in a split second. It's like they just got tired of writing the movie and let a 10 year old finish it. And don't tell me it had some deep meaning either, the deep meaning bashed you over the head and it wasn't deep.

Don't waste your time on this one.

Ruled by TV.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 12 March 2019]

What starts off as the usual miserable British family Christmas soon transforms into a a unique, off the wall British horror, where one dysfunctional family are quite literally ruled by the television.

The positives for me are the performances, and the originality of the story. In particular I loved David Bradley, he was literally monstrous, and Abigail Cruttenden was great as the poor wife on the edge. It would be so easy to dismiss this film, as it does go completely bonkers towards the end, but applied them for at least doing something different.

On the debit side, it did look a little cheap and amateur at times, it's not exactly what you'd call a slick production. If have liked to know a little more about the strange force.

Despite the harsh reviews, I'd recommend it, just don't take it too seriously. 7/10

This is the worst movie I have seen in years.

[cmgtxrock · 1/10 · 13 February 2019]

The main premise of the movie is an intriguing one: a broken family wakes up to find their house encapsulated in some sort of metal (trapping them inside), while cryptic instructions appear on their tv, of which they are supposed to follow.

At first you may think that some sort of sadistic, advanced killer is playing games with these folks, or, as the characters suggest, a govermental plan has been put in place as a result of terorism. This is not the case although anything would've been better than the true antagonist.

No, the real villain is some sort of wire alien portrayed by the worst special effects since the blob, that has taken over the world and wants people to worship it and can mainly communicate through glowing green letters on really old tv's.

The acting isn't awful. The characters have various background issues that are intended to keep the viewer interested but ultimately affect nothing in the real plot.

I actually made an IMDB account just to vent about my time being wasted by such a disgracefully bad film.

Please watch anything else or even an old show as this movie will do nothing but disappoint and make you angry for your lost time.

Basically This Was Milgrim's Experiment

[Mehki_Girl · 7/10 · 11 February 2019]

A hugely dysfunctional family consisting of an old abusive creep, his sociopathic son, his milquetoast of a wife, their shrew of a daughter with the IQ of a dumb kumquat and her lunk of a husband who's dumber than she is, and their son who had the good sense to leave but misfortune to return with his sensible and more intelligent girlfriend.

The next day is Boxing Day and overnight, something encases them in their house and in short order, dad is ready to take orders because...government.

It appears something (we're never sure exactly who or what) is watching them through their television and gives them orders via messages on the screen. All of which dad immediately obeys without really knowing who's sending them and then everyone follows suit, although son and girlfriend make somehalfhearted attempts to resist and find out what's really happening, to some fatal results (this thing does not take breaching protocol or the home's boundaries lightly).

Take an unknown vaccine from unsterilized needles? Dad is ready. Toss uneaten dinner on command with prospects of getting more? Dad is willing to obey any order, including torturing is own son on somewhat vague commands. At one point he abandons everyone including his pregnant, gravely injured daughter to "work in my study ", where he draws nonsensical plans.

I won't go further. But this movie had serious overtones. The message I think was people ate perfectly willng to follow any authority figure and do awful things in the name of any authority, be it God, the government, a commanding officer, or whatever a religion dictates.

This movie has a deeper message than the poor execution would suggest.

Sometimes a lobster simply something that's tastes good to eat.

An exercise in frustration.

[josuefett · 1/10 · 12 November 2018]

I will keep this spoiler free (not that it really matters):

The writing for this film is frustrating beyond words. Characters behave in the most illogical ways to the point that they couldn't actually get any dumber.

It is rare that a film is so bad that I actually feel compelled to write about it but this one reaches such levels of unrealistic that I just had to submit this.

Now don't get me wrong, I do occasionally love some bad b-movies, but most of them know they are schlock and embrace it. This film actually thinks it is smart and has an important message but that is far, far from the truth.

The film has writing that made me cringe multiple times and it made me want to scream in frustration at how stupid the characters were. Speaking of which, the "characters" are all cookie cutter stereotypes of the sorts of people that don't actually exist in real life, only in the imagination of someone who has a warped sense of reality.

Can I think of something positive to say about the film? Well, the premise is interesting, the actress playing Anji wasn't bad and the father was intimidating during a couple moments despite his writing being so insanely stupid you may require heart medication after viewing. The effects weren't bad either for the most part so there is that.

That this film could receive so many positive reviews leaves me baffled. But then again, perhaps some critics are into intellectual masochism and enjoy the movie a different way.

What happened to the art of film-making?? Do todays film-makers not understand that a well written script is the bedrock that the rest of the film is built upon? You can have a shoestring budget, inexperienced actors, cheap cameras, poor SFX etc but still make a great film just so long as the writing is done well.

Writing needs to be coherant, consistent and at least semi-realistic, because if you fail to make characters feel and behave like real people the audience will not be able to suspend disbelief or grow attached to them. If we do not get absorbed into a story or empathise/relate to the characters we will not care at all about what happens to them during the film. That is the mistake this film made.

This "film" will definitely be of great value in the education of how NOT to write screenplays.

1/10 (that is an honest rating from me, no exaggeration)

You'll either love it or hate it!

[campbell1337 · 8/10 · 11 March 2019]

SPOILERS BELOW MAIN SECTION OF THIS REVIEW (Warning will precede it)

The film centres on a somewhat disfunctional family reunited for Christmas at the family home. Characters range from the son and his girlfriend, the somewhat chavvy sister and her macho boyfriend, an overbearing militaristic father and wallflower of a mother and the cantankerous grandad. Straight away this presents a great opportunity for all these personalities to play off against one and other.

The film centres on an 'incident' that sees the entire cast trapped within the home, unable to leave as the result of some type of barricade which has entombed the house. After initially trying to escape the film pivots and begins to focus on the dynamic of the characters as they each find ways to cope with the trauma of their situation.

This in turn leads to plenty of conflict which I won't spoil here. The acting intially felt a little wooden and schlocky but I felt the story was written well enough for us to quickly warm to multiple characters which draws you in for the rest of the story. Much of the film becomes more of a character study into how people would respond in a crisis and while it has its moments of horror to some degree I would say this is a background theme for much of the feature.

Throughout the movie instructions are delivered to the family by way of the television. The orders range from the reasonable 'await further instructions' to the more boundary pushing which you will discover as you watch. Information for us (the real world viewer) is drip fed just enough to keep the hooks in. You want to know more! What is happening? What do these messages mean? How are they going to get out of this?

The ending (no spoilers yet) is what will divide people the most. Taken at face value it can seem outwith the rest of the story but with a little thought it does deliver a somewhat clever message by the time the credits roll.

All in all I thought this was an enjoyable watch although reading the other reviews I may be in the minority here. If you have roughly 90 minutes to spare I would recommend giving it a watch. It won't change your life but it may make you think.

SPOILERS BELOW





LAST CHANCE





HERE WE GO

I don't feel the need to go through the movie piece by piece as that will defeat the entire purpose of you watching it. What I am going to talk about is the contentious ending that seems to have so many people divided.

The big reveal comes late in the third act when we discover that the television houses a living creature made from what looks to be thick, black cable. This 'organism' is controlling the broadcast being fed to the family. Once this is shown to us the plot moves forward at a breakneck pace ultimately revealing that the walls surrounding the house are in fact also a living organism similar to what is in the television.

The entire cast that is still alive at this point is soon killed off with the exception of an unborn baby that is still alive in its deceased mothers womb. These cables (the monster) are sentient and they take control of the now dead fathers body, reanimating it in order to communicate with the surviving (soon to be dead) characters. It communicates directly with them through the father exclaiming "worship me".

They of course reject this notion and are quickly murdered and we soon realise this is one of those films where the 'bad guys' win. In a visiually interesting, if entirely unbelievable move we see the baby being born as the 'monster' manouveres a television in front of her. The screen flickers to life and the words "worship me" is displayed on a colourful screen before we fade to black and the credits roll.

Now if you take this is a swift left turn from the rest of the films themes which ruins an otherwise good feature I would totally understand. We are pushed to our limits with regard to suspension of disbelief on this one but the thing I feel like a number of other reviewers have either missed entirely or just failed to mention is the metaphor laden message we are being given here.

Throughout the entire film we are told over and over again that we must obey whatever the television tells us to do. One character even remarks that the "tv is Dads life" in a clever bit of foreshadowing given his later reanimating thanks to the television. I think a lot of people have taken this obey message to simply mean the surviving humans must follow and be subservient to these 'monsters' but as I'm sure you've now worked out based on what I've just said, I think the message is a far more relevant one to all of us!

Millions of people sit in front of their televisions night after night, consuming whatever is placed before us. Much of our understanding if the outside world comes neatly packaged for the consumer via programmes and advertising and like it or not, we consume all of it to some degree. I think the entire premise of the movie is a metaphor for our worship of the television. The 'monster' comes in the form of black cables similar to the tangled mess of plugs and wires that sit behind most of our own setups at home.

The walls around the house shut out the world around us, focusing our attention on the television allowing it to hold our attention even more. One of our main characters has the epiphany late in the movie that the 'monster', "needs us to survive". The same could be said for television. Without viewers it would sit dormant and powerless, unable to influence our lives in any way be that the stories it tells or the products it attempts to sell. If our devices were indeed sentient they would depend on us in much the same was as so many depend on it.

That is the message of the movie as far as I was concerned. Perhaps I have misinterpreted it entirely but looking at it in this way added a lot more depth to the ending which has caused so much division. Love it or hate it I still think the rest of the movie is worth your time and I would recommend anyone watch it at least once.

All Over the place but interesting concepts.

[Derache · 7/10 · 5 May 2019]

This isn't a show you watch because its perfect or even cause its good. Cause its not. The only reason its good is because it's interesting. This movie reminds me of the matrix in the types of concepts that it presents. I would compare this most to Kanye West's Album "Yeezus". Just like Yeezus, it ain't objectively good, but its more of a subjective experience that your experience choses how much you can take from this movie.

I would definatly recommend watching this movie.

It started fine but then .. oh then...

[adaplect · 5/10 · 5 October 2018]

Usually i have a strong opinion about a movie, I either like it or dislike it. This one made me reconsider. I don't know if i liked it or not. It started well with an intriguing mystery. The acting was not very good but it could be forgiven because the mystery was nice. The first half of the film was nice, even good. The second half was a train wreck. I can forgive the alien tentacles and their superiority complex. What i find most annoying about the film are the humans! Why were they behaving like that? Why were they blindly following instructions from a TV?! For all they knew it could all be a very elaborate prank! And what was with that fear they had of the father of the family? It made sense initially because it was his house and they respected him but after he went nuts and started torturing people they still obeyed him?!! Seriously? In other words I find the tentacles more realistic than the behavior of the characters!

It's stupid, but not worth the harsh reviews

[lanaijw · 5/10 · 13 April 2020]

This film almost got there. The brutal reviews don't make sense to me, because it's honesty not that bad. Average. Started off strong then fizzled out. This film had premise but didn't know what to do with it. Still an enjoyable watch.

Bait and switch

[kuarinofu · 4/10 · 2 March 2019]

Wow, I actually god tricked by somewhat good direction for like the first 30% of the movie. Then it all just shatters completely. It's not long before you understand the super straightforward message they are trying to deliver. Around 1 hr in the script ended and it sort of just dragged along for another 30 mins of nothing (they just kept repeating themselves in cause you're completely braindead so you won't understand what they mean). It lets you know in advance that there will be no interesting resolution, so you won't get disappointed anyway.

None of the characters make any sense and they change their decisions so often you can' really take them seriously. The effects are passable yet some of the stop motion was just too hard to believe. I actually feel bad that I let myself get baited on this one.

P.S. Kudos to the writers for writing the most ignorant and disgusting character I've ever seen in a movie (and I've seen lots of them) - the dad. They should've called this - "Hateful Ignorance: The Movie"

Awful- time waster

[emmacollinge · 1/10 · 9 March 2019]

I never write reviews, but with this movie recently being added online I feel the need to warn others to save their time. It starts strong and dips 25 mins I which continuous to fall until the end where you are left saking your head

Good Sci-fi

[billcr12 · 7/10 · 10 October 2018]

Await Further Instructions is a solid entry into the sci-fi field. A family in Britain celebrating Christmas become trapped in their home by unseen forces. Much like the Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," they quickly turn against each other. The acting is top notch and the story a good one. I am surprised by the 5/10 rating her on IMDB. The ninety film is a nice diversion from our every day troubles. Give it a shot.

Await Further Instructions: Well that was, interesting!?

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 9 March 2019]

This film immediately got my attention, it seemed to fall under a sub category that I love and I was gripped. Sadly it didn't deliver the way that I expected and that's a real shame.

You see Await Further Instructions tells the story of a family brought together for Christmas. When drama occurs two of them decide to leave at the crack of dawn but find themselves locked in. Every door and window is sealed by some kind of metal and now the television is giving them instructions! So what is going on? Terrorism? Quarantine? Or something more nefarious?

I liked this, I liked the family dynamic and how they each reacted. Some rationally, others counter productive. The movie also touches upon religion, how they badly "Reached" to deem what was taking place as relevant to their particular faith causing further irrational behavior and hysteria.

Starring GoT/Harry Potter/The Strain star David Bradley I was thoroughly hooked by the movie and fascinated to see where it would go next. Trouble is, where it goes isn't as entertaining.

A slow burner, the pace works and kept me engaged but as soon as certain revelations take place and questions get answered you realize just how badly the writer has dropped the ball. They took a really enjoyable movie with a great concept and tagged on the end a moronic, awful finale that looks terrible and simply isn't very good at all.

Personally based on everything we found out I'd like to see a sequel to this, but one where they give more thought to the ending.

The Good:

Solid concept

The Bad:

Dreadful finale

Good but disappointing ending

[Pairic · 7/10 · 30 October 2018]

Await Further Instructions: Horror/Dark Comedy/Satire. The Christmas from Hell as the milgram family gather, the son who hasn't been in touch for years arrives with his girlfriend, his sister is an opinionated chav with the IQ and charm of Jade Goody. The mother is a bit crazy having to deal with her husband, a minor manager, really one of life's Lance-Corporals. The grandad boasts of his thirty years in the Military Police, he resembles Father Jack, has a strong racist streak and likes stirring up disharmony.

They wake up to find that the doors and windows are blocked by impenetrable shutters. Increasingly bizarre instructions are received through the tv set emergency channel. The father imposes an authoritarian regime and the house descends into chaos and violence. Tensions builds but the ending is a bit of a disappointment. 7/10.

No subtly here.

[midnightmosesuk · 5/10 · 27 December 2018]

This will be a barely passable review for a barely passable film so I'm going to be brief about this.

A thoroughly unpleasant family is trapped by a pile of intelligent, evil spaghetti from (I can only presume) outer space. It surrounds their house and tricks them into committing unspeakable acts via the television. Nearly everyone dies.

This film is packed with allegory which it delivers with all the nuanced subtly of a brick to the face. Commentary on racism/islamophobia? Yep. Commentary on fake news? There it is! How about something allegorical about the control television exerts over people? The film actually has the television demanding people worship it.

I'm not saying it wasn't mildly entertaining, it was watchable for the 90 minutes it was on, just don't expect me to remember much about it tomorrow. In fact I've nearly forgotten it already. Anyway, excuse me, I have a to go and worship my TV.

Will you blindly follow?

[resiliantflower · 8/10 · 31 January 2022]

At what point do you stop listening? After a trial vaccine kills your family? When people turn on each other and die?

This film is extremely clever and I find is humorous it came our right before the pandemic and people behaved just like in the film, doing whatever they are told because the person controlling the tv tells them to, even when their families are dying and nothing makes any sense.

Its Good for a Bad Ending

[natzap · 6/10 · 5 October 2018]

I would say in my opinion its a good movie until the ending NO SPOILERS, the whole movie is about what is going on in the house, why are they locked in, whats the Quarantine? is it military experiment or a terrorist attack, i think all of the not knowing is what made the movie some what good, than the ending came and i really didn't like what it lead up too.

Corrupt control

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 3 November 2018]

'Await Further Instructions' did have much going for it. The premise was one of the best for any film seen recently (pretty bold and creative for low-budget), there were some really interesting ideas, the cover was so attention-grabbing and it looked great. So there was a lot of promise, this was hardly and a long way from being a film that was doomed from the start.

Did 'Await Further Instructions' live up to the potential it had? Not quite. Did it waste it? No. For me 'Await Further Instructions' was one of those difficult to rate and review films due to not being sure what my thoughts are between liking/loving or disliking/hating it. If needing to choose, my opinion would be somewhere in between and being neither extreme. It is a wildly uneven film, but did find myself appreciating what it tried to do and the effort that was put into it, because 'Await Further Instructions' was not one of those non-trying films (a try-too-harder actually).

There are good things. For low-budget it looks pretty good, there is a great moody atmosphere, stylish photography, editing that is actually coherent and far from shoe-string-looking production design. The haunting moodiness is also present in the music score, which didn't feel intrusive or obvious.

Found the acting better than average on the most part, with good performances from Sam Gittins and David Bradley. 'Await Further Instructions' started off very well, it does have tension and suspense and the mystery element intrigued and compelled. The direction has assurance generally before losing control a bit later on.

However, there are exceptions to the acting and they are Holly Weston and Neerja Naik, both try too hard and irritate. It is largely to do with the characters themselves, their characters coming off worst in a film full of indecisive and not always logical character writing which makes the characters not as easy to endear to as needed. The writing is uneven, sometimes thought-provoking and at other times very corny and rushed.

It is a shame that some of the second half didn't live up to the standard set by the first. The tension, suspense and creepiness isn't as strong and things become predictable, silly and contrived with some suspend disbelief parts and a mess of too many ideas not explored enough or gelling together. The ending is sadly one that ends on a whimper than a bang and the lack of polish in the effects does stick out like a sore thumb (sure there have been far worse in film history, but it was obvious that the writing and effects weren't paid much attention to).

Overall, very mixed here but appreciated the effort. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Hilarious family romp

[rngfarrell · 3/10 · 6 October 2018]

This movie is so terrible it's hard to know where to begin. The characters are all stereotypes and everything that happens is so on the nose that it's just pure allegory, which is preachy and boring as hell to watch.

That being said, the flimsy sci-fi frame upon which this film is hung made it worth staying until the end for. I recommend watching the first ten minutes to get the feel of what the whole movie will be then skipping to the end for the payoff for a laugh.

Here Are The Instructions - Go Watch Something Else

[jostannie · 1/10 · 6 October 2018]

Well here is another example of bad movie making. What on Earth is happening these days with these so called 'directors'? Where did thay learn their trade for God's sake? Was it the 6th form? I've make better movies than this for Christ's sake using clay puppets, with a better story line - and better acting!! As for the screenwriter don't get me started....