Writer: F.C. Rabbath (Screenplay)
Starring: Nick Leali, Molly Raterman, Laura Altair, Michelle Feliciano, Mark A Marple, Bob Myers
Runtime: 1 Hour 24 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Beautiful Horror Romance
Story: The Waiting starts when down on his luck Eric (Leali) is looking to get back into dating, with a string of bad dates, but things look up when he gets a new job at a hotel, where Sally (Altair) is also on her first day.
The hotel does have a haunted room, with a reputation that you can only stay in a certain room for one minute, where Eric takes the challenge of going in the room, where he meets the ghost face to face.
Thoughts on The Waiting
Characters – Eric is a positive man that finds his love life not going well, jobs hard to come by, he is given a chance at a hotel, where his friendly nature sees him fit in with ease, Eric learns of the haunted room, which sees him try to solve the mystery behind it, showing he has a kind nature to both people in this life and after it. Elizabeth is the ghost that lives in the room, she has haunted it for years, until Eric starts to listen to her pain, she needs to escape the room going forward, only she is attached to the room in the afterlife. Sally is the fellow new member of staff on the cleaning team, she is scared by the stories about the room, which leads her to get Eric to try the room, she does see the good in the ideas about the actions. Steve is the manager of the hotel, he will take it easier on the staff once he hears about the bigger ideas for the hotel.
Performances – Nick Leali in the leading role is great, he brings to life a genuine nice guy that is always looking to help someone. Molly Raterman as the ghost figure gives a performance that is all about facial expression and body movement, which leaves you understand each emotion her character is going through. The rest of the cast are strong too, bringing about the extra twists in the story.
Story – The story here follows a happy-go-lucky man that gets a new job in a hotel which is haunted, where he befriends the ghost to try and help understand its story to why it has remained in the hotel. This does bring a fresh spin on the haunted hotel room idea, as we know there are haunted hotel rooms around the world, we don’t get an overly aggressive ghost, we don’t have the investigation equipment, we have an attempt to communicate and learn the reason the ghost is here, with a story that has sadness involved. We do have twists along the way, when it comes to seeing how people have been acting, the idea of trying to do the right thing is going to come through strong.
Comedy/Horror/Romance – The comedy does come from the nature of Eric, even if criticised, we will spin the reason into humour, the horror is with the idea of the haunted hotel room, though we don’t go to in depth with the horror elements. The romance circles around first Eric’s unlucky times in love and why the ghost is still in the hotel.
Settings – The film does use the hotel as the one main location, the different rooms, be it the security room, the room 101 which the ghost occupies and where the other guest enjoy their stays at the hotel.
Scene of the Movie – The first ghost appearance has the best reaction.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We could have gotten an extra scare on a guest or two.
Final Thoughts – This is a delightful horror romance that shows the bigger picture of dealing with understanding why a ghost could be haunting a room in a hotel.
Overall: Horror that brings a light to haunting.