Await Further Instructions (2018)

Await Further Instructions is a low-budget Christmas horror flick exploring themes around surveillance, authority, religion, terrorism and the ways liberalism versus conservativism view these ideas. Despite a small cast and virtually the entire movie being relegated to a single house, there are a lot of ideas being played with, which is a bit of a double-edged sword. The movie is engrossing, but by the end credits it left me a little confused what, if anything, it was trying to say. That's not automatically a problem - movies which pose questions without answering them can absolutely work, particularly in this genre. But this one feels allegorical in a way that left me digging for a message or point I don't think was delivered (or at least not clearly enough to be satisfying). On top of that, the movie chooses to make its characters simplistic in ways that prevent them from having strong arcs. Again, that's not a dealbreaker, but it places more weight on plot reveals to make the experience worthwhile.

Which, depending on your predisposition towards the genre, this may or may not be. I finished the movie feeling a bit underwhelmed, but it was a close call and a type of horror I don't generally gravitate towards. That doesn't mean it's not good: the movie builds an effective tone, it makes excellent use of its budget, it's visually interesting (and more than a little disturbing), and I'd be lying if I said I didn't spend the runtime intrigued by the mystery.

If claustrophobic sci-fi/horror is a subgenre you love, you might consider holding off on my synopsis until you've checked this out. I didn't love it, but that doesn't mean it isn't pretty good.

All right. Spoiler warning's out of the way, so let's proceed.

The movie begins in familiar territory. A dysfunctional family is gathering together on Christmas Eve. The patriarch, Tony, is a stoic office manager with conservative leanings, though perhaps not as conservative as his racist, abusive father (who's also present... though not for long). His wife, Beth, is one of three well-meaning characters, though she's too emotionally damaged to do much more than apologize and try to defuse escalating situations. Their pregnant daughter, Kate, and her husband Scott round out the non-protagonist characters. That leaves Nick and his girlfriend, Annji, who's meeting his family for the first time. They're the intelligent, liberal-minded characters capable of holding it together.

After enduring a number of racist comments directed at Annji, they decide to leave, only to find every door, window, or other opening has been covered by what at first seems to be black metal sheets with small ridges. Phones don't work, the internet is down, and every television station now shows the words, "Stay inside and await further instructions."

At least at first. When they sit down to eat, the message changes, warning them their food is contaminated. Tony assumes it's the government communicating with them in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, an interpretation Nick and Annji are skeptical of. But Tony has seized control and enlisted Scott as muscle. There's not much Nick and Annji can do but object.

Things escalate when a pack containing hypodermic needles are delivered via their fireplace and the television orders them to use the vaccines. Again, Nick and Annji are hesitant but eventually pressured into injecting themselves along with the others. Then they all watch the grandfather die horribly. Despite this, Tony refuses to defy whatever authority is communicating to them through the television, arguing it's possible the "vaccines" saved the rest of them from whatever killed his father.

So... yeah, that portion didn't age particularly well. I imagine if this had been made a few years later, they'd have picked a symbol for obedience to authority other than vaccine mandates if they wanted to promote a liberal worldview. Frankly, it was irresponsible then, too (get your damn flu and COVID vaccines, people). Moving on.

The barrier around the door opens enough for a small hole, large enough to return the needles. Scott investigates and loses several fingers in the process.

The TV commands the survivors to quarantine the one who's infected, which most of the family takes to mean Annji (she has a mild cold). Nick tries to fight back, and Kate winds up falling off the stairs in the chaos. She breaks a leg and eventually dies.

Things continue to escalate as the television demands more and more signs of obedience, commanding Tony to torture information from Nick (who of course knows nothing). Annji finds an old television in the room she's in, breaks it open, and finds a sort of Cronenbergian horror inside resembling a technorganic beating heart. In response, poison gas is pumped into some rooms, killing Beth - Annji barely escapes.

By now, the television has more or less proclaimed itself God, and Tony is invested enough to believe this is all some sort of test. When it asks for a sacrifice to save Kate's unborn child, he doesn't hesitate. The others are now all somewhat united against him, and there's a brief fight culminating in Scott getting hatchetted to death. Nick finally defeats his father by crushing him with the television.

At this point, the wires in the TV come to life. Nick destroys the TV, only to watch in horror as the wires around the house (turns out that's what the barrier was made of) enter and control his father's body. Nick and Annji are killed, and the wires reduce Kate's corpse to a skeleton, revealing a living baby inside. It brings another television and begins showing images to the infant, presumably beginning to raise it to worship it. We also get a shot outside showing similar wires engulfing every building in sight.

So.

What the hell is all that supposed to mean?

The movie obviously has a sort of 1984 vibe. Presumably this was also inspired by the adoption of electronic surveillance devices such as Amazon Echo and smartphones (though if that was meant to be the target, the message is muted by the decision to code the corrupted tech as old fashioned and analog). The movie makes a point of exploring both government and faith as systems of control through obedience, as well, though it's ultimately ambiguous whether the TV should be viewed as a real (albeit evil) divine entity or a false prophet.

What's less ambiguous is its portrayal of those who obey and follow without question. The conservative members of the family are racist and easily manipulated by even the appearance of authority. They do horrible things without question and are willing to sacrifice even their own family if they believe they're "supposed to."

While I share the movie's political alignment, this makes for a less compelling story. Tony, Kate, and the grandfather are given very little in the form of an arc, and what's present is more about revealing their characters than displaying much change. When the movie opens with a "dysfunctional family at Christmas" motif, they're already the bad guys in that scenario. Tony's dissent into madness would be much more effective if he'd started as a likeable, flawed human. Same goes for the other two: there's no tragedy in their fall.

Scott might be a bit of an exception. He's the only character who really shifts from side to side over the course of the movie as he struggles to understand what's happening and what his moral responsibility is. He's a bit of a buffoon, but he doesn't come off as evil.

Meanwhile, Beth is basically just a victim. I'd argue the same is ultimately true of Nick and Annji, though they put up more of a fight. But because there are no survivors here (aside from the baby), their efforts are ultimately meaningless. There's no indication there was anything they could have done to get through this, aside from offering the entity blind obedience (and even that was hardly a guarantee). If they'd had more defined character arcs within the film, this might not be as big of a deal, but they don't really grow or change much as people (I suppose Nick stands up to his father more aggressively at the end than at the start, but that has a minimal effect on the outcome).

It's almost best when looked at as an throwback to classic sci-fi B-movies. Whether or not this is literally an alien invasion, it's reminiscent of those kinds of drive-in flicks and enjoyable in that respect. And whether the movie's message is muddled, it's certainly presented in interesting ways.

In terms of the holidays, this is playing with Christmas in a couple ways. First, there's the family dynamic: this absolutely wants you thinking about Christmas dramedies in the opening minutes. But it devotes more attention to religious aspects, a fact highlighted by the presence of a cross directly over the television set. The baby born miraculously at the end (to a dead woman, rather than a virgin) also resonates with the nativity, though it's worth mentioning this occurs after Christmas Day (probably the 26th or 27th).

In addition, there's some interesting use of lighting that plays off the holidays. In addition to the decorations present, the message on the television initially appears in green, then changes to red to imply an emergency or failure to follow instructions.

Whether this film qualifies as an atheistic Christmas movie depends on your interpretation of whether we're supposed to view faith itself as a weakness, or merely the inability to differentiate between good and evil when deferring to authority. Regardless, I think this movie may have some interest to atheists looking for rare holiday movies conducive to their worldview.

There was a time I'd probably have recommended this enthusiastically on the grounds that solid Christmas science-fiction is itself pretty hard to find. But the volume of low-budget holiday sci-fi horror movies spiked over the last decade, so the bar's a lot higher than it used to be. I still think this one's pretty good, but the lackluster character arcs, coupled with the ideas not entirely coalescing in a way that works with the premise, caps my enthusiasm at that level. If you're a big fan of the genre and style, by all means check this out. But if your interest in horror is more casual, there are more fulfilling options out there.