[Once
again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for
the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The
Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded (usually with the
help of a few other writers). Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can
pull it off this year.]
Not all fears involve matters of life and death. Some are
far more mundane. Like, for instance, the fear and dread many young adult to
middle age liberals feel about going home for the holidays and being forced to
spend time with relatives whose ideology is considerably more conservative. It’s
a small fear in the greater scheme of things, but one far more likely to be
realized than, say, getting eaten by a shark or stalked by a slasher. Also,
small fears can serve as precursors to larger, more dangerous ones. That’s the
vein of horror mined by British indie horror film AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS, and it does so to great effect.
The film begins with Nick Milgram (Sam Gittins) and his
middle eastern girlfriend Annji (Neerja Naik) arriving at his parents’ home for
Christmas. Mom Beth (Abigail Cruttenden) is slightly taken aback, but more or
less accepting of Annji. Dad Tony (Grant Masters), however, is clearly not
pleased, and grandpa Alfred (David Bradley) is openly hostile and racist. Nick’s
pregnant sister Kate ((Holly Weston) is only casual in her racism, but she has
plenty of contempt and envy for her brother. Her boyfriend Scott (Kris Saddler)
is just kind of a dumb mook. From the outset, the odds of a pleasant holiday
are not in Nick and Annji’s favor.
