Ghosts have feelings too. That’s been one of the most noticeable shifts in supernatural horror (and other genre-straddling) films in the past couple of decades, from the fairly high-profile film The Others at the start of the century, through to the likes of A Ghost Story, a largely-mute, but very poignant story from 2017. (There’s another film which very much fits this bill, but I will hold off on discussing that one until later on in this review, for reasons which will become apparent.) So we’re gradually getting used to considering a story from a ghost’s perspective; this takes us part of the way to The Waiting (2020), itself a genre-busting independent film which offers a largely successful, rather ambitious spin on the ‘haunted house’ idea, taking us from what looks at first to be a standard haunting through to something else entirely. By turns comical and sad, it stretches itself rather thinly in places, but overall renders a watchable, effective yarn.
It starts in a haunted hotel, rather than someone’s home – though thankfully The Innkeepers this ain’t, and we briefly meet a couple of housekeeping staff rushing along the corridor to the notorious Room 101. The room is never made available to the public, but somehow it needs fixing up every day: they give themselves sixty seconds to put it right, after which time, apparently, a ghostly figure appears. Lucky for them, they get in and out before faced with this – but the presence of a spectre is known about anywhere The Lodge is mentioned. No wonder it’s making a loss.
From here, we move along and meet Eric (Nick Leali), an unlucky-in-love everyman figure who seems to be on a run of dreadful online dates, whilst in actual fact he’s still pining for the one who got away – his ex, who left him with no explanation or further contact. Still, he’s cautiously optimistic about some of the other new factors in his life. He has a new job in a local hotel, and a chance to get some money beside him. Eric has high hopes, but gets off to a rough start in his new role and, when the boss turns up, a glib comment to Eric about wanting him to make the place more lucrative gets him thinking. In trying to familiarise himself with every aspect of the place, Eric discovers the rumours of the haunted room. He investigates, and wouldn’t you know – the apparition of a woman appears to him. Drawn to the strange history of this woman, named Elizabeth (Molly Ratermann), Eric cannot resist going to the room again. Whether he can get to the bottom of the mystery, and its appeal to him, before the underperforming hotel has more worldly concerns to contend with is another matter entirely. Likewise, his seeming connection with the ghost there is a complicated issue…
At first, the tone of The Waiting was quite difficult to unpick: this is largely due to some overblown performances in the early scenes, in what was possibly intended to be shorthand for ‘people here are terrible’ compared to Eric, who is signposted as a nice, affable guy throughout. Some of the rudeness he experiences from his new colleagues and guests alike – for example – made little sense at first, and made it difficult to get a handle on what kind of story I was watching; thankfully, the characters bed in and things improve. The film soon becomes a kind of mystery, a puzzle to solve, whilst also gradually upping its focus on human (and post-human) relationships. Whilst this all takes time to get going, with some minor issues along the way, the film’s steadily-increasing array of neat touches and ideas engages the audience more and more. There is a sense of real warmth here which is commendable.
I mentioned that films which consider a ghostly perspective have made their presence felt in recent years; it’s one of those unfortunate coincidences, then, that The Waiting has appeared within a handful of months of another film, A Ghost Waits (2020), with which it has considerable thematic overlap. This happens; two films, unrelated to each other, often unknown to either filmmaking team, happen to contain lots of crossover, and it must be very galling. Still, each film differs in their approach to the point where they each have merit; The Waiting has a different sort of humour, looks different enough and moves away from the very limited cast used in A Ghost Waits, whilst eschewing the latter’s rationale for the haunting which is taking place. It’s no bad thing, either, to have two films which successfully incorporate such touching aspects. Perhaps The Waiting could have reined in its last five minutes or so, but overall, there’s a lot to recommend here.
The Waiting (2020) will be released in December.