It Waits (2005)
A forest ranger with a tragic past must fight a beast of legend who has been released and is hunting again.
Genre
Characters/Groups
Danny St. Clair - Cerina Vincent
Justin Rowley - Dominic Zamprogna
Joseph Riverwind - Eric Schweig
Julie Cassidy - Miranda Frigon
Lt. Morris Black - Sean Campbell
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
Detailed Synopsis
Ben Wheelock and Lark Rainwater are walking in the woods. Ben radios in to base camp and tells them to get the truck and meet them at the top of the ridge. Ben, Lark and a few other people blast open a cave entrance using dynamite and enter the cave. They find pictographs of a winged monster attacking a human which Ben takes a sample of the paint and gives to Lark to get a radiocarbon date. The group moves further into the cave where they find bones. They hear a noise and a creature appears from deeper in the cave. They try and run out of the cave but are killed.
Two months later Danny St. Clair, a local forest ranger is in her fire lookout tower with her pet bird named Hoppy. She is drinking from a bottle of vodka and reminiscing of the time her and her friend Julie Cassidy went out drinking. Danny receives a video call from her supervisor Rick Baily to sluice off ten million gallons a day from the Devil's Gate dam and also look for the missing camper family the Carl and Evelyn Nash. Danny passes out and is awoken by Hoppy telling her he wants to go home. Danny walks around the tower when she hears a noise. She finds large claw marks on the supply shed. Justin Rowley arrives at Julie's tower. Justin asks Danny what the claw marks are from and she tells him she thinks she was visited by a bear. Justin wants to hang out with Danny, but she is hesitant. They both go to the dam so Danny can sluice out the water. Danny admits to Justin that ever since the accident she feels her karma has flipped and she has a feeling of dread. Justin tells her not to focus on it as it wasn't her fault since Julie was driving. Danny agrees to let Justin stay over night. Justin makes a toast to Danny but she is distant and then Danny admits to Justin she was the one driving Julie's jeep during the crash. Justin tells her it doesn't matter because she was already dead and it didn't make sense to go to prison when she was already dead. They then have sex.
The Creature returns and climbs the roof of the tower and cranks the emergency siren. Justin climbs up the tower but the Creature is already gone. The Creature then pushes Justin's jeep over. Justin returns from the roof and tells Danny the Creature ripped off the satellite dish. Danny and Justin agree to take turns watching the door for the rest of the night. Justin goes to his jeep to grab the radio however it is destroyed. Carl and Evelyn Nash are walking through the woods lost. Danny and Justin decide to go to the Devil's Gate Dam in order to use the radio there. They think they hear something as they are walking. As Justin is aiming his rifle in the direction of the noise, Carl touches him from behind and tells Justin he is aiming at his wife. Carl asks Danny and Justin if they can point them in the right direction off the mountain. He tells Danny their raft flipped over and they lost their compass and maps in the river. Danny and Justin want to escort the couple down the mountain, however Carl insists on he and his wife going by themselves. Danny and Justin arrive at the dam however the radio equipment has been destroyed there also. Carl leaves Evelyn to walk ahead to make sure they are going the right way. The Creature attacks and kills Evelyn. Carl runs back towards Evelyn and is chased and killed by the Creature. Danny and Justin return to the tower and find the jeep now has it's engine ripped out. They enter the tower and Evelyn's corpse drops from the ceiling. Carl's corpse is then tossed from the roof onto Justin. Justin thinks the killer is the same one that killed a group of students from NEU. Justin and Danny bury the couple so animals won't get them. Danny preys for the couple and they decide Justin is going to hike to safety while Danny stays in the tower. At night Danny pours out her booze, grabs a rifle and waits for the Creature. Justin is walking in the forest at night when he is attacked and killed by the Creature.
The Creature returns to the tower and breaks the lock to the supply shed. The next morning Danny finds the shed broken into. She pulls a canister and finds Justin's head behind it. Danny then buries Justin's body next to the graves of the Nash family. She sets a trap for the Creature by opening a large amount of canned goods and dumping them in the shed while also tying the empty cans on string along the perimeter of the tower. Hoppy wakes Danny up and tells her the Creature is coming. Danny lets Hoppy out of his cage. The Creature attacks the tower however Danny scares it off with targeted rifle shots. She brings out Hoppy and tells him to fly away until she gets back. She then follows a trail of green blood. Danny follows the trail to the cave the NEU students explored. Inside the cave she meets Joseph Riverwind, who tells her it isn't safe and the Creature is in one of the caverns below. They both leave the cave. Joseph introduces himself and tells her as a person in spiritual transition she poses a threat to the Creature. He explains the Creature was brought above ground by Shamans 1000 years ago to harness its power. It then took 500 years to trap it. He says the Creature is an amalgamation of a frustrated spirit of a mythological beast and the basest human qualities. Joseph tells Danny he doesn't think she can kill it only hurt it as the Creature regenerates. He then gives Danny a satchel and tells her he will meet her at her tower later. Before Danny leaves he tells her he thinks the Creature might also be female and still have a sense of nurturing. When Danny returns to her tower she finds the bodies of the Nash couple and Justin removed and placed inside the tower. A thunderstorm rolls in and Danny walks to try and find help. The rain stops and as she is running back to the tower the Creature attacks her and grabs her, but lets her go after ripping a piece of flesh from Danny's thigh and eating it. The Creature flies onto the top of the tower and Danny shoots it with her rifle. Danny finds a cell phone that fell out of Carl Nash' corpse and calls Rick. She tells Rick about the Creature, but he thinks she is drunk. Rick agrees to drive up to the tower to help Danny. Danny then bandages her thigh wound.
Rick drives to the tower the next day but still doesn't believe anything Danny tells him. They drive to the dam to check if it is still okay, and on their way out Danny grabs a few pieces of dynamite from the storage shed. As they are driving they come across the corpse of Joseph impaled in the middle of the road like a scarecrow. The Creature flies above and drops Justin's body on Rick, killing him. Danny drives off in Rick's jeep. The Creature stands in the middle of the road and Danny drives over it and then backs over it a few times, however the Creature is not dead. Danny has to stop the jeep when she comes across a large tree branch across the road and is attacked by the Creature again but manages to escape and reverse the vehicle. The Creature climbs onto the front of the jeep and Danny drives directly into the cave. She lights a stick of dynamite and climbs out of the jeep as the dynamite explodes, closing the cave entrance. Danny goes to the dam and lowers the water level, leaves her forestry badge on the table next to the computer and goes to the cops. Danny tells Lt. Morris Black about the murders and he assumes the spree killer is back. She also admits she was the one who was driving when Julie was killed. Danny is sitting in bed in her apartment when Hoppy returns and they are reunited.