They Wait

They Wait is a Canadian horror film about a family returning from Shanghai to North America for a relative's funeral. Jason and Sarah settle in with his Aunt Mei, and their young son soon starts seeing ghosts and visions of violent deaths. When the boy falls seriously ill and ordinary medicine fails to help, Sarah turns to a pharmacist who knows Chinese mythology, and learns that a supernatural force is threatening her child. She must work out what the spirit wants in order to save him.

Ernie Barbarash directed the film, the second of the eighteen features he has made in chronological order, following Cube Zero and preceding Hardwired. The cast includes Jaime King as Sarah, Terry Chen as Jason, Cheng Pei-pei as Aunt Mei, Henry O as the pharmacist, Vicky Huang as Shen and Michael Biehn as O'Connell. The production was Canadian, from Brightlight Pictures and TVA Films, and runs 89 minutes.

They Wait was released in September 2007. Audience response has been modest: on IMDb it holds 5.4 out of 10 from roughly 3,700 votes, and on TMDB 5.3 out of 10 from a much smaller sample of 67 votes. A critics' rating of 4.6 out of 10 from five reviews places critical and audience opinion fairly close together, both indicating a lukewarm reception rather than strong enthusiasm.