Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

We Await Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf March 21, 2022

Co-writer/director Charles Pinion made a weird movie in 1993’s “Red Spirit Lake,” paying passable attention to storytelling needs as he worked in many fetishes and freak-outs, hoping to pay his respects to the great gods of underground cinema. 1996’s “We Await” mostly does away with a traditional plot to keep viewers in the toxic sludge of mental illness, with Pinion striving to melt a few brains with this endeavor, which combines the power of crystals, the wonders of cannibalism, and penis torture in a surprisingly sluggish 54-minute-long run time. And there’s a giant, obese Jesus attacking a car worked into the mix, because why not?

Pinion has his Big Ideas with “We Await,” but he’s careful to keep them from the audience, preferring to launch a surreal take on “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” only with a crude SOV aesthetic, which always makes it tough to take any of this seriously. The helmer doesn’t have money or professional actors, but he has his vision for violence, which is quite graphic at times, giving the effort some jolts of viciousness, including loving close-ups of a squashed penis during an S&M sequence that has nothing to do with the plot. Pinion has his fixations, and he works hard to create a blizzard of screen activity for the picture, trying to dazzle with extreme dips into unreality, including the aforementioned Big Jesus sequence, which briefly turns the son of God into a kaiju, and there’s the whole business with a magic crystal. “We Await” has ideas, but no distinct execution, often playing like a background video at a Gwar concert, with Pinion more focused on his visual extremity than his dramatic fundamentals.

We Await Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.33:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "We Await" is listed as a "brand new restoration of the original master tapes." Being a shot-on-video production, fine detail isn't included here, but a basic appreciation of faces and places is present, with Pinion often favoring extreme close-ups. Colors are diminished but not eliminated, exploring primaries on household decoration and clothing, and there are acid hues as well for the more psychedelic stretches of the movie. Source is in decent condition, with some points of damage.

We Await Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix is fighting an uphill battle with the no-budget endeavor, finding technical and staging limitations keeping dialogue exchanges muddy at times. Music is basic as well, with the production favoring bursts of industrial buzzing to create intimidating moods.

We Await Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary is listed as a conversation with director Charles Pinion about "We Await," but what's actually presented here is the commentary track for "Red Spirit Lake."

• "Psychic, Powerful" (15:36, HD) is an interview with director Charles Pinion.

• "Disembowelment of a Shot" (4:54, SD) is raw BTS footage from the "We Await" shoot."

• Deleted Scenes and Outtakes (18:39, SD) from "We Aware" are offered.

• "Spirit Drive" (4:46, SD) is an excerpt from the VHS release of "We Await."

• "'Spirit Drive' Document" (30:43, SD) is a making-of for "We Await," covering a single day of the shoot as cast and crew gather to film a driving sequence.

• And a Trailer (2:34, SD) is included.

We Await Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It doesn't take long for the viewing experience of "We Await" to feel improvised, with Pinion chasing whims instead of landing the 4-D chess game he's clearly playing in his mind. There's little connective tissue here, and worse, no invitation to join the madness as a viewer, keeping the production a cold display of bizarre elements competing for attention. Certainly there's something here for cult cinema addicts who adore oddity, including a member of the "family" who lives life as a human dog. There are plenty of gross textures and situations to savor as well. It's a lack of cohesiveness that keeps "We Await" at arm's length, frequently playing like an extended trailer for a grander endeavor Pinion is aching to create.