I've Been Waiting for You
Tags: revenge, murder

Plot synopsis:
Sarah Zoltanne (Sarah Chalke) is a teenager who recently moved from Los Angeles to Pine Crest with her mother, Rosemary (Markie Post). Always having been an outsider, she is not very welcomed by her classmates at school. Especially the popular group (who call themselves the 'Descendants Club,' as they are the children of the town's oldest families), including Kyra Thompson (Soleil Moon Frye), Eric Garrett (Christian Campbell), Debbie Murdock (Maggie Lawson), Kevin Lane (Chad Cox), and Misty (Julie Patzwald) are rude to her, criticizing her unusual clothes and attitude. She also meets Charlie Gorman (Ben Foster), who is considered the school geek because he also doesn't quite fit in and works in a family owned occult bookstore. Sarah and Charlie get along fairly well. Sarah is soon bothered with phone calls from a mysterious person, saying "I've been waiting for you." Being a supporter of wicca, she isn't very worried.
Later on, Kyra and Eric, who are a couple, break into her house and tell her the house was inhabited by Sarah Lancaster (Laura Mennell) in 1698, a young woman who was in love with a man who was already engaged to another woman. According to Kyra, Sarah later lost her mind and was put into a mental hospital. Not much later, the man she was in love with died, along with his fiancée. The townspeople thought that Sarah's ghost was responsible, and burned her at the stake following the accusation of witchcraft. Before dying, Sarah Lancaster casts a curse that has been passed down through the town's history, which indicates she may return for revenge:
5 descendants in a row,
Generations yet to know.
Powers cast their fiery glow,
secrets only witches know.
Kyra and Eric then persuade her to participate on a prank, pretending to be a psychic at a party, which she agrees to. At the party, Sarah is given a microphone, so Kyra can secretly provide her all the secrets of her customers, however, after Kyra leaves the microphone unattended, an unknown person gives Sarah disturbing information about Debbie (that she has been sleeping with Eric, who is Kyra's boyfriend) and Misty, revealing the abusive relationship of her parents. Misty freaks out and leaves the party in anger. While driving home, she is attacked and scared to death by a masked killer using a glove in which long, spiked protrusions have been attached. Before she dies, she hears the killer whisper "I've been waiting for you." The next day, upon hearing the news, the popular group immediately suspect Sarah for the murder, thinking that she might be the reincarnation of Sarah Lancaster, coming back for revenge on the descendants of the people responsible for burning her. Sarah insists that the information was given to her by Kyra, but Kyra states that she set the microphone down and has proof that she was elsewhere (with Eric).
Soon, other people of the Descendants Club are targeted by the masked killer, each hearing the same phrase whispered before or during the attack; "I've been waiting for you." Kevin is attacked while in the school locker room and is killed, but both Eric and Debbie are able to escape their attacks, Debbie sustaining a beauty-marring injury to her face. Charlie is also targeted, barely escaping a fire set by the masked killer in his bookstore, and when Sarah questions why he would be (since the attacker seems only to be targeting the descendants), he reveals to her that he is actually also a descendant, but that the others are unaware of this. Although they had been working together to unravel the mystery of the killer, Charlie feels that he must back off from his friendship with Sarah, unsure about whether she is or is not behind the attacks. Meanwhile, the popular group are certain that Sarah is responsible, and to save their own lives, they decide that they must burn her. Eric, pretending to be interested in taking Sarah on a date, lures her to his SUV, only to tie her up with help of Debbie and Kyra. They take her to a clearing with wooden poles and tie her to one with the intention of burning her at the stake for witchcraft.
Trying to distract them long enough to escape or talk sense into them, she begins to tell them all the information she has been gathering about the descendants and their families, informing them that there is actually a 6th descendant that they are unaware of (Charlie). She also reveals that Debbie has slept with Eric, which makes Kyra angry enough to turn on Debbie. While they are accusing each other, with Sarah insisting it isn't either of them, they are attacked by the masked killer. Sarah is able to get free and, after a struggle, they are able to overpower the killer. When they unmask him, it turns out that Charlie is the killer, having made the glove in shop, during school. Before he is arrested, he reveals that his mother was a descendant, as well, but she was driven out of town by the other families when she turned up pregnant, but was unmarried. His attacks were actually revenge for the townspeople driving his mother away, and had nothing to do with the legend of Sarah Lancaster.
Later, when Sarah returns home, Ted Rankin (Tom Dugan), their history teacher who has been dating Sarah's mother, Rosemary, is revealed to also be involved in the murders; it is implied that Charlie may have been his illegitimate son, but this is never confirmed because, after attacking Sarah's mother and being overpowered by Sarah, he leaves town and cannot be located.
A month later, Sarah is settling into the town and her place at school. She is dating Eric and seems to be adjusting, normally. As she waits for Eric to meet her, Sarah visits the grave of Sarah Lancaster, and while clearing it free of leaves and debris, her voiceover states that Sarah Lancaster had indeed returned, but that some methods were better than others for dealing with revenge and that the townspeople had been relaying the curse incorrectly all these years; she repeats it while kneeling over Sarah Lancaster's grave:
6 descendants in a row,
Generations yet to know.
Powers cast their fiery glow,
secrets only witches know.
And then states, quietly, with a mysterious smile. "Two down... 4 to go."
Eric arrives and, while hugging him, she whispers in his ear, "I've been waiting for you...."

Review: If you liked Scream and I Know What you Did Last summer you would definitely enjoy this movie.
Sarah Chalke-who had a small stint as Becky no.2 on the Roseanne show-is very pretty, and a pretty talented actress, I know that the other guy who gave a review for this totally bashed it, but I saw it on T.V one time, and it was good enough for me to go searching about it on IMDB.
The Story is basically about a teen age girl named Sarah who is very pretty, but a little strange.
She lives with her single parent mother, and moves to a new town where she knows no one and has no friends- -excepting some strange curly headed blond kid-played by Ben Foster from the kid's show Flash Forward ever see it on Disney?-Who has a big crush on her.
She likes the hunk in town-Who I think has great eyes if nothing else-played by Christopher Campbell-who just happens to be Neve Campbell's kid brother-Now of course the hunk in town has a super snotty girlfriend who makes fun of the somewhat strange Sarah because she's prettier than she is and her boyfriend is crushing on Sarah.
It was a nice change from horror movies where the majority of the cast is killed in gruesome ways.
Single mom Rosemary Zoltanne (Markie Post) and her smart-ass teen daughter Sarah (Sarah Chalke) move from L.A. to a big house in Massachusetts where a witch was burned at the stake 300 years earlier.
Sarah makes friends with a geeky outsider (Ben Foster) but also attracts the attention of teen members of the "Descendant's Club"-- obnoxious jocks (led by Christian Campbell, brother of Neve) and the high school bitch queens (led by Soleil Moon Frye) who think she's the reincarnation of the dead witch.
Sarah gets harassing phone calls ("I've been waiting for you!") and a masked killer with a steel claw lurks around.This is resolutely typical post SCREAM/I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER fare (supposedly from the "author" of the latter) with offscreen violence, but the performances are surprisingly good and it's watchable, though it all seems like a big build-up to nothing by the end.I didn't know it at the time when I rented the video, but frequent fade-outs to black and someone credited with the teleplay soon made me realize I'd rented a TV movie that was inexplicably (and erroneously!) rated R to bulk up it's distribution value.
This movie is reasonably good but I guess the director was trying too hard to scare the wits out of people.
I suppose I shouldn't worry to much about such things in modern movies, particularly the made-for-TV variety, but the anachronisms were just a bit much for me.
For instance:The film's action takes place in Massachusetts; central to the plot is the story of a burned-at-the-stake witch whom apparently used to live in a certain house.
I don't believe any of these things existed in Seventeenth Century Massachusetts; and even England's notorious Bedlam was more of a convenient dump-site for loonies, rather than a real mental institution.And for a three-hundred-year-old tombstone, particularly one exposed to the corrosive effects of urban New England's infamous acid rain over a good part of that time, the carving sure looked sharp and fresh.Otherwise, I rather enjoyed "I've Been Waiting for You", simply because, like most "slasher flicks", it gives me--someone whom worked at a state university for over a quarter-century-- the opportunity to watch college-age kids get tormented--even unto death.Mmmm...yes.....
"I've Been Waiting For You" (another eye grabbing title) is a feebly light-weight teenage aimed story mixing elements of witchcraft (leading girl interested in the occult / the town living in fear of a curse) / slasher staples (killer with metal claws, black cloak and a hokey looking mask) that when it came to the crunch it's rather diluted, but doesn't hurt.
The story (taken off the novel of Lois Duncan --- Gallows Hill --- who was also behind "Stranger in Our House" and "I know What You Did Last Summer") might consist of messy plot details (trying to be too clever at times, than letting it flow), an terribly incoherent staged climax (which is risible for all the wrong reasons and so are the flimsy attacks sequences) and bestowing a heavy-handed script, but in all it keeps you wrapped within the shallow mystery thanks to largely the agreeable performances (of mainly not particularly likable characters).
But I really enjoyed watching this movie, if only because I was feeling blue at the time and Sarah Chalke is one of the prettiest actresses out there.
I wish she'd say "I've been waiting for you" to me...Anyway, the movie is not all *that* scary, and it seems the director is trying to make you jump off your seat every five minutes or so, but I've seen much worse.
At least it's not a gore-fest movie, but a good old fashioned scary flick.Rent it with your friends, or by yourself...
The acting wasn't cheezy like in a lot of made for tv movies.
I thought the plot was good but I was a tiny bit disappointed by the ending...but just a little.
I've been waiting for you is one of my favorite movies, just like scream 1 & 2, I (still) know what you did last summer and Urban Legend.
Not like those other horror movies, i've been waiting has a humorous line to it!
It was a good book, so I was interested in the movie.
As a whole, the movie was still good, and I would watch it again if they put it on..
But the acting was better than the average TV movie (worse than the average film, but hey), and some of the humor worked..
Which will be 40 days of horror movies/.Yesteday Day 3 I've been waiting for you (1998) Well, It Sounded a bit like scream but with bit witches added to it.
The masked wasn't to bad but I found it more funny then scary.The movie it self wasn't all that gory or scary however it still intruded me from start to end,With these you can't' tell who the killer is from their first scenes but I did enjoy those funny witches scenes.
I caught this movie on TV a few years ago and wasn't expecting much ( I never do of teen horror movies) but this was OK.It's about some girl who moves to a new town and hears about a legend of a witch burned and that there's still a group of descendants of the witch who formed a club and believe the girl to be a reincarnation of the witch their ancestors burned earlier.OK I'll be honest here, I had to refresh my memory on this page on the story because I did not remember much of it but I do remember mildly enjoying this movie.There is no gore or pointless bloodshed in it, but it does have it's exciting moments (I wasn't as much of a horror movie buff as I am today).Recommended for a good night of somewhat cheesy fun..
a story about a teen witch who was burned at the stake some 300 years ago haunts a small Massachusetts town near Salem.
a cast of teens are being savagely attacked by someone or something, there is this descendent's club,,which is supposed to be the 5 remaining descendent's of the people that put the witch to death..
Markie Post stars as the mom and her daughter just happens to have the same first name as the teenage witch that was burned at the stake 300 years ago,, this is a fairly decent TV movie, much better than most Hollywood fair these days.
A great female role where the woman is not afraid, although willing to jump a few times (and who doesn't) The story was solid, a young woman moves into a house with her mum, the home of a Witch, burned by people who don't seem to get the irony of that.
(Like its good to burn people and watch them die in pain, no matter what they have done)And this leads to going to a school where the cool just happened to be the ancestors of those who had burned the Witch.
This movie is based on Lois Duncan's novel 'Gallows's  Hill'.
I liked the idea of this town which has a legend of a young girl named Sarah who was accused of being a witch and burned at the stakethree centuries ago.
This innocent teenage girl named Sarah who moves intothis town and when some bizarre events, and murders start to occur, Sarahstarts being accused by this group of teenagers of being a reincarnation of the witch "Sarah" who has come to seek revenge.
Strange things begin happening almost the second she sets foot inside the house and the most popular girl (Soleil Moon Frye) in school accuses her of being the witch.
A TV movie that proves you don't need lots of violence, sex, or a killer sound track to be both entertaining and scary.
It seems to me that to attempt to make it in Hollywood as a young star, you have to be murdered in a rather gruesome manner by somebody dressed in a cape, preferably surrounded by mist.Unfortunately, this film doesn't deliver the goods as a horror film, failing to build up the atmosphere sufficiently for the murder scenes to be scary, and with one of the most confusing and pointless plot lines I've seen in ages.
It is based on the book Gallows Hill by Lois Duncan who is also the author of I Know What You Did Last Summer.
The book was a little bit better but overall this movie was pretty good.
I was completely unthrilled...with the entire story.I should know better than to expect anything from the modern teen horro genre after movies like Cherry Hill, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and others.
People are convinced that the new girl, Sarah, is the witch after many pranks gone awry and they're going to kill her unless she can reveal who is the real teenaged witch.The witch turns out to be this throwback to freddy kruger running arround in a cheap mask.
And I bet you drive a tricked out, jacked up SUV." And all of her enemies keep lingering on that as one reason why they know she's a witch even though all she did was state the obvious.Now, I never saw Sarah Chalke in much more than Scrubs and Roseanne before, but I actually walked away from this movie hoping to see her in other things.
I don't mean to offend anyone who likes this movie, but I am only stating my opinion.
It was a great book, then when was made into a movie, the story changed.
Sarah Chalke,(Sarah Zoltanne) has to leave Sunny California for a small town in New England and start her college year among a group of trouble makers, who for some mysterious reason give poor Sarah a very hard time.
Sarah and her mother are staying in a very old house that has many tales from the past which most of the town people know about; and there is a certain curse that a girl named Sarah will return to their town someday and revenge the horror this person experienced years and years ago.
You have seen films with a story line like this many times before..
Moving into the small town of Pinecrest Sarah Zoltanne, Sarah Citalik,and her mom Mrs. Resemary Zoltanne, Markie Post, realize that the house that they bought was once the home of a women Sarah Lancaster who was burned at the stake as a witch back in 1660.
Sarah is a very weird type of person dabbling in the occult and being able to make thing happen that have no scientific explanation like being able to know a person by reading his or her palm as well as having doors open and shut by themselves.
The movie "I've been waiting for you" borrows a lot from the 1996 Wes Craven horror flick "Scream".
The mysterious black cat Hecuba at first seems to have some connection to what's going on in the film but disappears, after about fifteen minutes into the movie, into thin air as if he were a phantom never to be seen again.
The scene with Sarah's mom Rosemary towards the end of the film is also very confusing.
Which was a bit out of character for the killer since Mrs. Zoltanne wasn't a descendant of young Sarah Lancaster's 17th century executioners, like those who the killer targeted throughout the movie.
Movies about bored teens who read to many D&D books who go looking for trouble are as lame as they get.
Riding the wave of Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Charmed, and even Clueless, I've Been Waiting For You has some elements from all the movies and the TV show I just mentioned.
The moment she arrives she has a bad feeling about her house, which she learns was home to a supposed witch centuries before.
I do not want to give anything away, so I will leave it at that.I would bet the makers of this movie, along with the actors, had a good time while making this--it is total fluff.
i thought it was a pretty good movie.
(She wrote the horror classic, I Know What You Did Last Summer, she didn't write the equally brilliant, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer though.)The movie is about, Sarah Zoltanne, (Sarah Chalke.) she's from California and has just moved into a New England town.
(Ben Foster.-Who looks quite different here with his curly afro.) She finds out the 'teens' think she's a witch sent to the town to get revenge on everyone, just because she shares the same name as a witch who killed another witch, a hundred years ago in the same town.
This leaves some very strange goings on in the town and Sarah finds out a lot of things about everyone.
Laughable actually (I don't think anyone can ever get a *really* good one, like the 'Scream' mask for a long time now.)  It's also not very  surprising who the killers turned out to be either and the ending in the film was okay, but had potential to be better.
******END OF SPOILERS******The cast in the film, like: Soleil Moon Frye, Sarah Chalke and Ben Foster were all really good here too.
Surprisingly lifetime produced a top quality horror production film that deals with witchcraft and reincarnation.Sarah Chalke lights up the screen as she moves into the house of a witch burned at the stake and may be her future incarnated vessel, but not before placing a curse on her murderers.A killer is on the loose obsessed with the legend and picking off the descendants one by one.It does leave a few questions to consider: Did the witch steal Sarah's soul?
What starts off looking like an old-fashioned witchcraft reincarnation plot sadly ends up being a run-of-the-mill slasher yarn in which teenagers are chased and stalked through woods and shower rooms by a badly-dressed killer who looks a hell of a lot like Ghostface from SCREAM, except just not as convincing unfortunately.
The acting from the mainly young cast is pretty professional, so it's a shame that the majority of the characters are clichéd bitchy bimbos and thick-headed jocks who think that a witch drowning is a sign of her guilt (they're supposed to float).
Sarah Chalke is, however, a convincing lead and works well with her unconventional character.The ending is dragged into over-the-top territory with a group of teenagers getting ready to burn their classmate who they suspect as a witch - no matter what may have happened, I find it hardly likely that they would be driven to these measures - before the inevitable unstoppable killer turns up for a final attack.
"I've Been Waiting for You" is a more-than-serviceable witchcraft film.**SPOILERS**Moving to small-town Massachusetts, Sarah Zoltane, (Sarah Chalke) and her mom Rosemary, (Markie Post) arrive in a new house which is supposedly haunted by a witch burned at the stake hundreds of years ago.
After a series of accidents against them by a maniacal killer has the group thinking that she's a witch as well, she must race to get her name cleared before they take the whole exorcise way too far.The Good News: This one had some really good parts to it that make this one pretty enjoyable.
The opening burning of the witch is pretty interesting and exciting, and the culmination of it is a lot more intense than would be expected.
The main one for this, though, is the finale staking-attempt, which has a great set-up and begins rather nicely once they start to tie her up and begin to tease the burning, and once it gets to the killer's appearance, the brawling that erupts is a lot of fun and quite enjoyable.
I challenge anyone who has actually read gallows hill by Lois Duncan to honestly say that this was a good adaptation of the book.Not only was the plot line COMPLETELY changed, but the characters did not quite fit in.
For example Kyra (soliel moon frye in the movie, who by the way, i absolutely love, and feel bad she is in this crap) was supposed to be a bitchy, yet not without reason to be, red headed, unattractive, yet popular girl, in "I've been waiting for you" she was very attractive, bitchy and completely superficial, brunette popular girl!***spoiler alert*****If you read the book, you will be sadly disappointed that this is not a serial killer book, such as the movie was, and the only death in the book happens out of the time setting of the story.
The movie's climax is the revelation of who has been killing everyone.***book spoiler alert**** the book ends with you realizing that all the teenage characters in the book are reincarnated witches from salem.Hmmmm....
There is some good acting in the movie though.