Await Further Instructions  ★★½

‘STAY Indoors and Await Further Instructions’.

That’s the advice that confronts the Milgram family on their television screen on Christmas morning.

The family are already on edge after a run of arguments the night before.

Tony, the matriarch of the family, has berated his adult son for not being around enough; meanwhile Grandpa’s racist outbursts have angered the son’s new girlfriend and put her offside with his pregnant sister.

The pair have decided to leave quietly in the early hours only to find the house has been sealed with some kind of strong mesh covering every door and window.

As the notifications via the television become more alarming and problematic, the tensions and conflict within the already fractured group intensify, eventually escalating into bloody violence.

Await Further Instructions is a low-budget British thriller that starts its journey as a kitchen-sink drama but twists and turns with horror and science-fiction inflections.

Gavin Williams’ debut script examines both the difficult dynamics of human relationships and the nature of authority, both government and familial, asking to what degree it should be questioned.

The cast is pretty good, led by Grant Masters as  Tony, but the direction and visuals rarely rise above tele-visual standard.

It’s an interesting effort but would have been better used as an episode of television’s Black Mirror series.