Neverknock

This is a film on a far from original theme, even though it owes nothing to the "Halloween" franchise. In 1986, some kids knock on the door of a house at Halloween, something they are not supposed to do. They are murdered, and the first police officer on the scene - who reappears later in the film - sees something unreal.

Fastforward 31 years, and it's Halloween again. This time, whatever was inside emerges to wreak its horrors on the wider world. Then our first responder rescues two of the damsels, telling them this sort of thing has been happening in other locations for a long time, going back to at least the 1940s. The key to the mystery is the door to the house. And this is where the film really begins to lose its way because this line of investigation is not developed, instead the guy is killed off.

There is a bit more to it, the creature, daemon or whatever it is, feeds off fear, producing custom-made hallucinations for its victims, hallucinations that pack a punch or even burn. This could have been a decent film but it takes too much for granted, and the ending is utterly predictable.

In 1986 Halloween, 3 trick-or-treaters are killed after knocking on the door of 59 Oakwood Lane. One is found with Never Never Knock carved into his belly. The case remains unsolved and the house becomes urban legend over the next 40 years. In present day, Leah (Jodelle Ferland) and her friends invite troubled Grace (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) to a haunted house show. Grace survived a car fire which killed her mother. She brings along little sister Jenna. The group decides to do the Never Knock. Jenna disobeys Grace and knocks on the door after bloodying her hand.

Daylight often kills horrors. That is the major drawback in this movie. It would help in the kills and especially the CGI monster. All the CGI looks cheap which is par for TV movies. The idea of a creature killing with your greatest fear is good. The creature design is feasible and should only come on the screen after day turns into night. The horror designs are simply not good enough. It needs more creepy atmosphere. Otherwise, it's functional as a lower grade horror. The filmmaking is inferior but passable as a TV movie.

Decades after a horrific tragedy, a group of teens innocently partaking of a Halloween tradition release a ravenous creature in their small-town which begins feeding on their fears in order to kill them one-by-one and forces them to find a way to stop the creature's rampage.

This one here wasn't all that bad of an effort. One of the more prominent aspects of this one is the fact that this one really manages to incorporate a fine small-town feel throughout here. From the beginning with the crowded streets bustling with trick-or-treaters and seeing the decorations spread out here, it sets up the close-knit community very nicely while all the fine attractions and games that grounds this one nicely for its later set-up with the creature. Coming to life in the form of the superstitious ritual where the remote house is brought into play and the actions featured manage to give this the kind of charge which comes from this early setup as the idea that the creature needs to exploit your fears is woven nicely into the film as a whole. Those scenes here are where this one really works as the startling creepy ideas of their fears get exploited while in creepy locations, as the strong scenes in the haunted house where it features the fear of the lost sister and one characters' fear of blood to great effect in the darkened corridors of the house which gives this a strong and wholly stylish start to this. The later scenes here that take advantage of this factor, from the frantic search for her sister that includes the dizzying exploits in the corn maze to the scenes in the woods and finally them coming back into town where it shows how each one tends to let their fears get the better of them as they deal with the creature attacking them following an encounter. These offer up not only some rather fun action scenes here as the creature's constant activities bring about a thrilling pace while also giving this rather creepy moments. The other bit that works well here is the exceptional creature at the center of this one, which works so well here due to the idea of making this a real-life creature rather than a CGI creation as this blends into the scenes so well and adds an extra dimension to these scenes. Coupled with the fine gore featured, these here hold this one up rather nicely over it's few minor troublesome areas. The main sore point with this one is the fact that there's just way too much time spent in the first half of the group going around on the disappearance, tending to take up a little bit more time than would be expected in the corn-maze or out wandering the woods doing nothing but running in circles which is a bit redundant. As well, the final resolution to beat the monster is a bit weak and seems like a lame cheat to finally end it all which makes no sense and gives it a rather weak conclusion. Otherwise, there's a lot to like with this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

Saw 'Neverknock', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.

Giving 'Neverknock' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be better than expected. It is still a rather mediocre film and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.

'Neverknock' started off quite well, the first twenty minutes or so starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue. The antagonist was creepy at times and there are a few neat kills.

Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere.

The setting is effectively spooky and a few actors were not bad. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull in the first, and the storytelling at first does intrigue.

However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, parts are so silly it is hard to take it seriously or trying hard not to.

Ending is completely unsatisfying, so clumsy, predictable, cheesy and stupid. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising enough.

Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a fair bit of cheese and blandness going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. Too many of the actors are poor, Dominique Provost Chalkley grating on the nerves. The direction too often feels phoned in and most of the kills were uncreative and tame. Even the antagonist got cheesy as the film progressed.

Altogether, mediocre but could have been worse. 4/10 Bethany Cox

So this is the typical teenage scream movie. Dominique Provost-Chalkley spent two hours screaming throughout the whole thing. For me, it got to be too much. I like her in Wynona Earp but not so much in this movie. The really disappointing thing was the cheesy monster I think they could have done better. Anyway, after about 20 minutes I was pretty sure how it would end.