Tommyknockers

The movie opens with the Dirk Gang robbing a bank somewhere. One of them guts the bank manager because he's a psycho and likes to stab people I guess. They get away with the loot but a bounty hunter is on their trail and the brother of the murdered bank manager vows revenge. They decide to head to the town of...(Google)...the generically named town of Deer Creek because there's supposed to be gold there. They arrive in town to find it apparently deserted. Their plan to rob the bank fails because there's no one there to open the safe. They soon find some survivors holed up in the saloon and some monsters attack. They are supposed to be Tommyknockers but they bear pretty much no resemblance to the Tommyknockers of folklore.

This movie is all over the place. Some of the cast are veteran actors like Robert LaSordo while others seem like friends of the filmmakers that were given small parts. Some of the gore effects are passable and some are laughable. The monster costumes are not bad for a low budget movie but they aren't very good either. The story is really disjointed. There are little Western movie vignettes that don't really have much to do with anything. Characters appear only to get killed off almost immediately. Things just happen without a lot of rhyme or reason. At one point, a character has a revelation about the monsters that isn't really based on anything and makes no sense considering what they have been doing but is, of course, entirely correct. Things happen that leave you wondering why that didn't happen a while ago. The ending is really rushed.

The movie isn't terrible. I have certainly seen much worse Western horror movies. It's just kind of disjointed and meandering. There's a lot of stuff that seems to have been just thrown in to pad the run time or because Western movies have this.

I can unequivocally say Night of the Tommyknockers is Mahal Empire's greatest movie to date. I say that as someone who really enjoyed their previous outings, including Party Bus to Hell, Attack of the Unknown, Death Count, and Bridge of the Doomed.

There is a real dearth of Western-Horror movies but Night of the Tommyknockers is a quality addition to the genre. It has a real western feel, but it doesn't skimp on the horror. Fans of the genre will be very pleased with the result.

Robert LaSardo (CSI Miami) and Richard Grieco (21 Jump Street) put in outstanding performances as outlaw bank robbers while Hollywood legend Tom Sizemore (Blackhawk Down, Heat, Natural Born Killers) shines as the local lawman. Shout out to Indie Horror staple Shawn C Phillips for his great performance in Tommyknockers. Always love seeing Shawn show up when we're watching a movie.

The practical effects in Tommyknockers are top notch. The creatures look fantastic. Mahal Empire movies have higher budgets than your average indie horror movies, and it shows. Most of the action takes place at night, but this movie is well lit and you can always see what is happening. Too often lately movies are so dark it's impossible to follow what is going on, Tommyknockers does not make this mistake. The sound mixing is excellent, and volume levels are consistent, I find too often with Indie Horror I'm always adjusting the volume but again, Mahal Empire movies have more of a big budget feel and are very well polished when it comes to lighting and sound. Director Michael Su (Death Count, Bridge of the Doomed) really outdoes himself with Night of the Tommyknockers, which I think is his best effort to date.

If you like western movies and horror, you'll definitely want to check out Night of the Tommyknockers!

There are not a lot of scary westerns to choose from so I thought I would give it a try.

This was bad, I mean really bad.

Bad story, Very Bad Acting, Overall Bad Movie.

I have sat through bad movies (and I have seen my share) but I couldn't even watch this one to the end.

About halfway through the movie is about as far as I could watch.

The storyline had potential BUT the acting was truly that bad. It wasn't just one or two actors, but all of the actors were that bad. I was surprised that Tom Sizemore agreed to do this move.

If you choose to ignore this review and watch this movie, do not say that you were not warned!!

A nice addition to the western/horror genre. The Mahal Brothers make great looking Indie films when compared to most, and they are usually a fun watch. "Night..." continues that trend. An interesting story, quality sound, and great looking creatures. I'm sure people will have issues with the lighting consistency, but for me it wasn't an issue because we can actually see what is happening as opposed to the usual pitch black screen in most horror movies. The acting performances were hit or miss which is par for the course in Indie films. Again, not an issue for me. Angela Cole owns this movie hands down. She's fantastic. Richard Grieco, Denny Nolan, and Shawn C Phillips were standouts for me as well. If you dig Indie Horror, give it a try.

The movie started out strong but the dialogue and lagging actions of the characters make this story drag a little bit. The climax didn't seem to match what was going on and it felt a tad rush. There's an explosion that didn't look right.

The effects were okay as we get some CG along with the creature costumes that were not bad. However they look more like The Rake cryptid than anything.

There has been movies that did this kind of story a bit better and worth pairing with this one. Overall this was an okay watch.

Worth pairing with: The Burrowers (2008) The Pale Door (2020) Dead Birds (2004)