Neverknock, Teens Shredded by Fear

Oh, those playful horror films when teens are shredded except for the virgin. We love that trope, but what if the monster is not familiar with that trope.  Today we have a brutal one with a lot of high school babes who will not stay babes.  A dark film that will stay dark, so be warned. With a great looking cast, a slimy monster, and tons of gore, impalements, and burning, a Syfy original is our feature today.  Let us look at 2017's "Neverknock," directed by Sheldon Wilson. 

Eliana Jones is a sultry actress and she is in this clad in a cheerleaders costume.  Uh oh, she is sixth in the credits meaning she will die a most gory death. Sadly she will be first to go...impaled by a myriad of needles...the monster did not like cheerleaders. So sad. Okay, legend has it if one knocks on the door of this old abandoned house on Halloween, the monster inside will pull you in and murder you.  The creature will kill you by what you fear the most.  For the lovely Grace (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) fire is her poison.  Her mom burned to death in a car wreck one year ago.  She is looking after her little fearless sister Jenna (Lola Flanery) when her new buddy, and potential lesbian lover, the lovely Leah (Jodelle Ferland) comes to get her to go trick-or-treating.  Along for the night is the sultry Amy (Kiana Madeira), the hunk Gavin (Varun Saranga), and the aforementioned cheerleader Sydney.

Jenna knocks on the door and the horror begins.  Yep, the sultry Sydney is impaled by needles.  She is the first.  Her mates have fears, too.  Bugs, fire, blood, etc.  Jenna, the little sister is not afraid of anything.  See where this is going?  You are part right.  When Jenna is taken by the house early on, Grace swears she will find her.  Leah, who wants to get into Grace's pants helps.  The others?  Monster bait!  They'll be hunted by their own fears.  So, the brave will prevail?  Nope.  The monster is loose on the town and lures the surviving babes back to it.  Then, what happens will be even more horrifying.

Will Leah and Grace survive and have a make-out session?  Will the fearless Jenna reemerge and slay the monster who kills with fear?  Was it a mistake to kill Sydney the cheerleader off so early, as she was the sultriest of the sultry in this one?  For those of you who like their horror films horrific and dark, see "Neverknock."     

Fear the Night, Maggie Q as Deadly as Ever

Many years removed from her Nikita role, Maggie Q still looks fabulous.  She can also kill just as competently as she did over a decade ago.  Now, there isn't anyone in this movie we like, which is good, because most will die horribly, but Maggie Q is Maggie Q, and that earns her our favor. As b#@$hy as she is in this one...she looks really good even without smiling and being generally grouchy.  In fact, in this one, her friends don't even like her...but, of course, they don't look like Maggie Q.  Our blood fest today is 2023's "Fear the Night," directed by Neil LaBute.

She's back from Iraq all messed up. Tess (Maggie Q) has PTSD, addictions, grouchiness, PMS, and generally a rotten demeanor. Even worse, she's headed to a bachelorette party for her giggly sister Rose (HighDee Kuan), put on by another grouchy and giggly sister Beth (Kat Foster). They will meet a half dozen giggly annoying girlfriends at their family homestead in the desert. Party games?  Cackling? A male stripper (KeiLyn Durrel)? Yep, all of the above.  Fortunately the beautiful but annoying Rose will get impaled by a crossbow arrow early on, and so will the stripper.  By who? A group of evil good ole boys led by Perry (Travis Hammer).  Why? Who cares.  Now the PTSD and depression and addiction ridden Tess is back in her element.  Back at war.  She turns back into a killer.

The war will be a bloody one as Tess tries to protect her sister Beth and their buddies from the evil invading force.  The death count will be high, and even though some of the victims are sultry dames, we're not sad to see them go.  Tess, on the other hand?  We are cheering for her, mostly because she is Maggie Q.  I even pulled for Maggie Q's Mia in that "Die Hard" film...the gal that got the SUV up the a**...remember?  The men with crossbows and knives are relentless, and so is Tess. Babes will fall in bloody fashion.  Brutes will fall in bloody fashion. All in all, this works as a bloody kill-fest...not as a character study, or morality tale.

Just how many will Tess kill?  Just how many cackling bachelorette party goers will be skewered?  Will Tess really snap and off some of the cacklng party-goers, too?  Maggie Q fans need to see this film, just turn it off before the annoying epilogue begins.  For a bloody good time, see "Fear the Night."  

The Murder Clinic, Euro-Babes Slashed

Giallo!  Euro-Trash!  Yep, gotta love those Italian slasher-fests with sultry babes, in states of undress, fresh from fits of passion, and in mortal peril.  What could be better?  How about if the slasher is a hideous freak of an old hag who resents beauty and relishes in mutilating Euro-babes just fresh from carnal passion!  Kind of a metaphor for woke America and its view of beauty.  Fortunately, here, wokeness is dying.  Our feature today is 1966's "The Murder Clinic," directed by Elio Scardamaglia and Lionello De Felice.

Sultry nurses, in states of undress, and fresh from carnal passion, are slashed by a hooded figure wielding a razor.  I should point out the setting...an asylum for the criminally insane.  The asylum is run by the handsome Dr. Robert Vance (William Berger). He lives there with his sultry wife, Lizabeth (Mary Young). A new nurse, to replace a slashed up one, arrives, the sultry blonde Mary (Barbara Wilson). She's gentle and caring. Uh oh...someone is living in a locked room in the attic. She paces at night driving the schizophrenic patients into a frenzy. Lizabeth is suspicious as Mary is quite beautiful and it looks like Robert and her are on the outs as far as their marriage goes. Uh oh...homicidal liar Gisele (Francoise Prevost) murders her carriage driver and is found wandering in the woods by Robert. He brings her back to the asylum as a guest. Lizabeth is not happy about having another floozy distracting Robert.

Okay, Gisele, smelling an opportunity for blackmail, sneaks into that forbidden room in the attic and finds a hideously marred woman (Delfi Mauro).  Laura is this woman and she is Lizabeth's sister...who fell into a lime pit long ago. Now Laura resents beauty. Gisele faints and is revived by Robert and she lets him know that his secret is safe with her for the sum of 50,000 pounds. Uh oh...Robert seems to be taking a liking to Nurse Mary.  Uh oh, the hooded figure in the cloak is on the prowl with his or her razor.  Uh oh, the beautiful keep being ripped apart.  Uh oh...Giselle wants Robert and knows Mary may emerge as a rival.  Uh oh, a few criminally insane insaniacs escape from their cells.

Will Mary remain in one piece by the time the end credits roll?  Just what is Laura's backstory and is she as homicidal as she is hideous?  Will any nubile nurse survive the razor?  This is a good one with a shocking ending.  For some fine European cheesecake, and nubile babes in great peril, see "The Murder Clinic." 

The Correction Unit, A Clockwork Orange in an AI World

AI.  Good or bad?  The answer is...Yes! It may help cure all sorts of pediatric cancer.  It may allow you affordable college education from any university in the world (all from your own living room). It may easily identify your Golden Retriever's ailment. It, also, may make the distribution and creation of child porn a lot easier.  It will help your government (aka Big Brother) to control your bank accounts and spending habits. It may also replace your need for a woman, or a man, and provide you something that won't talk back or report you for sexual harassment.  All will be done under the guise of making our world a better place.  Our feature today is 2025's "The Correction Unit," directed by Derry Shillitto.  This film is from the U.K.

Miserable teenagers...juvenile delinquents.  All of the ones in this film are hopeless cases, and chronic offenders.  Gangsters. Drug pushers and addicts. Thieves. Now a bunch of them have been transferred from a youth prison to a special facility called nTrac.  nTrac? Yep, AI will be used to rehab all of these kids in three months.  Three months? Yep, that is what the government contract calls for. We meet Shawn (Sonny Middleton), who is from a bad neighborhood and had to fight to protect his disabled mom and worthless brother. Now he's at nTrac.  His mate, the tough Tish (Elleese Bradshaw) is there with him and is associated with numerous pushers. Through Virtual Reality (VR) and AI, they all have been assessed, evaluated, and a treatment plan has been personalized. Yvonne (Kirsty Smedley) seems to head the operation and her motives are pure and personal. 

Some neat meditation devices allow the kids to experience nature and pleasant surroundings. Uh oh.  The engineers on this project are worried.  They are forbidden access to the inmates/patients.  AI is the only counselor/doctor allowed to work on the teens. Short term success can't be denied...short term. The kids seem to be responding, for the most part.  Now, how to make it permanent.  Clones, mind control chips (think Elon Musk's Trans-humanism), and certain punishment.  Now the kids are being turned into something other than who they were. Also, nTrac needs to show results in 90 days, and if the kids aren't improving that fast...well, the technicians are told to rush it. Yvonne offers objections and she is taken care of.

Just what will nTrac produce after 90 days?  Will the teens in the program keep their humanity?  If an AI machine is given total control, what will it consider "cured" or "improved"?  We saw this in "A Clockwork Orange," but that did not have the use of AI.  The subliminal tactics are present in both these films, though modern AI has made them easier to deliver.  For a scary look at how "wonderful" AI can be for at risk teens, see "The Correction Unit."  

The House by the Cemetery, Listed by Lucio Fulci

Whether by the cemetery or by the mall, if Lucio Fulci is making a movie about a house...don't go in. Though largely shot in Massachusetts, this horror yarn is Italian in it's cast and mood. This 1981 film came out three years after Fulci's classic "Zombie." (To see that review click on this link ZOMBIE ). However, as far as drive-in theaters went, this Fulci film was usually matched up with either "The Last House on the Left" or "The House that Vanished." (For that review, click on this link VANISHED ). Either way, we have a Fulci film...filled with ominous gore.

After Dr. Peterson's murder suicide, Dr. Norman Boyle (Paolo Malco) is tapped to take over his research. To do this, he takes his wife Lucy (Catriona MacColl) and son Bob (Giovanni Frezzo) to a house by the cemetery near Boston where he can have some seclusion while he researches.  A couple of uh-ohs here: First, Bob has visions of a ghostly girl telling him not to come, Second, this is the same house that Peterson murdered his mistress (Daniela Doria) before his suicide.  Oh yes, how can I forget, the tomb of Dr. Freudstein (Giovanni De Nava) is planted in the front hallway of this mansion.

As the ghostly girl (Silvia Collatina) adopts Bob as a playmate, the beautiful Lucy hires the sultry Ann (Ania Pieroni) as his babysitter.  Wouldn't you know it, Bob had a vision of Ann's decapitated body earlier in the film.  It might be a beautiful head, but yes, Ann will be separated from it soon. Oh! The cellar is locked and when Norman unlocks it he is feasted on by a vampire bat in an elongated and bloody scene.  He survives, but wouldn't you know it, the dimwit won't leave the house. As something in the basement starts killing people and dragging their bodies in the cellar, Norman begins to find out the history of the house and Dr. Freudstein.  Now he is convinced they need to leave, but is it too late?

Lurid and heavy, "The House by the Cemetery" is a neat horror film.  The themes may be classic but the over-the-top gore makes this a genuine Fulci film. Two years previous, the underwhelming "The Amityville Horror" was released to disappointed audiences who yawned instead of winced. However this film would have given those same audiences some neat nightmares.  Available on YouTube, enjoy "The House by the Cemetery."

The Night Before Halloween, College Kids Shredded by Curse

An impressive looking cast should give us hunks and babes we pull for.  Not always. In the world of dark horror in which the moviemaker is more interested in delivering a horrific story than a light fluffy teen horror yarn, sometimes the characters aren't meant to survive. Now, we'll meet Beth (Natalie Ganzhorn), and we'll like her a lot...but she'll be shredded by the teens early on.  Those teens?  Well, they are great looking. In a dark Syfy original, Sheldon Wilson presents us the 2016 "The Night Before Halloween."

High school seniors gather at the babe Lindsay's (Kiana Madeira) house for a pre-Halloween party.  Uh oh, a prank goes wrong.  So wrong, the nubile and lovely Beth is left in a coma.  So what do her selfish and egotistical buddies do?  Call an ambulance?  Ha!  Well, they do, but dump her body in an industrial park first so they won't be connected to or blamed for her demise. Wait!  Not a prank. Kyle (Jahmil French) intentionally tried to murder Beth. Kyle is trying to rid himself of a curse.  If he can murder someone, he gets to live. If not, some weird Halloween monster made of flies will murder him.  Beth lives and Kyle dies.  Unbeknownst to his buddies, they are now cursed...and now they must commit murder on the night before Halloween next year.

Next year arrives and so does the night before Halloween.  Beth, who is brain dead and in the hospital, calls all of them and lets them know what they must do.  Megan (Bailee Madison) is at college now and her and all her buddies race back home believing Beth has waken from a coma.  They can't have Beth talking...or all might end up in jail. Adam (Justin Kelly) also arrives and he and Megan are sweet on one another.  So do a couple others.  The friends are faced with a reality.  Each has to commit a murder or be murdered by this creature made of flies. However much they adore one another, they look at each other as a Doberman looks at a lambchop. As much as Megan loves Adam, vice versa, the duo can only live if they murder the other one.  Where does this all end?  Break the curse or die. Just how trustworthy is a friend who you share a deadly secret with?

Will the friends murder one another or try to find another way to break the curse?  Has anyone thought of a big cannister of Raid to deal with the monster made of flies?  Wouldn't have things turned out better if these teens turned to pre-marital sex or skinny dipping instead of stupid pranks at Halloween parties?  Great cheese and beef highlights this dark horror film.  For billions of insects, and a twisted plot that sees the beautiful marred horribly, see "The Night Before Halloween."    

Devil Bat's Daughter, And She's Quite the Dish

Who knew the thing had a daughter? Wait, "The Devil Bat" was a mad scientist, experimenting with cell-growth stimulation...on bats.  The bats got loose, killed him, and many others. Could have happened to any of us who have laboratories in our homes. Could a sultry dame, helpless and vulnerable, also be a murderer? Our feature today is 1946's "Devil Bat's Daughter," directed by Frank Wisbar.

Devil Bat's daughter, Nina (Rosemary La Planche), has arrived from Europe after missing out on all the festivities. Her dad was killed by the bats he gave his cell-growth stimulant to, as were a whole bunch of other people. She goes home to see her dad and finds out he's long dead and the mansion is in ruins. Now she's catatonic and the esteemed psychiatrist Dr. Clifton Morris will treat her. Oh, Clifton is a sly operator and has an affair going with his wife's bestie, Myra (Monica Mars). She's a doll.  Clifton's wife? Ellen (Molly Lamont) is hardly as exciting nor glamorous as Myra. Okay, Ellen takes a liking to the catatonic Nina and when Nina begins responding to Clifton's treatment, Ellen insists she stay at their house instead of the hospital.  There, Clifton can treat the scared Nina for nightmares and hallucinations.  Nina keeps dreaming about big bats attacking. Clifton keeps giving her pills...guess what's in the pills. Here comes the hunk Ted (John James). Ted is a soldier on leave and Ellen is his mom, and Clifton is his stepdad. Ted always thought Clifton married Ellen for her money.

Okay, Ted and Nina fall in love. Today we have apps for that, back in 1946 we had catatonic trances and helplessness.  We've come a long way. Uh oh...Clifton and Myra want to elope but Ellen is in the way. Then Ted's dog is murdered...then Ellen.  Nina, who is having blackout spells, hallucinations, and a dad who was a mad scientist murderer is arrested.  Ted, who loves Nina is convinced she is not the killer. He's the only one who thinks that as even Nina believes she is a killer.  Ted has a plan and it calls for him to get to know Nina's dad (who is dead), his experiments, and to find the experiment notes of The Devil Bat. 

Just what of The Devil Bat's failed experiments on cell-growth stimulation can help Ted prove Nina's innocence?  Any chance of Myra being turned into a big bat?  Can Ted prove Clifton murdered his mother, thus saving Nina from the electric chair?  This is a terrific B horror film with fine looking dames and a hunk hero.  For a nice Friday night creature feature, with big bats, and homicidal maniacs, see "Devil Bat's Daughter."