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Cast: Erin McGrane, Meg Saricks, Emily Boresow, Sally Spurgeon
A mother and three daughters get caught up in a tornado and take shelter in a storm cellar. While trapped inside the cellar, they quickly discover that they are not alone.
"Nailbiter" is a rare horror film in that it doesn't use buckets of blood and gore to create it's scares, instead it uses the fear of the unknown and mother nature herself to mustard them up. The story is about Janet, a recovering alcoholic and mother of three daughters. Janet along with the girls decide to head out for a long drive to pick up her husband from the airport as he returns from serving in the military. Against her better judgement Janet forges ahead even though a tornado warning has been issued and it looks to be headed their way. When the one daughter needs to use the rest room they make a stop and a cop tells them that the storm is getting worse that they better seek shelter in one of the nearby homes till it blows over but again Janet continues on, that is until she sees the tornado in her rear view mirror. They pull into a ditch and run for cover but no one answers the door at the first house they hit, desperate they go around back and find a cellar door. Janet breaks the chain and they all go inside safe from the oncoming storm. After the storm passes they decide it's safe enough to leave but the cellar door is blocked now so they decide to send the smaller daughter through a small window but as she puts her arm out something attacks her. This is only the beginning of their troubles because the home is owned by an old lady who hides a dark secret and now something is lurking in the shadows and Janet and her daughters have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
I can't tell you enough how great it was to watch an old school horror movie that doesn't rely on the same old gimmicks and tons of blood to try and scare the audience. "Nailbiter" provides it's scares from things you don't see plus the fear of being caught in a violent storm which is pretty frightening in itself. The film's title is perfect for the story because that's exactly what you will be doing once the story gets going which doesn't take very long. The story is unique, clever and spine-chilling.
Director and Co-writer, Patrick Rea is no stranger to film making. He has made numerous short films before and some award winning ones as well but this is his first time behind the camera for a feature film and all I can say is he gets high honors here. Patrick Rea really knows how to drum up the scares the old fashion way, I assume he's a huge fan myself of the old time horror movies that didn't need all the blood and guts to scare people with. Before I forget let me also mention the half half of the writing team, Kendal Sinn, a fantastic job of the story. "Nailbiter" is full of suspense, thrills and enough creepy moments to have you clinging to edge of your seat wondering what is going to happen next. The effects that are used are also old school and are done very well especially towards the climax of the film.
The cast delivers realistic and believable performances, everyone in the film did a fantastic job but I would like to point out Erin McGrane who plays Janet and Emily Boresow, Meg Saricks and Sally Maguire who play her daughters. All four of these ladies are incredible and I hope to see each and every one of them again soon. This is a horror film that the less you know about it the better so not to spoil the fun and surprises that await you but I will close out this review by saying that "Nailbiter" is a gem of an Indie that is a must-see for all horror fans. It's a fear-inducing horror film that has you in frightened the entire time and wanting more long after it's over. High marks to everyone involved and I hope to see more work from this talented new filmmaker in the near future.
You can visit the film's Facebook page to follow it's progress HERE. Be sure to bookmark the page because this is one film you do not want to miss seeing.
SenoReality Pictures and Ministry Machine
**** Out Of *****