Nails Review
By: Nik S
Director: Dennis Bartok
Producer(s): Brendan McCarthy, John McDonnell
Starring: Shauna MacDonald, Steve Wall, Ross Noble, Leah McNamara
Production Company: Fantastic Films
Distributor: Kaleidoscope Film Distribution
Runtime: 85 minutes
In Dublin, a track coach Dana (Shauna MacDonald) is hit by a car while out on her daily run. She wakes in a hospital to find a respirator in her throat and that she has limited mobility, with the use of only one hand. She uses a laptop's text-to-speech function to communicate with the staff and her family (Steve Wall and Leah McNamara). She finds out that the hospital has a sinister secret that years ago a nurse killed children, hanged himself before he could get caught, and started to haunt the building. Dana must try to survive the nights, even though she's stuck in one place.
The movie monster seems to follow the internet's new love of skinny and long armed creatures, much like Slender Man and various other impostors. The monster, or ghost rather, feels like it was made to land a franchise or to have something eerie on a poster. The reason why Nails is attacking Dana feels like it was put in just to have some dramatic reveal, but it feels more like a plot device than anything else. The monster feels like it's where most of the movie budget went to, but the CGI is often clunky and awkward which ruins many of the potential scares.
Dana is the only character worthwhile, but she doesn't get much character development outside of her struggling to maintain her family life. MacDonald, known for her role in The Descent, acts as a paranoid mother who fears for her life. While a lot of actors have to rely on body language with their dialogue, MacDonald has to rely solely on her facial expressions since her character rarely speaks or moves. The rest of the cast is your typical horror movie tropes, regardless if they are there to help Dana or not. The setting is devoid characters, even though the nurse that cares for Dana says he's overworked.
The movie lacks depth in their characters, trying to rely on bland plot elements and lackluster reveals. The film doesn't allow time to develop its side characters for the viewer to decide if they like them or not. Things in the movie just happen because it's creepy, like flickering lights or random screeches when the ghost is mentioned. The cinematography is your typical horror movie flare, slow moving shots down corridors, and angled shots of the ghost to make it seem more powerful. There's also that computer glitch cliche that more recent films of similar genres have been doing, which takes away from the scares rather than adding from them.
Nails isn't a very memorable movie, nor is it something to put on for a quick scare. The scares seem old and redundant. Almost all of the characters are two-dimensional and bring nothing of interest to the film. The storytelling, though average, is very slow paced. There was enough to work with in the movie, but it focuses on the wrong things to create a suspenseful build. At the climatic 'fight' between the ghost and Dana I just ended up laughing at how corny it was, especially when it's followed up by the most generic jumpscare I've ever seen.
Director: Dennis Bartok
Producer(s): Brendan McCarthy, John McDonnell
Starring: Shauna MacDonald, Steve Wall, Ross Noble, Leah McNamara
Production Company: Fantastic Films
Distributor: Kaleidoscope Film Distribution
Runtime: 85 minutes
There's something unsettling about hospitals in horror movies: the dim lighting, the empty atmosphere, and the occasional ghost or two that roams the halls. Writer Dennis Bartok makes his horror and directorial debut with Nails, a low-budget horror film that dabbles in the normal aesthetics in the genre like spooky lighting, a creepy ghost, and jump scares. The film was made in Ireland and based on a news story Bartok read one day. A patient, who became paralyzed after a hit-and-run, had cameras installed in his hospital room after concerns were brought up of someone trying to tamper with his machines. After reviewing the tapes, it turns out that there was someone who had been messing with his ventilator.
In Dublin, a track coach Dana (Shauna MacDonald) is hit by a car while out on her daily run. She wakes in a hospital to find a respirator in her throat and that she has limited mobility, with the use of only one hand. She uses a laptop's text-to-speech function to communicate with the staff and her family (Steve Wall and Leah McNamara). She finds out that the hospital has a sinister secret that years ago a nurse killed children, hanged himself before he could get caught, and started to haunt the building. Dana must try to survive the nights, even though she's stuck in one place.
The movie monster seems to follow the internet's new love of skinny and long armed creatures, much like Slender Man and various other impostors. The monster, or ghost rather, feels like it was made to land a franchise or to have something eerie on a poster. The reason why Nails is attacking Dana feels like it was put in just to have some dramatic reveal, but it feels more like a plot device than anything else. The monster feels like it's where most of the movie budget went to, but the CGI is often clunky and awkward which ruins many of the potential scares.
Dana is the only character worthwhile, but she doesn't get much character development outside of her struggling to maintain her family life. MacDonald, known for her role in The Descent, acts as a paranoid mother who fears for her life. While a lot of actors have to rely on body language with their dialogue, MacDonald has to rely solely on her facial expressions since her character rarely speaks or moves. The rest of the cast is your typical horror movie tropes, regardless if they are there to help Dana or not. The setting is devoid characters, even though the nurse that cares for Dana says he's overworked.
The movie lacks depth in their characters, trying to rely on bland plot elements and lackluster reveals. The film doesn't allow time to develop its side characters for the viewer to decide if they like them or not. Things in the movie just happen because it's creepy, like flickering lights or random screeches when the ghost is mentioned. The cinematography is your typical horror movie flare, slow moving shots down corridors, and angled shots of the ghost to make it seem more powerful. There's also that computer glitch cliche that more recent films of similar genres have been doing, which takes away from the scares rather than adding from them.
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