Knocking on Death's Door starts on a dark & stormy night as a policeman (Philip Sweeney) & Dr. Hadley (Colm O'Maonlai) break into the large isolated house belonging to Elizabeth Cartwright (Stella Feehilly) only to discover her dead body, her having apparently committed suicide with an OD. A violent force sweeps through the house & the cop has an axe embedded in his chest, Hadley manages to escape... Jump 'Twenty Years Later' & newly married parapsychologists Brad (Brian Bloom) & Danielle Gallagher (Kimberly Rowe) are told by their boss professor Paul Ballard (John Doe) that he wants them to investigate the ghostly goings on in the notorious Sunset House. They head straight there & set all their scientific equipment up in preparation, Brad is the brains & Danielle is the psychic one who can contact the 'other side'. It quickly turns out that the house is indeed haunted, from flying red hot pokers to killer Grandfather clocks & ghostly reflections in mirrors. Brad & Danielle feel there is more here than a simple haunting, the name Samuel is written in chalk on the basement floor & as they research Sunset House's history they find a dark & sinister past that still remains unresolved to this day...
Directed by Mitch Marcus I actually thought Knocking on Death's Door was a decent film, surprisingly enough since it comes from king of the low-budget cheapies Roger Corman & his New Concorde production company. The script by Craig J. Nevius takes itself extremely seriously, it moves along at a fair pace & has most of the traditional haunted house clichés. Knocking on Death's Door concentrates on character's, story & atmosphere rather than cheap scares or gore. The ghost isn't overly hostile & certainly isn't scary as it tries to relay a message & settle old scores using Brad & Danielle. There is a fair amount of soap opera type drama but it sits quite well along side the supernatural happenings. One unusual aspect is that this ghost doesn't like anyone having sex & that's when it attacks people, in my opinion all this plot thread facilitates is to have brad & Danielle have sex & there's one bit when Danielle slips her hand down the front of her jeans & starts to masturbate at which our ghost is not best pleased... As one would expect it all rounds off with a twist climax & final revelation that to be honest is a little bit too obvious although is more than passable.
Director Marcus manages to create a nice atmosphere overall although there's a lack of decent scares or jump out of your seat type moments. While Knocking on Death's Door doesn't have much in the way of visual style or flair it's well made & isn't as cheap looking as a lot of Corman productions. Apart from a gory axe killing at the start, a cut & some skeletal remains there is no blood or gore whatsoever although there is a fair amount of mild sex.
Technically the film is fine & generally well made, it was shot in Ireland & for some reason takes no advantage of the location at all. The acting was decent enough & it's always nice to see David Carradine although bear in mind that even though he gets top billing in the opening credits he gets about 5 minutes of screen time, maybe he took the role because he wanted a free holiday in Ireland?
Knocking on Death's Door is an alright little haunted house horror, I sub-genre that I don't usually like that much. I mean it's not brilliant or anything but you could do a lot worse. Worth a watch.
Directed by Mitch Marcus I actually thought Knocking on Death's Door was a decent film, surprisingly enough since it comes from king of the low-budget cheapies Roger Corman & his New Concorde production company. The script by Craig J. Nevius takes itself extremely seriously, it moves along at a fair pace & has most of the traditional haunted house clichés. Knocking on Death's Door concentrates on character's, story & atmosphere rather than cheap scares or gore. The ghost isn't overly hostile & certainly isn't scary as it tries to relay a message & settle old scores using Brad & Danielle. There is a fair amount of soap opera type drama but it sits quite well along side the supernatural happenings. One unusual aspect is that this ghost doesn't like anyone having sex & that's when it attacks people, in my opinion all this plot thread facilitates is to have brad & Danielle have sex & there's one bit when Danielle slips her hand down the front of her jeans & starts to masturbate at which our ghost is not best pleased... As one would expect it all rounds off with a twist climax & final revelation that to be honest is a little bit too obvious although is more than passable.
Director Marcus manages to create a nice atmosphere overall although there's a lack of decent scares or jump out of your seat type moments. While Knocking on Death's Door doesn't have much in the way of visual style or flair it's well made & isn't as cheap looking as a lot of Corman productions. Apart from a gory axe killing at the start, a cut & some skeletal remains there is no blood or gore whatsoever although there is a fair amount of mild sex.
Technically the film is fine & generally well made, it was shot in Ireland & for some reason takes no advantage of the location at all. The acting was decent enough & it's always nice to see David Carradine although bear in mind that even though he gets top billing in the opening credits he gets about 5 minutes of screen time, maybe he took the role because he wanted a free holiday in Ireland?
Knocking on Death's Door is an alright little haunted house horror, I sub-genre that I don't usually like that much. I mean it's not brilliant or anything but you could do a lot worse. Worth a watch.