Knuckleball

This is a great suspense/horror movie, that has a slight arthouse feel. The plot, sfx, and acting feels like a hybrid of the Shining and Home Alone.

One of these horror films that if one looks too closely at some of the preposterous plot elements it could be a turn off. Instead, I recommend just going with the flow and getting caught up in the most bizarre , bloody, and outrageous happenings on screen.

To me, it had some similar elements to the classic horror tale "The Shining". Director Michael Peterson and writer Kevin Cockle do not shy away from many grim and dark twists and turns

Certainly kept me guessing how this would all turn out, and on the whole the movie proved to be a nasty little horror tale.

This film was better than expected. It certainly is no Hollywood blockbuster, but clearly a well made low budget film that used its budget wisely.

The directing was great - especially the camera shots and angles. The cinematography was perfect for the landscape. Even the score was surprisingly great for a B-grade film. The 89 min length was perfect as was the pace. The writing was good, as the tension was constant throughout the story, but I would liked to have seen a bit more 'pow' in certain scenes - maybe more of the creative Home Alone antics.

Nevertheless, novice director/writer Michael Peterson who's resume is mostly short films and documentaries did an outstanding job with this film.

Aside from well known actor Michael Ironside, the rest of the cast are pretty much C-listers as I've never heard of them. All performed quite well, with the exception of Chenier Hundal as the dad who I felt was too bland and seemed as if this was his first acting role.

Otherwise a very good film that I do recommend. An honest and well deserved 8/10 from me.

Knuckleball is director Michael Peterson's first feature length foray into the horror genre. It is a huge improvement over his previous feature Lloyd the Conqueror, and works very well for a genre movie, with intense atmosphere throughout, some inventive scenes involving traps, even if more such scenes could have elevated the film to be a true classic in the genre.

The plot tells the story of a young boy being left with his grandfather in the country while his parents travel to a funeral elsewhere. Soon, the visit turn into a gruesome story of trying to survive a home invasion, from a deranged maniac, laying traps and uncovering some terrible secrets about the family's past.

Plotwise, the story draws many storybeats from Home Alone, with the boys parents having left him on his own, but then sensing something is wrong and hurrying back, while the boy is desperately fighting to protect himself and his home, by building death traps from whatever is lying around the grandfather's home. However, the storyline has been transplanted into the horror genre, and as such, the violence is somewhat more gruesome, and the implications of what will happen if he doesn't stop the intruder places the stakes much higher and really helps to bring the tension up.

About halfway through the movie, things take a turn for the darker, and the movie shifts the focus away from trap building towards exploring the backstory of the setting. Unlike many similar genre film, Knuckleduster manage to set up every plotline in advance without breaking the pacing. That said, having the inventive death traps in the first half of the movie does put a damper on what is probably the most enjoyable part of the film. Sure the story is effective in its own way, but the film is based around a gimmick that could be taken further to great effect. Sadly it ends up feeling like the latter half of the film was just a bit less fun for that reason.

The film does falter to a few clichés towards the end which further hampers the enjoyment that was derived from the central gimmick of the movie, and seem to be mostly included because that is what is expected from such films.

That said, Knuckleball is a very serviceable film, and a coherent and enjoyable horror flick from first-time horror director Michael Peterson. I recommend it to any fan of the genre.

A special quick note: Knuckleball takes place in the present day, and not only cleverly manages to deal with smart-phones in a way that does not feel contrived and immersion breaking. It is also interestingly done from a visual standpoint, and is worth checking out for anything dealing with similar issues in their film-making.

I was surprised by this movie. It was much better than I thought it was going to be. I hate to be that guy, but reading some of the negative comments on here, it genuinely seems like most of them just don't get it. The movie gave you the answers you're looking for, they just don't spoon feed it to you. God forbid a movie leave some things up to you to figure out. I was going to give my take but I don't want to give any spoilers. Just watch the movie and come to your own conclusions. Like others have said, it does give off some home alone vibes so part of it is a little derivative in that sense but still a decent thriller.