Natty Knocks

I had not heard about this 2023 horror movie titled "Natty Knocks", prior to sitting down to watch it. But seeing that the movie had Bill Moseley and Robert Englund on the cast list, and it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I had to sit down and watch it.

Well, the storyline in "Natty Knocks", as written by Benjamin Olson, turned out to be a rather mediocre and generic one. Sure, "Natty Knocks" was watchable for what it was, but Benjamin Olson brought nothing to the horror genre that hasn't been seen or done before in other movies, and more often done better and more successfully. So yeah, the overall impression of "Natty Knocks" was a bland and mediocre one. It is a movie that came and went without leaving any lasting impression, and come next week, I will most likely have forgotten about it.

The acting performances in "Natty Knocks" were actually fair enough. And yeah, it certainly was good to see the likes of Bill Moseley and Robert Englund, two horror icons, together on the screen, though they had nothing much to work with in terms of script, characters and storyline.

Visually then "Natty Knocks" was a very mundane movie. There were special effects, sure, but they were hardly memorable or outstanding.

"Natty Knocks" is the type of movie you watch once, then shelf it and never look at it again.

My rating of director Dwight H. Little's 2023 horror movie "Natty Knocks" lands on a four out of ten stars.

I went into this expecting to see a movie reuniting director Dwight Little and Danielle Harris of HALLOWEEN 4 and did not get that at all.

I know people worked on this project so I don't want to sound too harsh in my review. But it might sound harsh, so read at your own discretion if you were part of the making of this movie.

The story is all over the place, so much so that it's hard to even explain. It's alot more complex than the synopsis tells.

A killer obsessed with a b horror actress of the 70s who was killed because she was a witch? Teenagers caught in the middle of the mayhem and all taking place on Halloween.

The focus of the fall season and the holiday itself is barely represented in the movie. And any parts that are halloween and fall focused are more forced than genuine.

The acting is hard to judge because the dialogue is so atrocious. It's not like the actors had much to work with.

Danielle Harris has about 10 minutes or less of screen time. Robert Englund the same.

The movie is promoted as starring the 2 aforementioned stars but is seriously misleading.

I'm surprised that Dwight Little touched this. He's done some truly great work.

There are some nice vibrant color pallets used but that's really the only positive I have. That and danielle looks great as usual.

But the movie has a runtime that feels longer than it is.

It felt like a student project.

Anyway, I paid $17 to watch and support this on YouTube. It wasn't worth it but at least fulfilled my curiosity.

I'm so disappointed. Seeing the names Danielle Harris and Dwight Little together again was exciting as HALLOWEEN 4 is my favorite slasher movie of all time.

What is it going to take to get Danielle back into a decent movie released in theatres in a role with a good amount of meat on its bone?

Her talent continues to be wasted on abysmal material that she is so far above. Her last remarkable performance was Rob Zombies HALLOWEEN II.

She deserves better.

Thumbs down from this guy.

After watching 4 or 5 stinkers in a row, this one stood out as actually... good, at least in relative terms. This has a lot going for it in competent direction, good audio/lighting, stable camera, scene framing that made sense, and better than average acting. The story was homage-good, although a little leaky- but actually having one was a nice touch. Besides a few veteran greats in here with Harris, Moseley, and Englund, the young leads were far better than expected. Charlotte as Britt is very charismatic and delivers well. Thomas Robie as Wyatt showed good restraint in places where young actors typically overdo it. The one distraction was the age issue. I was trying to overlook that Wyatt looked basically the same age as Britt, and even Jolie was too old for a high-school sitter and to be crying often. But hey, the skill trade-off was worth overlooking this. This is more of a family-friendly (PG13) homage horror than say, the Hatchet series, but it's still better than quite a few I've seen lately. I recommend it if you try to catch all the new lower/mid budget offerings or indies.

I watch a ton of horror films, especially on Tubi. Roughly 80% are so boring or just plain bad that I either fall asleep or turn them off. So I had really low expectations for this but figured I'd check it out. It turned out to be far better than anticipated. The story isn't totally original, but it's got enough different elements that it doesn't feel stale. The cast, especially the girl who plays the babysitter, do a pretty solid job. Bill Moseley is creepy as always. Not sure why so many people seem confused as to what is happening and when. It's pretty clear throughout. And I liked the ending, as it kept the film from being too predictable. So if you like standard 70s-80s B horror with slasher themes (but not much actual gore), you can do far worse than this movie.

No pun intended - I really did not want to think too much about my summary line. Casting wise this really made some great choices (even in smaller roles like Englund). But even with Moseley in a bigger role (and he is giving it his all, no holding back punches then). The story is quite simple and I think quite predictable to say the least.

The movie also looks good and it has nice effects, but I am quite certain it will leave you cold - shame because there was something there, with a "new" story to tell. We have seen the revenge angle before - but you can twist and tweak things. Try to find something unique maybe .. or at least focus on one thing or another.

Add to that quite the convoluted and bad ending too ... well I may have been too nice again .. but it is Bill Moseley ... and he is really good, no matter what.