Nailbiter draws on the venerable "small town with a secret" sub genre of situational horror. Not a bad way to go. In this instance a mother who is a recovering alcoholic drives to KC with her three teen-aged daughters to meet their father on his way back from overseas deployment. Waylaid by a tornado in their path, they seek refuge in cellar of a seemingly abandoned farmhouse.
Of course neither the farmhouse nor the cellar are really empty, as the women come to learn.
Directer Patrick Rea fumbles around the obviously low budget, using shots that serve to emphasize just how low the budget must have been. When the "bear" does appear, it's given short shrift (although already a horror film cliché, Rea might have done better to use speeded up motion for the haunter rather than a bit of face here or a clawed hand there). The girls manage to McGuyver their way out of the cellar in ways that couldn't be more predictable--not to mention just plain silly (who else is tired of seeing people fire nail guns like rifles, ignoring the fact that as a safety feature their barrels must press against whatever is being nailed to prevent injury?).
The rest of the script is just pro-forma bits of horror/suspense tropes put in just because.... Why is the mother an alcoholic? Why take the time to depict her in an AA meeting? The answer may seem apparent nearer to the end, but it isn't, not really.
All in all Nailbiter feels like a very first film the director wasn't particularly passionate about. It could have very good, very suspenseful if shot with greater care.
Of course neither the farmhouse nor the cellar are really empty, as the women come to learn.
Directer Patrick Rea fumbles around the obviously low budget, using shots that serve to emphasize just how low the budget must have been. When the "bear" does appear, it's given short shrift (although already a horror film cliché, Rea might have done better to use speeded up motion for the haunter rather than a bit of face here or a clawed hand there). The girls manage to McGuyver their way out of the cellar in ways that couldn't be more predictable--not to mention just plain silly (who else is tired of seeing people fire nail guns like rifles, ignoring the fact that as a safety feature their barrels must press against whatever is being nailed to prevent injury?).
The rest of the script is just pro-forma bits of horror/suspense tropes put in just because.... Why is the mother an alcoholic? Why take the time to depict her in an AA meeting? The answer may seem apparent nearer to the end, but it isn't, not really.
All in all Nailbiter feels like a very first film the director wasn't particularly passionate about. It could have very good, very suspenseful if shot with greater care.