‘Night of the Tommyknockers’ VOD Review
Stars: Richard Grieco, Angela Cole, Tom Sizemore, Robert LaSardo, Jessica Morris, BJ Mezek, Denny Nolan | Written by Rolfe Kanefsky, Michael Mahal, Sonny Mahal | Directed by Michael Su
There are not many times that a dynamite blast opens a film, yet that’s true of the latest feature from Mahal Empire. In the 1870s, miners are shown blasting within a cave in search of gold. While one of the group worries about a cave-in, another says the real danger is Tommyknockers – mythical creatures compared to Leprechauns, but “six feet taller and nastier.” As the group split up, the gold is discovered while many meet a grisly end at the Tommyknocker’s hands.
The Western then shifts focus to the Dirk Gang, a brutal group led by the eponymous Dirk (Richard Grieco). These wanted figures rob a bank, showing their force through murder and shooting off a civilian’s ear. They take a hostage, an act which is a ruse to cover up how Betsy (Angela Cole) was their person on the inside. As the gang reflect on their past and look to the future, they plan to steal gold from the town of Deer Creek, although their intentions are made difficult upon discovering it is under siege from the Tommyknockers.
Holding up with the handful of survivors inside the local saloon, the Dirk Gang find they must all work together to survive until daylight. The potential is there for a ticking time bomb regarding the Gang’s true identities, particularly when a bounty hunter arrives in pursuit of them, yet no attempt is made to capitalise on that. This issue unfortunately extends to the uninspiring-looking Tommyknockers, as a focus on glaring CG effects over physicality by the actors highlights the lacking attempts at selling their terror.
Across the substantial cast and numerous characters, it becomes difficult to care when quantity has been chosen instead of quality. There is an unfocused feel to how the film stretches across so many bodies in various places, and whittling them down to a smaller cast would have allowed more space to focus on character development and arcs. Instead, there is little feeling to these lacklustre archetypes who regurgitate lines fed by a generic dialogue generator. When the town drunk monologues about his tragic past, it is an out-of-nowhere inclusion which takes one by surprise.
Credit where it is due, the gore effects highlighting the brutality inflicted upon people are effectively done. One wishes that promise was reflected more across the feature, right up to the third act which appears to be spinning its wheels until the status quo can be reached. An interesting idea lurks about how some dark impulses for self-preservation cannot be changed, yet the journey to that endpoint feels missing. What is left sadly feels hollow and forgettable.
½. 0.5/5
Night of the Tommyknockers is available on VOD and Digital from Gravitas Ventures.
