Someone’s Knocking At The Door

Directed by: Chad Ferrin
Cast: Noah Segan, Andrea Rueda, Ezra Buzzington, Elina Madison, Jon Budinoff, Ricardo Gray, Silvia Spross
USA, 80 min
Canadian Theatrical Premiere

The trailer for this film promises nothing more than some bad looking low budget fare and as such, I wasn't expecting much from it. There would be nothing more than a lot of violence, blood and cheap thrills in order to make up for the technical difficiencies. Of course, this is also exactly what I hoped for going into the movie. What I was witness to wasn't quite what I had expected. There were a few scenes of depravity and blood but not as much as I had wanted. But while the film was lowbrow in appearance, the story ended up being a bit of a surprise.

A group of students decide to get together and down some mean drugs. One by one they start dropping as a pair of sex crazed killers stalk them on campus. What kind of sick depraved individuals are these? They don't use chainsaws or knives to kill their victims. No, these brutal murderers are a new kind of evil who kill their prey with sex. They "fuck" them to death!

Someone's Knocking at the Door is the kind of film that falls somewhere in between a SOBIG cult film and a lame attempt at true depravity. The filmakers held back on the sick and twisted for reasons I'll never know but it might have been because they felt it was too much or perhaps budget restraints came into effect. Whatever the reason, I think they made a big mistake. The gimmic behind the film of having people "fuck" you to death could have been a selling point filled with marketing potential. I know what you're thinking... I'm one sick individual. But the fact is, if you're going to use sex as a weapon the way this film does, you better go all the way with it. Baring that, why use it at all?

Of course, this film isn't all about fucking people to death. It actually has a narrative that goes well beyond the gimmic. Though the end result is a little cliche, it wasn't anything I saw coming. Perhaps the killer sex is just a diversion to keep you from seeing the overall picture. While some of my colleagues thought this to be somewhat redeeming, I didn't think it was close to being enough to raise my opinion of the film. Someon's Knocking at the Door will not get a recommend from me any time soon.