The Horror Show
Nails
by Dennis Bartok
I really do believe one of the most terrifying things on the face of this Earth is to be trapped by your own body. Comas, strokes, autism, brain injuries, it's all so claustrophobic. Nails is a film that utilizes this type of being trapped without it feeling forced.
Dana Milgrom, a high school track coach, is the victim of a hit run that has left her paralyzed and on a breathing machine. She talks with the aid of a laptop program. Her husband, Steve, and their daughter, Gemma, come to visit her regularly. She is also friendly with her nurse's aide, Trevor. I got really excited when I saw that Trevor was played by Ross Noble! He is one of my favorite comedians and he played an evil clown in the film Stitches which I have also reviewed here on HMS!
Dana soon begins hearing things and seeing strange shapes during her convalescence. She tells Trevor who humors her by looking for the boogeyman. Steve goes one better and installs cameras in her room. Dana is guarded like Fort Knox up in here. This doesn't stop her from being attacked and almost killed, but no one believes her except Trevor and Gemma. She starts to Google the hospital and she discovers Eric Nilsson. Dana ask the snarky hospital psychiatrist, Dr. Stengel, about Eric. She is told that before he was an employee he was a patient, a victim of terrible abuse. The doctor said that most of his injuries were self-inflicted and they had to trim his nails every day so he wouldn't tear his own flesh off. He remained there into adulthood and they gave him a job. He had an odd obsession with clipping the nails of the little girls and saving them in an envelope. The hospital employees called him Nails. There was a rash of deaths that happened, five little girls were killed with a hypodermic needle. Nails was found with his envelopes and he was charged. He hung himself in the very room Dana was in.
This movie was pretty good! I enjoyed the story a lot. The side stories didn't weigh down the main story line and the acting was pretty amazing. The Nails character was creepy and well done. You liked Dana and Gemma. You were cheering them on! Steve was kind of a jerk, but it worked, he needed to be. Ross Noble is always a treat and I'm glad they didn't make him a creepy pervert like I thought they were going to. I even enjoyed the jump scares, even if they suffer from “loud noise equals scary” syndrome.
Nails is a fun little jump scare fest! I'm glad I put it in my queue! It's on Netflix and is worth checking out!
Robin Thompson, HMS
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