Someone's Knocking At The Door

By: Robert O'Neill
In-House Review - Jan 29 2013

Meet John Hopper (Ezra Buzzington) and his lovely wife Wilma (Elina Madison)! This completely psychotic, pansexual couple from the 1970s would like to kill you. It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman - an overweight, middle-aged police detective or a horny young dude just trying to get wrecked alone in your dorm room.

When Ray (Jordan Lawson), a young, -addled medical student, is found dead in his dorm room, a group of his friends (led by cutie-pie Noah Segan) attempt to discover the circumstances surrounding his bizarre expiration. Their search leads them to a mysterious hallucinogen called Taldon. In a basement filing room, these rag-tag amateur detectives decide to experiment with this strange while exploring a particularly disturbing psychological case file on John and Wilma. Little do they know that using Taldon will allow the Hoppers to come back through time and wreak havoc.

A proud grindhouse throwback, Someone's Knocking at the Door is a sick little horror flick that takes great pleasure in being over-the-top. The film plays out like Paul Bartel's lost adaptation of The Panic in Needle Park as directed by mid-90s Gregg Araki - with a modest dose of gender-blind porn thrown in for good measure. So, while its obviously not for all tastes, its definitely not without some seedy and truly gruesome charms. There are a good handful of believable performances, the story is largely unpredictable and director Chad Ferrin makes some dissonant choices as far as sound and music are concerned. Poppy tracks by the LA-based punk band The Mae Shi accompany some of the most heinous attack scenes - which effectively lightens the mood, for better or worse. The bottom line is: if you're a horror fan with a taste for the extreme and unusual, John and Wilma won't disappoint you.

By: Amos Lassen

"Someone's Knocking at the Door"

A Cult Horror Film

Amos Lassen

"Someone's Knocking at the Door" defies genre as it tells the story of a group of -addicted, sexually deviant medical students who are terrorized by Wilma and John Hopper who are serial killers and rapists. They have returned somehow from the 1970's and they bring horror with them. There is a lot of gore and depraved sex as well as freaky dream sequences and humor. The murders are totally bizarre and the hallucinations are truly wild. The dialogue is very, very funny against a rock and roll soundtrack.
I found the film to be completely entertaining and there are lots of sex, and rock and roll. Our six medical students come face-to-face with a killer and a man eating female. The film pulls you in at the first shot and it is both stimulating and mortifying. Created in the style of the 1970's you are taken on a trip that is original and great fun. I saw similarities to the work of Gregg Araki here and the movie is strange but again, fun. I also found hints of John Waters who probably served as an inspiration to director, Chad Ferrin. While it may be hard to watch for some because it punches you in the face, it is a tribute to old fashioned horror films. What is interesting is that there is no way to guess what will happen as you take this trip of sexual deviance and gore.