Nails (2017)

Synopsis

Recovering after a terrible accident, Dana struggles to regain her life and family when she encounters a malevolent ghost in her hospital room.

Review

Beginning with Dana Milgrom going out for a run and being struck down by a hit and run driver - Nails starts well. The initial accident is jarring - of course, but it is only the maguffin for the plot to get started.

Dana is left in a hospital ward, paralyzed from the waist down and unable to speak. Then, something starts to appear in the room with her... and she hears tales of a creepy orderly who took his own life years earlier, nick named Nails.

From the outset, the plot is pretty predictable, but writers Tom Abrams (Conversation with the Beast) and Dennis Bartok (Trapped Ashes) keep the story gripping enough that it doesn't really matter. Also the director, Dennis Bartok (debut) keeps the film flowing but doesn't do anything really new. Acting duties fall largely to Shauna Macdonald (The Descent). She's a good actor given enough to work with, and has plenty of chops for horror. 

The issues with the film are however, noticeable. The premise that Dana is unable to turn her body is played out time and again, and just doesn't work. Then the hospital install cameras linked to her laptop so that she can monitor her ward and the corridor outside. Which is...odd, to say the least. The rest of the hospital is consistently deserted, as if they had no spare cash for extras. At one point Dana sees a video playing on her laptop (caused by Nails?) of her husband and the viewer is left to guess if it was real or not. It all adds up, and makes the viewing kind of disjointed.

It's not a bad watch - there are certainly better films out there if you 're looking, but, well, it could have been worse. It has a few good scares and some pretty decent acting.

The ending is also a little daft.