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Knife Edge (UK)

“The audience is left with a brilliantly directed haunted house movie that’s crippled by a messy, convoluted mystery-movie narrative.”

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With most haunted house movies, only the first half is scary. Why? Because all of the ghostly activity is completely unexplained in the first half. There are banging noises and creepy whispers and flickering lights and bass-voiced toddlers, and nobody knows what the hell is going on. But then the second half rolls around, and of course the ghost needs a back story, and the ghost’s death needs to be avenged, and before you know it the ghost is reduced to a nagging spiritual presence, needing all this random shit done like your wife on Saturday morning, and the whole movie just stops being frightening. With few exceptions, the modern haunted house movie serves the ghost rather than the audience.

Knife Edge, a recent DVD release from the U.K., pours a little too neatly into that oh-so-common haunted house movie mold. With his business flourishing, Frenchman Henri spontaneously moves his new wife and young stepson from New York out to a bulging mansion just outside of London. He secretly purchased the mansion several years before, after the previous tenants suddenly abandoned it. While Henri occupied with his flourishing business, his wife Emma is frequently left at home alone with her young son. It doesn’t take long for her to begin to suspect that the spacious mansion might be haunted.

At first the paranormal signs are relatively benign. Some quiet whispers in the hallways. The faraway sound of a child crying out for its mother. Images of bloody violence flashing behind Emma in the bathroom mirror. She might be going crazy. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s all real. It’s certainly hard to tell when you’re watching a movie that’s this downright manipulative.

Like most successful haunted house movies, Knife Edge is unabashedly frightening during its first half. The early scares are genuine, with eerie sounds and bloody images that really work their way under your skin. Staged with an impressive finesse by veteran horror director Anthony Hickox (Hellraiser II: Hell on Earth), these inspired first-reel scenes are convincing enough to compel you to watch the film all the way to the end. Too bad the movie as a whole is so overloaded with perfunctory haunted house subplots—Emma has a miscarriage, a mysterious nanny (Joan Plowright) appears on the scene to dispatch dubious advice, the young son forges an imaginary friendship with an ugly doll—that the later plot twists bear little impact. The audience is left with a brilliantly directed haunted house movie that’s crippled by a messy, convoluted mystery-movie narrative.

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SCREAMBOX Investigates UFOs and Extraterrestrials: Several Documentaries Streaming Right Now!

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As someone who is obsessed with UFOS (or more recently known as UAPs) and the concept of extraterrestrials, I love a good documentary. Sightings have been on the rise since the 1940s, with the atomic bomb seemingly acting as a catalyst for new visitors. But what are these UFOs/UAPs? Is there an explanation or are they simply beyond our explanation? Why are they here? Who are they? How much do our governments know? The questions are endless and so are the documentaries that attempt to uncover the secrets behind decades of sightings and alleged confrontations.

Whether you’re a seasoned viewer or new to the rabbit hole, there’s always a handful of interesting documentaries to get your neurons firing and leave you with sleepless nights. SCREAMBOX is investigating with the addition of several docs, all streaming now on the Bloody Disgusting-powered service. Here’s the breakdown:

Aliens (2021): Beam into this unidentified streaming documentary for a glimpse into Extraterrestrial life. Aliens are hypothetical life forms that may occur outside Earth or that did not originate on Earth.

Aliens Uncovered: Origins (2021): Before Area 51, hidden deep in the desert, the military discovered a hidden gem that helped them create Project Bluebook.

Aliens Uncovered: ET or Man-Made (2022): The crash of Roswell wasn’t meant for New Mexico. In 1947, a neighboring state had 3 major sightings that were swept under the rug.

Aliens Uncovered: The Golden Record (2023): In the late 70s, the US government launched a message to our distant neighbors.

Roswell (2021): This high-flying documentary examines the July 1947 crash of a United States Army Air Forces balloon at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Theories claim the crash was actually that of a flying saucer, but what is the truth?

Also check out:

The British UFO Files (2004): Since the 1940’s the British Government has been investigating the Flying Saucer phenomenon. High-ranking military and government personnel, speak out for the first time, offering unique eyewitness accounts and inside information.

Alien Abductions and Paranormal Sightings (2016): Amazing Footage and stories from real people as they reveal their personal encounters of being abducted by Aliens.

And do not miss Hellier (2019): A crew of paranormal researchers find themselves in a dying coal town, where a series of strange coincidences lead them to a decades-old mystery.

These documentaries join SCREAMBOX’s growing library of unique horror content, including Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, Here for Blood, Terrifier 2, RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, The Outwaters, Living with Chucky, Project Wolf Hunting, and Pennywise: The Story of IT.

Start screaming now with SCREAMBOX on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.com.

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