A mother and son must face their worst fears in this horror drama from writer-director Christopher Wesley Moore.

Years ago, a mysterious killer known as the Trash Man had struck a small town around the Thanksgiving holiday. One of the victims was the husband and older son of Caroline, whose husband had been with a friend when he was murdered. The events traumatized Caroline so much that she had been refusing to leave the house. The events have also traumatized younger son Justin, who suffers from PTSD while at work.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner again. While Caroline is stuck at home and Justin is working, neighbor Marita is planning to enjoy the holiday with her boyfriend, daughter, and daughter’s best friend. However, the Trash Man has returned and is back to start his killing spree again. Caroline, upon learning of the killer’s return, wants to get revenge but fears leaving the house. Both she and Justin must face their fears if they are to stop the masked killer once and for all.

Sometimes in horror films, you can go to one extreme and make a gruesome slasher film or another extreme and follow a more psychological horror film. Sometimes though, you can combine the two and, in most cases, it makes for a good genre film as it doesn’t always rely on certain tropes within horror and still come out good. This film, written and directed by Christopher Wesley Moore, actually proves to be in that meshing of the psychological and slasher, with its lead characters suffering from a case of PTSD so bad that it affects their livelihoods only to be amped up by the return for said PTSD.

The opening plays out a bit like a mockumentary with people talking about possible sightings of the titular Trash Man only to move forward with seeing our eventual protagonist Caroline, played by Jo-Ann Robinson, finding the bodies of her husband and son hacked up in a trash bag. Robinson plays Caroline as a very tormented soul whose trauma leads to her having agoraphobia. Afraid to come out her room, let alone the house, plays a vital part in the film where her surviving son Justin, played by director Moore, suffers from the loss of his brother by drinking and not focusing on his job.

However, just when you think this could be a psychological stalker sort of tale, it actually juxtaposes into a slasher film when the Trash Man returns and stalks a neighbor of Caroline’s, Merita, who has a relationship as well as seeing her daughter Hope and the daughter’s bestie for the holiday. There are scenes where we see Hope and her bestie talk about her relationship with her mother. The bestie seems like the type at times who would rather party while Hope tends to be more grounded and wants to be there for her mom. Meanwhile, we see Justin confiding in his co-worker and he sees as a big brother as he lost his brother to the Trash Man.

Speaking of the Trash Man, the killer is not a monstrous looking killer, but an average looking psychopath complete with a mask that’s part bald and has a Joker-like painted “meme face” on it. However, just because he may look average, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have extreme tendencies. Because the kills of this film are quite gruesome. Using a variety of weapons, he hacks, stabs, and even uses an iron to bludgeon a victim to death and Moore does a good job as using some extreme closeups of impact shots when it calls for it. As if that’s not enough, the final ten minutes of the film are very shocking as some massive twists come up that were totally unexpected.

When the Trash Man Knocks is an indie horror gem that fuses psychological horror in the vein of PTSD with the slasher genre. This is one to definitely be on the lookout for, especially as a Thanksgiving horror film.

WFG RATING: B+

A CWM Entertainment/Rivers Ash production. Director: Christopher Wesley Moore. Producer: Christopher Wesley Moore. Writer: Christopher Wesley Moore. Cinematography: Derek Bond and Cami Roebuck. Editing: Christopher Wesley Moore.

Cast: Jo-Ann Robinson, Christopher Wesley Moore, Derek Bond, Cami Roebuck, Keni Bounds, Ana-Claire Henley, Brent Hearn, Meredith Mohler, Cheryl Abernathy, J.C. Patterson, David Moncrief, Eric Riggs, Will Lovorn, Jacob Thomas.

The film will Amazon Video on November 10.