Review: The Open Door is a Badly Executed Attempt at Genre Filmmaking

I have no idea where to start with a film like The Open Door. It’s a bad horror film that wants to be clever but ends up simply being ridiculous.

The film focuses on Angelica, a horny teenage girl who is constantly fighting with her parents because she wants things her way or no way. You know the story, a teenager who misses their curfew and doesn’t think it’s a big deal until her mother grounds her. Crazy thing is, she’s not the one who’s wrong, her mother is. Life is just so “unfair”, especially since Angelica is going to miss out on the biggest party of the year, the party that her crush Brad will be at. Just when Angelica thought it couldn’t get any worse, she receives a text from her fake BFF. Staci sends Angelica a picture of Brad with another girl. Instantly, Angelica’s life is ruined.

While moping in her room, Angelica comes across the radio show “The Open Door“, which only airs on the eve of a full moon. The show talks of cosmic energies that can grant you your innermost desires if you simply ask. Angelica calls the show and reveals her ridiculous desires. IE: “I wish my parents would leave me alone.” or my personal favorite “I wish Brad and I could be together forever and that my name would be spoken with his dying breath.” …Really? What kind of wish is that?! Clearly, there is a catch to these wishes. They aren’t going to be all sunshine and roses. Her wishes come true but they come true in the most violent ways possible.

The Open Door is a low budget indie horror film. The production quality is very strong; the sound engineering is amazing. Other than that, I have nothing good to say about this flick.

The Open Door is the kind of film that unintentionally becomes a comedy. It reminded me of a watered downed version of The Monkey’s Paw for preteens who desperately want to be popular teenagers. During scenes that were supposed to be intense or scary, I found myself giggling when the actors would become hysterical. In one particular scene, a glass of milk started to slide slowly across a table and everyone was completely petrified. It was so ridiculous because there was reepy music playing that was really trying to convince me that I should be scared of a sliding glass of milk.

From the start, the film feels cheap and cheesy. About ninety percent of the picture is redundant and feels like an awful after school special with a cheesy message like “Be careful what you wish for” The first forty minutes of the film see Angelica whining about how awful her parents and friends are. As far as it goes with the actors, I can’t tell if they were awful or if their characters were just one dimensional. The characters were very stereotypical. Truth be told, the only person I had sympathy for was myself because I’m the one who had to endure it.

Overall, I recommend The Open Door as a perfect example of how not to make a horror film, I cannot, however, recommend this film for your viewing pleasure. Perhaps this is what made director Doc Duhame never want to direct another movie. Perhaps.

WICKED RATING: [usr 2]
Title: The Open Door
Director: Doc Duhame
Writer(s): Doc Duhame
Stars: Catherine Munden, Sarah Christine Smith, Ryan Doom
Release: 2008
Studio/ Production Co: Unknown
Budget: Unknown
Language: English
Length: 94 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Drama, Thriller