If you're willing to forgive admittedly sluggish pacing and have a high tolerance for the natural goofiness of minuscule budget film-making like this, Don't Open The Door has a lot more going for it than its relatively obscure status would suggest.
The film follows the descent of Amanda Post, an unassuming gal in her mid-20's who returns to the house where her mom was murdered 13 years earlier to take care of her ailing grandmother. Once she settles into the home, she starts being plagued by a series of disturbing phone calls from a demented stalker, who she slowly comes to realize is responsible for her mother's death and has now transferred his psychotic fixation on her.
Other figures in this caper include the shady doctor whose "treatment" of the grandmother is gradually pushing her toward her demise, a greedy lawyer who wants nothing more than for granny to die so he can have the house for himself, Amanda's ineffectual and estranged physician boyfriend, and the odd curator of a local museum which preserves artifacts from the estate's deadly past. Most of these unsavory characters are clearly on hand merely to provide the movie with its body count, and the film's major weakness is how much effort is spent following their ultimately meaningless subplots for the first two-thirds of the run-time.
One curious complaint I've read about Don't Open The Door is that the homicidal caller is shown in too much detail early on, so it becomes blatantly obvious who the culprit is before the film even moves beyond the first act. I understand the sentiment, and there certainly isn't any mystery on that front after the second phone call takes place, but investigation of the film's supplemental materials reveals that the identity of the murderer is actually plainly given away in the trailer. Though it's easy to gather why audiences for a thriller like this may assume they're in for a textbook whodunnit slasher, a device which the movie fails miserably at, I wasn't bothered by the missed opportunity. For me, the meat of the yarn is actually the effect the caller's psychological torment and the macabre scenario itself has on Amanda, and the last half-hour, which deals heavily with the killer's mounting menace and the disintegration of her sanity, is by far the most engrossing portion of the film.
The campaign of mental abuse Amanda's stalker wages against her is rendered a tad corny by the way it's presented, but some aspects of his systematic attack are still undeniably twisted. The murders themselves are largely bloodless and ho-hum, so fans looking for a straight splatter outing in the vein of the mid-'70s Giallo offerings which were situational kinfolk to Don't Open The Door will probably want to pass here. But as the supporting players meet their ends one by one, we're gradually led down the rabbit hole until Amanda is left alone with the amorous psychopath, at which point the film concludes on a bleak and chilling final note that defies all of the expectations that seem to be suggested by the girl-vs.-killer premise.
There are plenty of artful images on display here which demonstrate that the film-makers employed some definite imagination while they were crafting this piece. The use of dizzying camera work and psychedelic lighting creates some truly surreal and effective sequences, and the creepy doll images that run through the opening credits are fitting portents for the utter darkness that overtakes the film by its conclusion. The location is also used for maximum impact, and the house that was chosen for the film, which features unique architecture, spiral staircases, and stained glass windows, is a marvelous setting for a horror excursion; it's a real shame no one thought to shoot a ghost story there.
Most of the untested actors deliver about what you'd expect, and our raving maniac isn't nearly as fearsome as one would hope, but the lead turn by Susan Bracken is fantastic. Amanda is obviously the centerpiece of this tale, and while Bracken does an admirable job of bringing her to life and getting us on board with her as a heroine, she's even more impressive during the film's third act, when she's called upon to essay a subtle, gradual, and wholly believable devolving into madness.
Clearly, Don't Open The Door is far from a classic, but in its own modest way the film has numerous strengths that elevate it enough to make it worthy viewing for those who have the patience for it. In the end, I'm not sorry I ignored the titular warning, and while I can't wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone, I will suggest that if you're in the mood to be open-minded you could do a lot worse than this.
The film follows the descent of Amanda Post, an unassuming gal in her mid-20's who returns to the house where her mom was murdered 13 years earlier to take care of her ailing grandmother. Once she settles into the home, she starts being plagued by a series of disturbing phone calls from a demented stalker, who she slowly comes to realize is responsible for her mother's death and has now transferred his psychotic fixation on her.
Other figures in this caper include the shady doctor whose "treatment" of the grandmother is gradually pushing her toward her demise, a greedy lawyer who wants nothing more than for granny to die so he can have the house for himself, Amanda's ineffectual and estranged physician boyfriend, and the odd curator of a local museum which preserves artifacts from the estate's deadly past. Most of these unsavory characters are clearly on hand merely to provide the movie with its body count, and the film's major weakness is how much effort is spent following their ultimately meaningless subplots for the first two-thirds of the run-time.
One curious complaint I've read about Don't Open The Door is that the homicidal caller is shown in too much detail early on, so it becomes blatantly obvious who the culprit is before the film even moves beyond the first act. I understand the sentiment, and there certainly isn't any mystery on that front after the second phone call takes place, but investigation of the film's supplemental materials reveals that the identity of the murderer is actually plainly given away in the trailer. Though it's easy to gather why audiences for a thriller like this may assume they're in for a textbook whodunnit slasher, a device which the movie fails miserably at, I wasn't bothered by the missed opportunity. For me, the meat of the yarn is actually the effect the caller's psychological torment and the macabre scenario itself has on Amanda, and the last half-hour, which deals heavily with the killer's mounting menace and the disintegration of her sanity, is by far the most engrossing portion of the film.
The campaign of mental abuse Amanda's stalker wages against her is rendered a tad corny by the way it's presented, but some aspects of his systematic attack are still undeniably twisted. The murders themselves are largely bloodless and ho-hum, so fans looking for a straight splatter outing in the vein of the mid-'70s Giallo offerings which were situational kinfolk to Don't Open The Door will probably want to pass here. But as the supporting players meet their ends one by one, we're gradually led down the rabbit hole until Amanda is left alone with the amorous psychopath, at which point the film concludes on a bleak and chilling final note that defies all of the expectations that seem to be suggested by the girl-vs.-killer premise.
There are plenty of artful images on display here which demonstrate that the film-makers employed some definite imagination while they were crafting this piece. The use of dizzying camera work and psychedelic lighting creates some truly surreal and effective sequences, and the creepy doll images that run through the opening credits are fitting portents for the utter darkness that overtakes the film by its conclusion. The location is also used for maximum impact, and the house that was chosen for the film, which features unique architecture, spiral staircases, and stained glass windows, is a marvelous setting for a horror excursion; it's a real shame no one thought to shoot a ghost story there.
Most of the untested actors deliver about what you'd expect, and our raving maniac isn't nearly as fearsome as one would hope, but the lead turn by Susan Bracken is fantastic. Amanda is obviously the centerpiece of this tale, and while Bracken does an admirable job of bringing her to life and getting us on board with her as a heroine, she's even more impressive during the film's third act, when she's called upon to essay a subtle, gradual, and wholly believable devolving into madness.
Clearly, Don't Open The Door is far from a classic, but in its own modest way the film has numerous strengths that elevate it enough to make it worthy viewing for those who have the patience for it. In the end, I'm not sorry I ignored the titular warning, and while I can't wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone, I will suggest that if you're in the mood to be open-minded you could do a lot worse than this.