Never Open the Door

Director - Vito Trabucco (Slices, Bloody Bloody Bible Camp)
Starring - Jessica Sonneborn (Camp Slaughter, The Haunting of Alice D), Deborah Venegas (What Goes On, I Married a Mobster), and Kristina Page (The Penny Dreadful Picture Show, Malcolm in the Middle)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror/Sci-fi
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Sometimes, not always, I'll get a movie in to review and will check out imdb.com or Rotten Tomatoes just to see what kind of score it holds.  Honestly, I'm just curious to see what others think of the film as it means very little to me in terms of how I approach the film.  Most of you may have noticed that I love bad movies rather they are bad on purpose or bad by accident.  I like what I like and I refuse to try and justify my tastes.  A few weeks back I received the press release for the horror mystery Never Open the Door.  It looked fun so I reached back out to them and was able to land a review copy of the film on blu.  Thanks for sending this one my way!

     The film follows three couples who rent a cabin and plan a weekend getaway to get caught up with one another.  An innocent night of drinking and conversations turns bloody when a stranger shows up at their door.  The disoriented man collapses on the floor and soon dies from a wound they find on his side.  This sets in motion a series of strange events that comes full circle for the friends.
   
     I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to see this one.  An atmospheric black and white film with an 8 out of 10 on imdb.com was setting the bar pretty high but I quickly discovered that the film was from the score set on imdb.  The acting in this one is not consistent.  Some of the cast delivers some pretty solid performances and gives the viewer's some believable characters that they can get behind or support while others deliver awkward performances that feels like they were not fully dedicated to the role.  They needed a little more direction and motivation.  The story for this one could have been a fun short but there is not enough meat on that bone to make a full length feature.  The twist at the ending was clever but the build up and events leading to it are chaotic and difficult to follow.  The story lacks structure which makes the pay off at the end of the film lose impact.  A more structurally sound story would have helped this slow paced drowse fest out tremendously.  Finally, if you are looking for a stylish horror film with blood and gore then you are barking up the wrong tree.  The film has a little blood, no gore, and is not that very stylish.  We get a little glimpse here and there of a creature that looks decent but we never get that great of a look at it.  The effects, for what we get, are decent as well but the film does not offer up that much.  Overall, Never Open the Door is a slow moving horror mystery that has a great twist ending but the delivery of the story takes the hit away from it.  This is one that I can not recommend.