Day 16: Don't Open The Door

It's happened to every lover of the VHS format. Lured in by great cover art, a cheesy tag line, and even some creepy looking screenshots on the back. Lured in only to be disappointed by the actual film within. Don't Open The Door is an awesome looking Big Box release that's been staring at me
from the shelf for a long time. The worst part is the amount of potential this film actually has, but fails to realize.

A young girl finds her mother's dead body in bed and is subdued by a mysterious figure. Years later the girl, now a young adult, learns that her grandmother is ill and returns to her grandmothers house. While trying to get her grandmother admitted to a hospital she stays in the house and begins receiving strange phone calls. As the calls become more frequent the bodies begin to pile up.

Don't Open The Door has a pretty good atmosphere to it. There is certainly a dark and creepy vibe to this film. The story falls far short of being able to utilize this atmosphere. There is an extremely small cast of characters, which makes the killers identity all too obvious from the very first phone call. Worse yet, he basically reveals himself to our protagonist, yet at the end of the film she still seems to have no idea who the killer is (Seriously! Try the weird guy that made a creepy mannequin of your deceased mother and showed it to you)! The killer himself is creepy, but he gets overexposed with the dragged on phone call scenes.

The music score is a mix between some pretty creepy synth and...experimental jazz? Nothing ruins a mood more than music that doesn't fit. Why couldn't they just stick with the creepier songs? Even during scenes where nothing horrific is taking place scary music would help create more suspense, something this film is already lacking. Few things bother me more in a horror film.

For all of its dragged out scenes, bad storytelling, and odd music choices Don't Open The Door still has a few very solid moments. Unfortunately every time it shows it's muscle it goes back into hiding. Each time I would believe that the movie was going to finally pick up, only to be disappointed. Oh Big Box tapes! You lie to me so much! Why is it that I love you so?

Body Count: 4

Side Note: There was an abundance of "Don't" titles in the 70's (Don't Be Afraid of The Dark, Don't Look In The Basement, Don't Look Now). So many in fact that a fake trailer entitled "Don't!" was made for Grindhouse (And a hell of a trailer it is! I hope they make it an actual film one day).