Directors: Matt Angel, Suzanne Coote
Writers: Matt Angel, Suzanne Coote
Stars: Dylan Minnette, Piercey Dalton, Patricia Bethune
Plot: A teenager (Dylan Minnette) and his mother (Piercey Dalton) find themselves besieged by threatening forces when they move into a new house.
Running Time: 94 Minutes
IMDB Score: 3.4
Why I Watched it: The trailer looked decent enough and yes I blame Netflix.
Random Thoughts: First off let’s get to the trailer cause he’s another case of pretty much outright lying in marketing, they make it look like a ghost story and I don’t want to spoil too many things but it’s not a ghost story and in the film they never try to make you think it is.
What I liked: Honestly there’s not much to like, I really disliked this movie but I’ll try to be a little positive in this section. Dylan Minnette is fine and he’s a pretty good actor can see him going into a leading man. I liked the dynamic of the mother and son trying to deal with the death of the father. I liked the location, it’s out in the woods and it feels like you’re isolated.
What I didn’t Like: Really Open House, go to IMDB and see how many other films have that title, way to stand out. This is the type of movie that gets me mad at the small budget genre films, this is not even a complete film you pretty much have 94 minutes of build up and the film has no ending. The film lays ground work at the beginning, the father dies, the family is in debt and you’re thinking alright this will lead to something and it doesn’t all that build up is nothing, it’s red herrings, almost the whole film is red herrings. The best way to describe this film is to call it all jump and no scares. The script is terrible, they build suspense with the pilot light going out every time the mother has the shower, now if this was ghosts I might buy it, a little silly but it’s better than someone tormenting them. Also mid way through the film Minnette’s character says open house as a concept is dumb because people can just come into your house and walk around and who knows what they can do. Yup he summed up the film.
The film makes no sense and it doesn’t hold up to any logic whatsoever none, the film is beyond lazy, honestly for ¾ of the film it’s boring, cell phones get moved, doors close, a bowl of cereal moves from one room to the next. Now the final act is truly terrible, once we find out whats going on the film goes right into the toilet, one of my pet peeves if when they make the bad guy or the force unstoppable, this person is huge and now he’s a ninja, there is actually a scene where the bad guy attacks Minnette and actually takes out the kids contacts, I mean he reaches down and just takes out both lenses, it’s not that easy to do and why? The film gets nasty at the end for no reason none of this is earned and the tone gets completely screwed up. To put the cherry on top of the sundae we get no answers, none. The film leaves you pissed off at the end, there was no point to this film. Too many times you see filmmakers leave plot points unanswered and we get the argument well the audience can figure it out, we want to leave it the audience but when something makes no sense and you are too lazy to have it make senses and then you leave an audience confused and angry then you didn’t do your job as storytellers.
Final Thoughts: I don’t want to say I hated the film, cause for the most part it’s just boring but the ending yes I hated that, it’s whats wrong with genre films right now not enough effort is being put in to tell a good story.
Rating: 2/10
Movie Burner Entertainment 