Looking at the DVD cover of this supernatural horror, I was expecting something in the vein of Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror – in which some monstrous entity is unleashed onto the world in search of a mate. But, you know what they say; ‘You can’t judge a DVD by its cover’.
The girl pictured on the DVD sleeve is Angelica (Catherine Georges), who’s stuck at home listening to a radio talk show while her fatuous teenage buddies are whooping it up at the biggest high school party of the year. Feeling unloved and lonely, she calls the station and tells the show’s host (who goes by the moniker the mysterious Oracle) that she wants to be free of her parents and be left alone to woo the love of her life, Brad. The Oracle grants her wish, but at a price…
You see, the talk show only airs every 29 days, in time with the full moon, and has a mesmerizing effect on the people who listen in. At the last full moon (seen in the film’s opening), a man butchered his entire family. So, how will Angelica’s wish be granted?
What follows is something you’d expect from an episode of The Twilight Zone. It's not scary or terrifying, nor even original (Drag Me to Hell comes to mind), yet it does entertain on a creepy level. But it drags. You keep waiting for something to go bump in the night, but it doesn’t – until the very end, at which point you have either switched off or have turned into a nervous, anxious wreck.
The cast are a nice bit of eye-candy, and the production values are surprisingly OK for such a low budget production. The Open Door has also won a heap of independent awards, and it's great to see new talent on the block, but the film's Gossip Girl-cum-90210 teen angst leanings just wasn’t my cup of tea. Will it be yours?
Out now http://youtube.com/v/M_D4SaDGIlE
