At The Devil´s Door

To those who say Twilight is horror, let me explain what horror is supposed to be.

# Demons hungry for flesh
# Possessed humans
# Creepy sound effects
# Some nice flesh wounds

And the list goes on, depending on what kind of horror film we are talking about. I still hear people say that Twilight have horror influences......uhhm....really ? I would rather call them TGTSNHBM ( Teenage Garbage That Should Never Have Been Made ). Even if the film series finished, we keep getting new films that look almost like another Twilight copy. Thankfully i have a much better taste in horror, and have a feeling what could be interesting. Sometimes i am wrong of course, a trailer is no guarantee that a film is good, even how good it looks. I am interested in new horror releases, especially the ones who come out of film festivals, who are not big budget films, but made on a limited budget. There are plenty of new titles every year, some are ok, some are bad, but then we have some really good ones that have something for the horror audience, who are looking for some quality. Take a title like Dead Snow: Red Vs Dead, the best Scandinavian splatter horror film i have seen in many years. So many great splatter scenes and funny zombie moments, you simply fall in love. This is just an example, there are plenty of titles out there worth to mention. But let´s go back in time for a moment. In 2012 director Nicholas McCarthy released his praised horror film The Pact. Movie critics loved the style of director Nicholas McCarthy, who on a limited budget, could make a very effective horror motion picture. To see actor Casper Van Dien do a performance where he was actually ok, was a big surprise. Let´s just say he is not known for his actor abilities. 2 years later, we now have the latest film from director Nicholas McCarthy, who continue in the horror genre, this time with a different story. Is his latest film At The Devil´s Door another quality horror film, or is this a disappointment for the fans of The Pact ?

The year is 1987. Hanna ( Ashley Richards ) is making out with her boyfriend. He suggest she should visit a man he knows, living in a trailer, who pays 500 dollars if you play a Shell game. Hanna suceed and wins the money. The man says she have now been chosen, and must go down the road, and say her real name, where the roads meet. She does what she is told. Later that night as she is listening to music, he closet opens. She knows she closed it last time, so take a look. An evil spirit takes over Hanna´s body. Present day. Real estate agent Leigh ( Catalina Sandino Moreno ), travels to a house that couple Chuck ( Dan Roureback ) and Royanna ( Jan Broberg ) are trying to sell. While Leigh was looking around, she noticed a young girl, watching over Leigh. She asks the couple who this young girl it might be. It turns out that this is their daughter, who they claimed runned away. Leigh is fascinated by this young girl, and begin to visit her home. She confront Hanna, but she seems very strange, like something happened to her. Leigh decide to find out more about her, and what happened. She finds a newspaper article, claiming Leigh is dead. This makes no sense at all, so Leigh decide to find the answer. But ever since Leigh begin digging deeper for the truth, she ends up dead after a demon visit her. Leigh´s sister Vera ( Naya Rivera ) is informed about her sisters death. Vera knows that her sister was healthy, as they say she died of a natural course. While digging for answers, Vera is about to find out what is really going on, or is she ?                    

Great news everyone. Director Nicholas McCarthy have proved himself to get better in this genre, and At The Devil´s Door is a proof of that. The creepy sound effects make the film feel more frightening, instead of lots of special effects. This is a very influenced film, with ingredients from Insidious, but at the same time original enough to stand on it´s own. If you were hoping for jump scares like in The Conjuring, you might be dissapointed. But i will say this. At The Devil´s Door is actually one of the better horror films i have seen lately, because it does not borrow the same formula as many other releases do. There is something unpleasant about not knowing what is going on, and why these women end up dead. You only get hints, and still it is difficult to know the plot completely. I enjoyed director Nicholas McCarthy´s earlier film The Pact, because this was also a horror fílm build on suspension. He continues to do so again, but i would still say i enjoy At The Devil´s Door more than The Pact. You can tell that there are similarities between these 2 films, but they are still different enough to say they both have some quality to offer the audience. Actress Ashley Richards is actually one of the strongest characters in this film. Her presence on screen feels natural, and she is great as the young, confused Hanna. The strength of At The Devil´s Door is the feeling that no one knows what is going on. Sometimes this is a much more powerful tool, than really well made special effects. I recommend you watch this one on VOD, until the dvd release, you might actually be surprised.

Rating: DDD