In The Open Door, a teenage girl named Anjelica (played by Cathrine Georges) is stuck at home after being grounded... forcing her to miss a party she'd been planning to go to.
As her parents leave to have fun away from home, Anjelica sulks, and decides to listen to the radio. As the night progresses, she finds herself listening to a pirate radio show that runs only once a month - the night of a full moon. Fed up with her putrid, steroid-chugging friends, she decides to call into the station, and speak with the prophet/DJ.
The Oracle, as she calls herself, answers at the station, and asks Anjelica to make a wish for anything she wants. Anjelica is hysterical at the actions of her assumed boyfriend, and hastily wishes for him and everyone around him to leave her alone, among other things. Soon enough she starts hearing and seeing horrible things as a result of her wish. And her friends aren't exactly happy with her wishes.
While watching this, I could certainly tell that the cast was having a ton of fun when they made The Open Door. When the cast is enjoying themselves, the viewer can relax knowing that they're going to be entertained. I wasn't entirely clear on what was happening to Anjelica's friends... at times they looked like zombies, not to mention acting like them. But when I realized what they were really up to, I was pleased with the story turn.
Most horror movies in this vein would take the familiar path of having one guy carrying an over-sized knife, on a path of bloody destruction. I appreciate that The Open Door takes none of the familiar clichéd paths that everyone's grown extremely tired of. The effects are solid... people are flying everywhere, bodies are set on fire, eyes are glossed over. All of this is well done for an independent film.
Perhaps the one fault of the movie is the ending. I know that it's very hard to craft a good ending to go with a great movie - especially hard for a horror/thriller. There's only a handful of ways to end a movie where so many die. The ending is a *flash-crang* scene, if you'll allow me a new term for a scene you'd find in most every scare film out there. Ending a fully original movie with something I've seen before is a slightly disappointing last impression to leave.
