Do Not Open

This was a film that I got the chance to see thanks to Shirly from Studio Dome. Seeing that this was a 2024 horror film and that this was independent were part of the reason that I decided to check it out, trying to get diversity on my end of year list. I try to come into everything as blind as I can, but I did know that this would have an element of technology, which can work in its favor as well.

Synopsis: after arguing with her parents, a distraught teen opens an email promising acceptance, but what the message delivers infects the whole family.

We start this off by seeing a house from outside at night. There are then gunshots, we see a person come into a room and then finally leave. They are staring down at their phone, blood on their face and smiling. It is from here that we shift and I'll admit, I got confused until reading the synopsis. It is here that Noëlle Gutierrez, who is the daughter of this family, opens this fateful email. That night, their modem re-configured.

The next morning, we shift over to a camera that looks like a nanny cam. We see the father, Tomas Engström, come into the room and his phone acts funny. He's not the only one having issues. His wife and the mother to the children, who is played by Johanna Smitz, is addicted to watching this new age guru on her laptop. She struggles to log in and get the videos to play. It does finally start working as it did before. The son is Kian Lawson-Khalili who is a member of an e-sport team. His buddy is also a member, but he isn't as good and this creates an issue with their leader. The sister has issues as well with her laptop.

It is from here that we learn more about the family, their dynamics and issues. The mother had a rough childhood and she is anxious now. She lacks confidence. It also seems like she has manic depression, where she has good and bad days. This strains the family and she watches these videos. The father uses dating apps and he is chatting with someone. He is unfaithful, almost seeming to want to send his wife away. The daughter is pressured by her new best friend to talk to a classmate, Brandon (Pelle Raft Calum), but she's not interested. He has a crush on her. The son is aggressive and lashes out. This seems due to low self-worth.

We see through their daily lives and interactions that they're addicted to technology. They're not supposed to have devices at dinner, but after, they're glued to their screens in the living room with the television on. Whatever was in the email that the daughter opened spreads through their items and then infecting their beliefs. We then see how far they'll go.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this film has interesting ideas that it is using. Not necessarily new though. The concept of technology taking over has been explored since the 1980s and it has ramped up with the development of artificial intelligence. What is good here is that it started when a spam, phishing email. We've all received these types and may have even fallen for one. This does get terrifying when they're sleeping, seeing whatever is doing this infecting the network created by the modem. Then the idea of how addicted we are to our technology was good as well. This does come with issues though.

Let's start with the positives here. I thought the setup worked, but I think it needed tightening up. It is a bold move to start with this sequence that takes time to develop. I had to check to make sure that my movie was streaming properly. It is shocking, but the problem is that we don't see enough for it to be as effective as they wanted. I was also confused. From there, I feel like I missed the fact that the daughter is the one who opened up the email that changed her family's life forever. Again, I thought this was a good route, but the execution was lacking.

I want to then shift over to the commentary which is good. This had me thinking about how my wife and I use our phones in front of our daughter. It has created discussions that can get heated. We both make a concerted effort to not become this family. They are almost zombie-like with how zoned out they are. It is an intriguing look and makes sense how this 'virus' infecting the family would spread like it did.

Now this leads me to my major issue with this film. I'm not sure if what this family is dealing with is AI or if this is supposed to be a supernatural specter. It could also be both, but I think it fails in setting up this. There are a couple times where characters see creepy images of people. The mother sees her father, who abused her. This has screwed her up. She sees this though without technology playing in. The daughter on the other hand sees it on a screen getting closer, but she can't see it in the real world. This is an issue I have with consistency. What I'll credit though, this entity can create videos of people, make them hear audio and things like this that aren't happening. It is demoralizing and isolates them, leading to where it goes.

There is a last bit here that I'm not sure if the movie fully works with is the social commentary on gender roles. The son is accused of physically touching a fellow student who is a girl without consent. The mother of the girl calls his mother. She asks and he denies it. She believes the girl and slaps him. This I think goes back to what she experienced growing up. Now the father scolds his wife for slapping the boy for swearing at her. I get this since my wife and I do not strike our child so if the other did, we wouldn't be happy. He sides with the boy, thinking he didn't do anything. He also encourages him to pursue sexual encounters. What is interesting there, the son thinks his dad is horrible for cheating on their mother. The father then gets mad about a video he sees of his daughter having sex with a boy who is interested in her. It wasn't real, but this then leads to the father having impure thoughts about her. I don't hate exploring this, I just don't think it managed it well enough with how things end.

That should be enough for the story so let's discuss the acting performances. Gutierrez was solid as our lead. She is cute and fits this teenager girl who is trying to find her place. That works. Something interesting there is that she is probably the least addicted to technology of her family. Smitz is fine as this unstable mother. I felt the worst for her, along with her daughter. We develop the mother the most in my opinion. Engström works to get a reaction out of me as this dirtbag father. Lawson-Khalili is also fine as this son who is in a difficult part of his life. He's addicted to gaming, but he's good at it. So, it is an interesting place to be in. Other than that, the rest of the cast were fine to help push this family to where they end up.

All that is left then is filmmaking. Overall, I thought this was made well enough. The cinematography and framing were good. My issue there is I'm not sure why we go to these cameras that are mounted within the house. I'm not sure that it fully adds anything, aside from us knowing that whatever is haunting the family is watching. This actually is a modern take on the haunted house film now that I'm thinking about it. There limited effects used, which is fine. I like that the videos or audio we hear has a slight distortion, but that adds to the realism. Other than that, the soundtrack worked for what was needed.

In conclusion, this film has good elements that pulled my interest and made me anxious. The problem is that this falls short with execution. I think there are slight tweaks to the story that could help make this work better. Confirming if this is just an AI virus or a supernatural entity is one. Also managing heavy subject matter with just more care as well. I thought the acting was fine. No one is great here, but no major issues. I can't recommend this one though, unless you want to see a low budget take on this concept.

My Rating: 4 out of 10.