Home (2014) Reviews

• Really could've been better

  Red_Identity2014-08-10

  I sort of appreciate what this was trying to do, honestly. I just wish it had done it better. The film really isn't the typical mainstream slasher/horror flick, and it knows how to build atmosphere... to a point. It just slogs throughout most of its running time, and it really seems like it goes nowhere. The biggest crime a horror film could make is be boring, and at times, this is incredibly dull. I like the destination and I like how it doesn't feel the need to speed up its pace, but the really thin screenplay and some questionable acting make this not very good. It's a pity too, because it really does have some nice scenes and atmosphere.

• Bits of nonsense does not a Horror make!

  ArchonCinemaReviews2014-09-24

  A fragmented bundle of story pieces, At the Devil's Door doesn't add up as the sum of its parts. The film effectively opens with a runaway teenage girl in the arms of a teenage boy in what looks to be a mobile home in the desert. He takes her to play a shell game unlike she's ever played and wins $500. While at her home later she is viciously attacked by an unknown force. Fast forward to Leigh, a hardworking real estate agent trying to sell the very house the girl in the last scene was attacked. While surveying the house she comes across the girl, who we believe is the daughter of the couple selling the house, and becomes the target of the ominous supernatural force; unknowingly bringing her sister Vera into its sights as well. That convoluted summary and plot description is due to the plot being a loosely jumbled mess. To call At The Devil's Door a narrative would be an offense to all other narratives because it is so discordant from a typical plot. Nicholas McCarthy desperately and ineffectually tries to splice the tale together loosely by connecting the satanic undertone throughout. For a film marketing itself as a 'horror' it shies away from the truly terrifying aspects of demonic rage as a satanic being clamors to take a human form and is underwhelmingly tame. At The Devil's Door is unnecessarily overcomplicated and contrived in trying to be different from typical demonic possession films. Incoherent perplexing chunks of the film should have been amputated and reevaluated. Editors are resigned to fade to black scenes to attempt to piece together a film with no cohesive plot direction. The fragmented plot and poorly conceptualized screenplay by McCarthy is only highlighted further by the forced dialogue between the characters. Further, there are three protagonists. There is a formula to horrors and supernatural thrillers, a very simple formula, you must have one clear protagonist for the audience to follow. Ashley Rickards is great as the disturbed teen assaulted in the first scene who menacingly skulks about, tormented by the decision she makes to allow this dark force to enter her life. The next protagonist Leigh, played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, unfortunately gets featured far too much and further splinters the story. The film could have contained a single scene with her as a minor character in order to connect Rickards' plot to Vera, the sister, played by Naya Rivera. If it were not for the sufficient performances of Rickards and Rivera this film would be unwatchable. Once Vera is the primary focus for the film it picks up slightly but pathetically shuffles its way to a weak finale. At The Devil's Door is a bland and disjointed interpretation of the hellish thrillers of yesteryear when humanity was afraid of losing its soul to Satan. With no clear plot and no serious scares it expediently fast forwards through the various shorts attempting to be key plot events to an ending the audience can not care or be invested.

• At the Devil's Door is a competent, but overloaded, horror film

  Argemaluco2015-01-23

  I liked The Pact, director and screenwriter Nicholas McCarthy's first film, very much, and that's why I was very interested in watching At the Devil's Door, his following movie. And even though At the Devil's Door is very inferior to The Pact, McCarthy's ability to create suspense and terror with efficiency and elegance keeps being noticed. At the Devil's Door offers a growing tension, some good shocks and a constant sensation of anxiety. Unfortunately, the screenplay changes its course with too much frequency and it can't decide itself for a concrete direction. Everything starts with an enigmatic prologue in which the young Hannah participates on a strange ritual, something which brings context to Leigh's story and her difficulty to sell a "haunted house" (or whatever it is). Then, we witness long flashbacks of Hannah and the consequences of the ritual; then, the focus of attention switches to Leigh's sister; then, the story jumps 8 months; afterwards, 6 years... and well, that's enough to describe the confusing structure of At the Devil's Door, which includes enough tangents to fill in three movies. But with so much material compressed in an hour and a half, it's difficult for us to integrate into the story. On the positive side, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Naya Rivera and Ashley Rickards bring solid performances in their roles. To sum up, At the Devil's Door is very far from the level of The Pact, but at least, it confirms McCarthy's ability to handle the tools of horror; unfortunately, his work as a screenwriter wasn't totally satisfactory in this case. Nevertheless, that doesn't avoid me from giving a moderate recommendation to At the Devil's Door as a decent horror film.

• a really good paranormal horror movie

  paranormal142014-12-20

  If you like insidious and the conjuring then you would love this movie. I don't why it doesn't have better ratings. it pulled me in, had me interested, kept me on the edge of my seat. there was quite a few jump scares and the atmosphere of the movie was really creepy. it's a good scary demonic horror movie. At first I was confused but it all got explained later on in the movie. I didn't really understand the ending, that's probably why it doesn't have the best ratings. I however loved it, and I recommend it to any horror and paranormal fans. It's got a whole different story to it. it's not like your average demon, haunting and possession type of movies. it's different and really scary.

• Film with great promise switches too many gears

  mecheart2014-08-10

  'At the Devil's Door' opens with an intriguing series of events reminiscent for this viewer of Clive Barker's 'Lord of Illusion'. In fact, as act one got underway, I was in the process of making a case for a potentially new favorite horror movie. The film begins with a girl of perhaps seventeen years of age (credited only as 'the girl') led to a small mobile home in the desert by her shifty looking boyfriend, to play some kind of occult game for a few hundred dollars cash. I found both the premise and execution to be effective from a horror movie creep factor perspective, and was anxious to see more. The film continued to interest with the young female protagonist jamming out to decidedly eighties flavored music, which mistakenly led me to anticipate some sort of retro theme similar to that found in some of Ty West's work. Unfortunately, act 2 quickly shifts the focus off the young girl and her deepening involvement with the occult to a pair of female characters whose lives are far removed from the original heroine's atmospheric descent into the unknown. For a time after this shift in viewpoint the story follows Leigh (Catalina Sandino Moreno), who is a lonely immigrant real estate agent destined to stumble upon the events of early act 1 by easily inferred means. Frankly, I was deeply into following the story of the teen girl(Ashley Rickards) and her terrifying journey, so much so that when the perspective shifts and we are introduce to the people in Leigh's life, I thought I was suddenly watching a different movie. Throughout Leigh's section of the film the story does at times flashback to the teen girl's plot line, but by then most all the original atmosphere is dispersed. I did not find Leigh's segment to be entertaining really, nor could I identify with her or her character's plight. What compounded this further for me was a third perspective shift in late act 2 to Leigh's sister, Vera (Naya Rivera) who actually becomes the film's main character from that point on. If Leigh was a difficult character for me to get into, Vera's is even more so and I cannot imagine why the writer/director chose to squander what atmosphere he had crafted early on in exchange for the confusing and disappointing perspective shifts of later acts. Essentially, the story boils down to a supernatural birth and leads the viewer onto the much worn path of evil children and the parent who sets out to stop them at all costs, only to throw in a last minute, unsatisfying twist at the end. For my tastes the plot of 'At the Devil's Door' wandered too much, became too many different stories too suddenly, and never really committed to one identity. And that's a shame as the film opened with some really great horror potential that demanded focus on one character's perspective and continual thickening of atmosphere. Even the tension the film does build just happens in too many places to ever rise to the level of terror. A recommendation to horror fans, in my opinion, would lead only to their disappointment.