Don't Hang Up

I admit it. I love this film. True, it has it's drawbacks...like how in many scenes you hear a lot of camera noise and see the boom mike popping up here and there. Also, this thing is real low-budget. However, the acting is retty good (especially from Susan Bracken) and there are some scenes that are really chilling. The plot deals with a curvaceous blonde named Amanda returning to her hometown to care for her sick grandmother. Years ago her mother was stabbed to death there by an unknown slasher. Once she is back at the house, a freaked out transvestite starts axing random folks and calling Amanda, seducing her and whispering perverse lines over the phone. The music is cheesy but good and there are some really creepy scenes involving dolls and a lot of twisted little touches. The gore is low and the ending is somewhat disappointing, but overall this movie is quite watchable.

A young blonde woman named Amanda goes to look after her aging grandmother in her home but finds herself being menaced by a obscene caller,who enjoys collecting dolls and talking to his mannequins."Don't Open the Door!" is a low-budget horror movie made in Texas by S.F Brownrigg.The scene of psycho talking to his mannequin predates the behavior of Joe Spinell's character Frank Zito in "Maniac".The action is slow and there are some dull spots,but the film certainly delivers suspenseful atmosphere.Most of the creep factor comes from Larry O'Dwyer as the breathy,giggling and sleazy psycho in the walls.The characters are bizarre and utterly dysfunctional,the direction is competent and there is a bit of unsettling violence.I loved "Keep My Grave Open" and enjoyed "Don't Open the Door!" as well.8 out of 10.

An eerie low budget shocker that features a lot of the horror/thriller standbys such as creepy phone calls, a young woman returning to a scary childhood home, and lots of frightening mannequins. Performances are stagey and pitched a little too high but it all adds to the charm.

In Director S.F. Brownrigg's DON'T HANG UP, Amanda Post (Susan Bracken) returns to her ailing grandmother's house, 13 years after her mother was murdered there. Amanda finds her grandmother near death, and a group of unsavory townsfolk seemingly up to no good.

It's not long before she starts receiving some disturbing phone calls, while someone lurks about the place, watching her through cracks and holes in the walls. Murder abounds as the killer's identity and motives are slowly revealed.

While not the best horror movie ever made, it's enjoyable enough, and has an unusual / unexpected twist at the end. It's also fun to watch for actors from other Brownrigg movies, such as DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT...

A young woman reluctantly returns to her home town to oversee her dying grandmother's final days. While staying in the house where she witnessed her mumsy's murder thirteen years earlier, she finds more than a few secrets from her past have come back to haunt her. I appreciate that this movie has such strange execution. It's structure is very different from the typical low-budget horrors of this era, completely eschewing things like mystery (the killer's identity is obvious from the get-go) and resolution. Plot-wise, it borrows from proto-slashers BLACK Christmas and SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. While it's lesser than both of those films in terms of quality, I did find it undeniably charming, entertaining, and even creepy at times. While the acting in the movie is generally amateur, Susan Bracken is a hoot as the spunky lead who gets to spout some amusing dialogue. She quickly flips the switch from headstrong heroine to full-on basket case and there's not a moment she's on screen where my eyes weren't on her face. It's one of the most memorable horror performances I've watched lately. The movie's biggest downfall is the irritating soap opera-ish theme song in the opening credits that pops up way too often throughout the movie. The freaky dolls in the opening sequence (who also pop up at other points in the movie) sort of make up for it. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR doesn't make much sense and it isn't going to be for everyone, but I found it to be a bizarre and unique viewing experience.