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Rare-Slashers-Rated-2 described this one pretty well. The early scenes, even though they weren't especially effective, of someone killing themself in a phone both while on line to a radio program, and of the discovery of a very bloody bathroom might lead one to believe the rest of the movie will carry on in that way, but not so. There are a lot of tedious scenes and the soundtrack at times sounds like a very poor TV movie.

The revelation of the killer is disappointing. The killer also gives a rather lengthy speech, yawn.

Still, Adrienne Barbeau fans might like to check it out.

Open House (1987)

* (out of 4)

There's no question that by the time 1987 came along the slasher genre was on its last legs. The majority of the big guys were still being released to theaters but with smaller box office takes and the majority of trash was heading straight to VHS. Just about every holiday and scenario were used just as long as innocent people were slaughtered and the psycho in OPEN HOUSE is after real estate agents who are charging too much for houses.

One agent (Adrienne Barbeau) fears that she might be on the psycho's list so her DJ boyfriend (Joseph Bottoms) starts working with the police to try and capture the nut before more are slaughtered.

There's no doubt that this is a horrid movie made by people with no intent on making a good movie. It's clear they were just trying to throw something (anything) together in order to take a few more breathes away from the genre that was clearly dying. There's not a single ounce of suspense to be found in any of the killings and the majority of the performances are downright bad. The screenplay is beyond a joke as we get some horrid dialogue but we also get a terrifically insane ending where the DJ, a radio psychiatrist, tries to get the killer to discuss his emotional pain!!!

This film, on a technical level, certainly deserves the rarely given BOMB rating but I just can't do it because this thing is so incredibly bad that you'll probably find yourself laughing at most of it. Take one example where a man and woman lock themselves in a double door bathroom trying to keep the killer away. The killer can't get through door one so he then goes around to door two. The duo never try to escape and when the killer finally gets in he neither try to defend themselves and instead one just sits by while the other is killed waiting for their turn. The murders are all extremely silly including one where the killer takes the handle from a toilet plunger and puts razors on it.

Fans of Barbeau will probably want to check this out since you'll at least get to see her naked. She's actually pretty good in the film as you can tell she's at least giving some effort. Bottoms is downright hilarious during certain moments as is Rudy Ramos as that guy who is usually screaming when it's not really necessary.

OPEN HOUSE has a silly plot, silly murders, bad acting, bad special effects and all of this badness is what makes it worth sitting through at least once for fans of the genre. There's no question that it's a horrid movie but thankfully it's bad enough to where you can at least laugh at it and the final five-minutes are so brain dead, jaw-dropping insane that you'll be wishing there was a sequel.

A serial killer kills wealthy real estate agents in weird, sadistic manners whilst complaining about the injustice of such people in society on the radio to an over-confident radio psychologist. The production is anything BUT upscale. The only real stars are the homes themselves, some of which are breathtaking, and a much misused and out-of-place Adrienne Barbeau. Barbeau plays the head of a real estate firm that just happens to be dating the radio shrink. Lovely as ever, Barbeau is surrounded by third-rate performers, a lacklustre script, a miniscule budget, and plodding direction. It is a shame to say, but the only "real" highlights of the film are seeing Ms. Barbeau topless. The years truly have been kind to her, for she is a sight to behold. Unless you wish to satisfy some minor voyeuristic needs, leave Open House just open.....and empty.

Like too often the case with 80's slasher flicks, sadly, is the VHS cover of "Open House" a lot cooler than the film itself. The cover image shows the front of a house of which the open door is replaced with a sinister tombstone. If only Jed Mundhra's screenplay was equally sinister and creative! But oh well, my standards for late 80's slashers are generally quite low, and this flick could still be a lot worse. Many of my fellow reviewers around here pretend that "Open House" is the worst bottom-of-the-barrel slasher of the entire 1980's, but then I guess they haven't seen the decade's much bigger turds like "Blood Lake", "Appointment with Fear", "Deadly Games", "Dreamaniac", "Cardiac Arrest", "Sledgehammer", "Hollow Gate" or "The Stay Awake". There you go, all this just to say that "Open House" is bad but not hopeless and actually quite endurable. There are a number of redeeming elements in this flick, like good-looking babes (if you dig typically 80's scream-queens that is), a handful of cheesy gore highlights (chopped off head in the pool) and a pretty amusing (albeit not at all petrifying) psycho-killer. The killer remains off-screen for most of the running time, but you can quickly derive that he is an obese pervert with a couple of awkward fetishes. He inappropriately giggles the entire time and eats cans of dog food! Not the relatively tasty-looking kind of dog food, mind you, but the sort of disgusting industrial junk that I personally wouldn't even feed to sewer rats. For ridiculous reasons that are neatly revealed during the climax, our sick killer targets real estate agents in the wealthier neighborhoods of Los Angeles. He primarily goes for pretty and vulnerable female agents, but if they happen to be accompanied by male customers or lovers, he doesn't hesitate to waste them as well. The killer also regularly calls radio psychologist David Kelley to rant on the air, and then learns that Dr. Kelley's girlfriend is also a real estate agent… "Open House" completely lacks suspense and coherence, and too many plot aspects already featured in other movies. The interaction between a maniac and a radio DJ, for instance, is something that I've seen in other movies before. And yet, horror flicks with Adrienne Barbeau are somehow always worthwhile – those who have seen "The Fog" will definitely agree with me – and all the death sequences are rather nasty. Also, some of the houses that these poor real estate agents are trying to sale are really terrific! There's one a house with the most impressive and astounding pool/swimming pond that I ever saw.

My review was written in October 1987 after watching the movie on Prism video cassette.

"Open House", previously titled "Multiple Listings", is a well-made horror film in the slasher mode, lacking the monsters and fantasy that's back in favor among fans of genre pics. Movie has debuted domestically in video stores.

Joseph Bottoms, returning to a genre he previously starred in via Nico Mastorakis' "Blind Date" (made and released prior to the Blake Edwards film of that title) portrays a psychologist who has a radio show in L. A. called "Survival Line", in which he tries to help loonies a la Dr. Ruth. Pre-credits, pic opens gloomily as a girl, victim of incest forthe past two years by her father, commits suicide on the air during a convesation with Bottoms.

Film proper concerns a serial killer who preys on beautiful women realtors, with Bottoms' girlfriend, Adrienne Barbeau, looking like a key target, especially when the main suspect is a nasty chauvinist pig who is actively sabotaging her work. After several gory killings, pic climaxes with Barbeau taken hostage by the real killer (who's been calling in to Bottoms' programs regularly, monitored unsuccessfully by the police). Motive pushes film ino black humor territory: he blames the realtors for the high price of housing in L. A., and displacing him when he lived as a squatter in an empty Beverly Hills mansion after its owner died. Except for the chauvinist pig (who gets his head lopped off) the film adheres to the old-fashioned format of pretty girls getting sliced, not likely to please feminists.

Biggest surprise hee, and helpful for word-of-mouth in the rental area, is that star Barbeau delivers a brief topless scene after seemingly having graduated from same. She and the rest of the cast are likable, with additional pulchritude provided by such lookers as Mary Stavin (also featured in New World's "House"), Roxanne Baird and Christina Gallegos. Pic's weakest point is its corny finale and utterly pointless final scene, which looks tacked-on as an afterthought.