geno-young

I stumbled across this gem just looking for something a little different tonight and was pleasantly surprised. "The Guest" (2014) was not only full of Carpenter-isms in its style, but early on, I noticed that the dramatic music was very similar to Carpenter and Howarth's '80s work namely "Halloween II" and "III." Also, the antagonist felt very much like a cross between Michael Myers (if he would talk) and Dr. Cochran's henchmen in HIII. By the end what I'm saying is very apparent.

I thought all of this for an hour and a half before I saw decorations of the Halloween III "Silver Shamrock Masks" on the wall an hour and 27 minutes into the film. This Easter egg validated my thoughts. The influence of "Halloween III" is ALL OVER it. This movie takes place around Halloween and feels like something that could easily have been in the "Halloween" Universe if they would have went the anthology route like John Carpenter attempted to do in 1982. For those with an open mind, this lesser known B-Movie is a real gem and I think you'll enjoy it. It's simple, but effective just like its inspirations. It's a shame it hasn't gotten much recognition in the last decade. I'm so glad that I found it!

Ok, I'm just going to be blunt. Blumhouse and Scott Teems need to just give it up. Between "Halloween Kills/Ends", this film and "The Exorcist: Believer," they are singlehandedly trashing the horror genre. And that's the nicest way to put it.

As the title of this review suggests, I definitely enjoyed chunks of this film, the dialogue and the cast were definitely the highlight. As a black man, I'm typically highly disgusted/annoyed by the patronizing, (typically) pretentiously socially aware black supporting characters but this film has ZERO. The young black girl is actually funny, witty and resourceful. She's a good friend to Dalton and is a strong role, not a brainless diversity hire to check a box. I respect her and I'd like to see her and Dalton's story continued in future installments.

But back to the movie, it all but felt like a dead end from the start. The film never got anywhere and felt extremely disjointed. The Lambert Family being ripped apart is a certainly an understandable plot element, but at the same time it felt empty. Somehow Josh and Dalton felt tons of animosity toward each other and their family yet they couldn't remember anything that occurred that triggered these repressed feelings? It just made no sense from the beginning and was a gaping plot hole that unfortunately ended up being the centerpiece of this entire movie.

As other critics have pointed out, we were all in this to see a showdown (of sorts) between a fully grown, strong and capable Dalton and the demons of "The Further," namely The Lipstick-Faced Demon, that never materialized. In fact, he was barely in the movie and reduced to a jump scare nostalgia gag every now and again. In stead of what we expected, we got loads of back and forth babbling, a few cheap jump scares and a ton of drama. As suspenseful and truly effective as certain parts of this film were, the movie doesn't live up to what we've come to expect from this franchise. Even when it got off track a little, one thing the "Insidious" franchise was always full of was a potent sense of dread that was so thick it could be cut with a knife. "The Red Door" lacked that in every way and paled in comparison to its predecessors. There was little heaviness and I felt that critical element was traded for the story arch of an attitudinal Dalton and a hopeless Josh; both without explanation of their respective conditions. Let's not kid ourselves, the original film is TERRIFYING and FREA-KY, but this movie captured none of that.

It just fell flat and failed to live up to that expectation of a showdown. This seems to be Blumhouse's M. O. these days seeing how they bungled the final encounter between Michael Myers and Laurie Strode last year and then proceeded with this film. Just like in the abysmal abomination that is "Halloween Ends," "The Red Door" was marketed with a ton of promise, had EV-ER-Y element on paper to deliver and STILL failed. I walked out of this film with no sense of finality and CRAVING more! As bad as this film is, I still need another with a clear vision to put this story back on track and then eventually end it. That's what this and "Ends" had all of the potential to do and failed to. I refuse to comment on a film I've never seen, but from all indications they screwed up "The Exorcist : Believer" in a similar manner.

The spark has finally gone out for Blumhouse. The once reliable horror juggernaut for over a decade has devolved into a nostalgia-driven, money hungry, big budget/low quality outlet that is dead set on ruining iconic franchises and playing on nostalgia for a quick buck. Very sad. I was kicking myself that I wasn't able to see it in the theater, but I'm now so happy that I learned from "Ends" and refused to give Blumhouse another PENNY after wasting $54 last year on three movie tickets. It's a sad but expected outcome...Blumhouse, you have lost your touch...

I'll start by saying this, THANK GOD for streaming because if I actually paid serious money at a theater to see this thing, I'd be pissed. First of all, I want to give hats off to the cast. I think they were great and played their rolls to the best of their abilities. The problem here wasn't the cast or the effects, ONCE AGAIN it was the SCREENWRITING falling short and missing the mark. Blumhouse use to be a reliable Horror juggernaut for a decade or so, but they're really scraping the bottom of the barrel in the writing department. If it isn't the likes of David Gordon Green screwing up the last two "Halloween" movies, it's this dreck. I will say, the first 45 minutes were promising and I had high hopes, but the second half of the movie was simply confusing and downright weird. The countless confusing dream sequences paired with poor character development made for a very bizarre first watch. It even put me to sleep at one point. After I finished the movie, I had to go back and rewatch certain parts to make sense of what I saw and didn't understand the first time. Almost more than anything, aside from all of the plot problems, the film lacked any true scares. Having a PG-13 rating is NO excuse, the first two "Insidious" movies proved that. The movie wasn't scary one bit and I'm still trying to figure out that little statue "jump scare" that occurred no less than three times.

It just didn't do it for me, and I went into it with an open mind, having seen ZERO promos through and through and without reading a single review. I was expecting to like it, but it got in its own way, just like most recent Blumhouse ventures...SMH.