Reclusion

I watch a great deal of horror films and thought this was going to be another of those in the "okay" category at best. However I was pleasantly surprised.

The basic story is that a mans wife dies by apparently supernatural causes. After 19 years he becomes a recluse, never setting foot out side his house, which still appears to have unexplained phenomena occurring. Then the young couple next door start doing shopping and such for him, and become drawn into the mystery

A few people have mentioned production values, but I don't agree. If the story telling and direction is good enough it doesn't need big fancy special effects, indeed they often detract from the story. There are some genuinely creepy moments throughout the film. The acting is excellent, the story has an original twist and the directing is fine. It's hard to say much more without giving away any plot points.

My only pieces of criticism would be, one of the plot twists is fairly obvious and much used.

The story becomes a little muddied in the middle, and you never really seem to find out how the couple next door originally became involved, or their intended role.

The ending is just a little disappointing, and felt inconclusive.

But all in all I really enjoyed the ride with this one.

So many questions...but the biggest one "The Door to the Other Side" will leave you with is "Why?" Why is the main character afraid to go outside when inside is where the haunting is? Why do the neighbors even care(this kinda gets answered but so cliche)? Why is all this happening? And why, oh why, did I sit through the whole movie?

Overall, the acting is fair, the creepiness is there with a slow burn, and the filming is decent. However, the writing is confused as if the writer tried to take too many ideas and tried to connect them together to provide a twist that you didn't see coming. But the construction is poor and the director can't quite pull it off as convincing. Sad, because it could have been really good with less. Good for a casual watch, but don't expect much from it.

So kid is suspect of something odd going on in her room., mommy goes to investigate and gets sucked under the bed. Daddy, pops some pills, and goes to sleep.... okay what is going on? Not sure...

This quickly descends into a lot of non witty dialogue, and pretty much pure boredom. Dad is getting assaulted by some spirit that seems to attack him in his sleep.

Okay and I got lost somewhere because now a hot girl is getting tormented as well. And I don't know why I thought the focus was on the father.

Okay I couldn't keep up nor handle it. I think maybe it was just over my head. But I am still giving it a score!

2/10.

But not much. Had this low budget movie been edited and sequenced differently, it could have been a 6 or 7. It's like the writer knows how all the parts are meant to fit together and can't see they've made if too difficult for the audience. Or they didn't know how it all fit, and wants the viewers to put it together. Too esoteric, but not worthy of that level of audience critiquing. Well acted. And pretty well filmed. The scenes are spot on atmospherically. But the director has pretty much the same atmosphere with indoor scenes shot elsewhere...movie would be more powerful if the institutional and office scenes were clear, crisp, more sterile and less muted. It really needed a scene where much of the history and current happenings are explained. I know this can be unsubtle, but it might make the plot richer.

Great job! I absolutely love this movie. Thumbs up!!! I encourage people to watch this movie because you will be on the edge of your seat. I like the characters in the movie. They were authentic and scary. I love scary movies. This is a must see! If you are intrigued with paranormal activity then you will not be disappointed. The director also did a great job