User reviews

Like, seriously. Here we have a film with a plot that genuinely sounds decent but the filmmakers are incapable of pulling off. Sound familiar? Well that is because this has happened already this year with The Forest.. but The other side of the Door manages to be even worse. Horror films used to be inventive and fun in a twisted way, but is that now impossible to pull off?!

The plot involves a woman who's son is killed in a terrible and tragic accident, she discovers she can communicate again with him through an ancient Indian temple, but is warned to never open the door. Of course, if you warn somebody in a cliché horror movie not to do something they are totally gonna do it and she does which brings all the spirits into the world of the living. It could have been done so well.. but i put emphasis on the COULD. First of all the son is evil now. Literally a line of dialogue is "he is evil". Now, correct me if I'm wrong but this was never explained.. ever. Are we supposed to just look at him and say "yeah that makes sense considering he's dead". There was no hint to this when he was alive and no back story.

Unexplained things like this happened a lot in this film and it really bugged me. Nothing was ever scary, not even the jump scares made me jump, which is a bad sign to begin with. Not to mention i drifted off many times for a few seconds over the course of the film.. which should never happen if i am enjoying something. By that i mean i did not enjoy any of this film. The premise is great but the way it was executed just felt so wrong. So in the end, this film is just another cliché horror garbage fest that i will end up forgetting about by the end of the week probably. I really hope i get the horror i crave by the end of the year, 10 Cloverfield Lane is why i remain hopeful.

It was a pretty good movie, nothing spectacular, but worth a watch. The acting was decent, and the atmosphere was pretty creepy. The story it self was very predictable, especially if you've read Pet Cemetery. Sarah Wayne Callies was terrific in it. I just didn't find the story very original.

I liked that it was set in India and incorporated some of the Indian religions and customs.

Don't expect anything ground breaking, but it's a good movie to watch if you like jump scares. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend and hour and a half.

I'll be honest. I think if I hadn't seen this in cinema,with the lights off, the loud sound system and the big screen, I would've given it a lower score. If you saw The Forest earlier this year, you know what to expect from The Other Side of The Door.

The Good: I know a lot of peeps don't like her, but I think Sarah Wayne Callies has a great presence and a naturalness to her performances that I enjoy. She made for a believable mother, who had to make the kind of choice no parent should ever have to. Jeremy Sisto is another actor I like (remember him as the guy who got the arrows in his back in Wrong Turn?) and the kid actress, while average, didn't annoy me and actually appears in one of the better/scarier scenes in this movie. I also liked that the location was India and the evil/dark presence was part of their folklore. It was a little something new, that I hadn't really seen in North American films.

The Bad :Cliches, clichés, clichés! When for the love of Rice will they stop using the tired old tropes of : -Ghost with hollow eyes and stretched mouth (CGI of course) Look over there! Oops no, it's right next to you! (accompanied with loud ass noise) -Parent is completely absent from story for no reason, only to show up at the end. Sisto is VASTLY underused in this movie, to the point where I wondered if there was bad editing and he had scenes that were cut out. -Not following your own rules! (Burn stuff and ghost goes away, but wait, nope!) - Told not to do something or else. Does it anyway! -Witness the supernatural. Interact with the supernatural. Denies it exists.

I could go on and on, but nobody likes to read these days so I'll just stop and say, wait for it on DVD and watch it to pass the time. The Other Side of the Door, may scare the average horror viewer, but it's tepid waters, for the hardcore lovers of the genre.

Prison Break's Sarah Wayne Callies carries this British-Indian horror production with the same demeanour as her more familiar role; maternal enough to sell the film's major theme, yet strong enough to carry the entire feature. This, after all, is what Callies is tasked with, as the grieving mother she portrays invites her dead son's spirit back to the world of the living with inevitably chilling consequences.

While the majority of studio horror nowadays is bound by so many stipulations - the jump scares, the teenage cast demographics - that ultimately render it generic, The Other Side of the Door benefits from a refreshing change of setting in its Indian locale. As a result, not only does the film look elegantly beautiful with its colours and scenery, but its plot also benefits from a less familiar cultural angle than most supernatural thrillers are afforded. The central menace here - a temple doorway through which the living can contact the dead - is so far removed from Western ideology and the recurring origins of its horror movie monsters that the film undeniably offers something that is at least different, if not completely new. The second act, where things go bump in the night as Maria questions the nature of the spirit she's allowed back into her home, is admittedly routine, but that's not the issue with modern horror; the issue is whether or not it can at least try to overcome this mundane narrative.

This is where the screenplay's wider themes come in to sharper focus, as the audience encourages Maria to make the right choices while sympathising with her fragile state of mind. The horror isn't simply limited to creepy children and unseen entities, but also the lengths a parent is compelled to go to in order to be reunited with a lost child. It's most certainly enough to make the more pedestrian scares forgivable as you witness a family being torn further apart by their loss just as much they are the shadows that lurk around them.

The Other Side of the Door won't terrify you any more than any other supernatural horror released this year, and that's because, by now, genre aficionados really have seen it all. What it will do, however, is linger with you much longer as you place yourselves in the shoes of an emotionally drained mother who, you understand, would do anything to see her son again.

Your time should be too precious to go through it (the door/the movie). Technically speaking the movie is ok, there is nothing to fault here. But if the inciting incident is so bad, it should make you feel physical pain, there is almost no saving grace. Especially because the story is cliche after cliche after cliche.

Now I'm not about to bad mouth the actors (I quite like Jeremy Sisto in general anyway to do that), I'll just state that they didn't or rather couldn't help the matter either. And again, I wouldn't lay blame on them (other than chosing the project in the first place - but hey they needed the money and all that) - don't watch it if you're not a sucker for horror movies in general. And even if you are, there are so many really good ones out there ... or even decent ones that are better than this movie

Watched this fully for the firs time tonight and I must say it is actually a real horror film as it genuinely has lots of atmos-fear and is actually quite scary!

Being set in India adds that fear of the foreign and it has some really good sfx makeup.

Some people reviewing and giving it poor low scores are obviously not horror fans so each to their own - if you are a true horror fan this one will send shivers up and down your spine as it has some really rather creative effects and jump scares - Loved the ending too, true horror fans hate happy endings so for us, it is the cherry on the cake!

If you are looking for a scare then this is the one for you!

Since a good horror film like "the others" or "shining" apparently comes every decade or two, I've stopped having high expectations. I'm not sure what, but may be horror films can either be masterpieces or a failure. Or it's just that not much budget is put into them. Acting, premise and plot was decent. So I feel a little unfair when I'm gonna bring down so much good work just because of poor writing.

The beginning was appropriately paced fast enough, but it is then that you also realise the narration fails to develop the characters.

Passed mid time, story begs for the resident of the house to question the sudden change in his house, and he doesn't. At that point I start skipping before I get bored.

I watched this because another comment said it was worth a watch. Well, I'm recommending it is if you have some side activity, or if you easily get excited .

I love horror. These movies are a bit overdone,however I loved the casting. Sarah Wayne Callie's is one of my favorite actresses and Jeremy Sisto can always pull it off. This movie is predictable, however, I watched until the very end. I paused when doing something else! It definitely has some super creepy scenes. They did a great job at making this movie as realistic as possible when dealing with the genre. I ignored the reviews and ratings and rented this on demand. Looking back I would have waiting until Netflix or a non pay. Instead I wanted a good creep and I got it! This movie gets a B- from me and watch before you decide if it's a good or bad movie.

It appears from the reviews that true horror fans appreciate this whereas people who are just looking at it from a story perspective grade it much lower. As a horror fan , and never heard of the film I was pleasantly surprised of how creepy and scary it was with some genuine disturbing moments that are lacking from many modern day horrors. I do not know why the score is so low so hopefully this will bolster it !

I saw this movie at 10:20AM on Saturday, in a completely big empty theater with my party of three (including myself). Now, when I saw the preview for the film, I was very intrigued. I wanted to know what happened, so I was shocked when one of my main movie theaters was playing it but then yet again, it's an indie theater. Now the whole set design of this film, was great. I thought it was something new to set it in India and it's a original idea. They actually payed respect to the culture. Now some of the jumpscares were annoying, but only some. They had great effects though for the 'gatekeeper', no CGI actual makeup. The performances were solid, the little girl wasn't atrocious, but she fitted her character well, nothing great, it's like she-just- acts-for-that-scene. Sarah Wayne Callies was much better than she needed to be, Jeremy Sisto was sort of just there, but he did well. The director tried to take this new approach to the film, which worked most of the time. It has old-classic scares like piano playing by itself, chairs moving, books falling, etc. Not really any new scares. This isn't the must see horror film of the year, but it's a solid watch with a very clever ending.

"The Other Side of the Door" (2016 release; 95 min.) brings the story of Maria and Michael. As the movie opens, we are informed that this is "Mumbai, India" and we see the couple having dinner and walking on the beach, On a whim, they decide to make Mumbai their home. We then go "Six Years Later", and Maria is having a nightmare, Soon we learn that the couple lost a young son (we learn how in a flashback) and the couple and their daughter are struggling in the aftermath. After Maria tries to commit suicide, the household maid Piki tells her about a mysterious temple in the woods far away, where Maria could meet her little boy one more time and say a final farewell. At this point we're not even 15 minutes into the movie, but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest horror movie from British director Johannes Roberts, who most recently gave us "Storage 24". Here Roberts goes the super-natural dimension, looking for the thin line between life and death. I must admit that I didn't know a whole lot about this movie going into it, and as it turns out, this was quite the disappointment for me. If shock effects akin to a bat flying out of a cave or toys in a bedroom starting to move are enough to make it a scary movie, then this will be right up your alley. Not to mention that there are several plot points that are utterly unbelievable, even accounting for the fact that this is a horror movie, where all belief is suspended. This is in stark contrast to how much better that other 'horror' movie which I saw recently, "The Witch", was compared to this. Sarah Wayne Collins (as Maria), best know for her work in "The Walking Dead", does the best she can with the material she is given and as always is easy on the eyes. But even she cannot overcome the fact that the movie lacks much character development, and as a result there is little to no emotional investment on the viewer's part. Early on in the movie, Piki tells her that when she is in the temple, whatever her little boy does, "you must not open the door!!!". Wanna take a guess what happens? One of the better aspects of the movie is actually the score, courtesy of Joseph Bishara, a noted composer in the horror movie genre (the "Insidious" franchise, the "Conjuring" franchise, etc.).

"The Other Side of the Door" opened nationwide this weekend. The Friday evening screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati was attended okay but not great. Couldn't help but notice that I saw 4 or 5 people leave midway through the film, and not returning. I made it to the end, but barely. A darn shame. I love a good horror movie, and surely this wasn't it, but by all means, if you have a chance to check out "The Other Side of the Door", be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, I'd encourage you to do so and draw your own conclusion.

i didn't have any expectations for this movie but wow this was complete and utter garbage

there is absolutely nothing good about this movie

the scares are predictable and cheap the mother character is the worst the daughter has the worst actor the setting did nothing to establish the folklore or story the ending was stupid the decisions were stupid the characters are stupid

i just don't know what to say other than just say that everything about this movie is bad

i mean the mom was told to not open the door under any circumstances and what does she do? she just opens the cockadoodie door

i genuinely hate this movie this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen

Directed by Johannes Roberts and Roberts co-writes the screenplay with Ernest Riera. It stars Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto, Sofia Rosinsky and Suchitra Pillai.

Still struggling to come to terms with the death of her young son, Maria (Callies) is told of an Indian ritual where she can say goodbye to her son one last time, under one condition. The condition is that the conversation will be on the other side of a door - a door which simply must not be opened...

There were far worse horror films than this released in 2016, that's not to say this should be a selling point for The Other Side of the Door, but it at least is effective in what it does. The problems really are that it's all very cliché ridden, but how many horror films do not have clichés anyway? This is one for those who are just after a few genuine scares, some creeping dread like atmosphere, and a nifty ending. It doesn't tread any new ground, and it comes off like the bastard child of Ringu and Pet Sematary, but sometimes a safe horror with clichés is all you need for a decent night in with the lights off. 6.5/10

I thought it was really stupid. I could not really get into it at all. It was like watching paint dry on the wall I was so bored.

All the clichés that are used in most Ghost stories to haunt us and to frighten us seem to fall short in The Other Side of the Door. I was not freaked out at all. The drama seems to get bumbled into laughable qualities.

It was cool that they went to (or the movie was set in) India, and they used what looks like an Indian ghost concept, and I will say that the last scene of the movie was very good. Not good enough to waste your time on.

If you seen the movie the Forest which came out a few weeks earlier, The Other side of the Door is set up in the same way with a good ghost story that's not as scary as you suspect, or frightening in a different way then what we are use to, but by comparison the Forest was a lot more interesting to sit through, while The Other Side of the Door is not worth it.

The Other Side of the Door (2016) : I expected a lot from 2016 horror movies because all of those trailers looked spooky and promising but when it comes for movie it is disappointing.Except The Conjuring 2,the others like The Boy,Forest etc..disappointed me.But I will agree that though they fail to impress,they have interesting plots.The Other Side of the Door also has interesting plot and even its trailer looked promising.How is it??

Plot: Michael (Jeremy Sisto) and Maria (Sarah Wayne Callies) are Americans who settled in Mumbai.Their happy life gets upside down when their son Oliver dies in a tragic incident.Maria learns of a secret temple in a village where she can contact with her dead son through a door which connects to the other world.But she was warned that she should not open that door at any cost.But she disobeys it and opens the door which upsets the balance between life and death.What happens to Maria and her family???

Plus Points: 1)Plot: Plot of The Other Side of the Door is interesting one.An American horror set in India and based on Indian rituals is truly a step for good plot.

2)Performances: Performances are decent and Sarah Wayne definitely shines among them. She gave good performance as grief stricken mother who wants to bring her dead son back.

3)Make Up: Make up work is awesome.The use of Aghoras and Indian religious characters like Mruthyu is good attempt.Even ghosts are done naturally by makeup without using any CGI which is needed to be appreciated.

4)Climax: Movie's climax is good and twisty.

Minus Points: 1)Limited Scary scenes: Out of all those scary scenes only the scene at temple succeeds.Other are clichéd and not that scary.

So The Other Side of the Door is decent horror which not only has great plot but also has decent execution which does not disappoint.

My rating 6.75/10

This is my 1st time reviewing anything on IMDb. But I've decided to write so that no one else will waste their time behind this movie. I mean seriously this is one of the most non-sense horror movie I've ever seen. It is so typical and not worth it.

Couple lives in India. Mommy driving SUV, it falls in river. Mommy only saves daughter. Mommy couldn't save son. Mommy feels bad about it. Mommy's Indian maid tells her that there is hidden temple in rural India where Mommy has to stay overnight behind closed door. Mommy can talk to son but Mommy must not open the door. In a typical manner, desperate Mommy yet opens the door. As it turns out, the son's evil spirit comes from "dead" to haunt sister and daddy. And, the stupid story goes on. This movie is so pathetic it made me puke. Please don't see it. I'm going to make sure not to watch movie made by this director ever again.

It's been a few months since my last Horror film, and I must start off by saying I'm very glad I've chosen The Other Side of the Door to ease myself back into it! Despite what other raters and reviewers might say (as usual, NEVER trust IMDb ratings when it comes to Horror), the film is good, enjoyable and scary enough without being nightmare inducing (at least for experienced Horror fans).

True, the story is a bit cliché, after all this is a Fox production, not an indie creative project. A family suffers a tragedy, and while trying to cope begins to experience a supernatural haunting. However, the story succeeds in being original and innovative enough in regards to the plot-line, especially during the transfer from past to present just after the exposition, and the frame concept of a door through which one could converse with a deceased loved one.

The acting is right on the spot, and is definitely one of the stronger features! Sarah Wayne Callies is excellent as Maria, the distraught mother trying to cope with the loss of her son, and later with the supernatural phenomenon tormenting her family. Her counterpart, Jeremy Sisto as Maria's husband Michael, is absolutely excellent! His portraying of the strong husband, trying to be an island of strength and normalcy in his wife's depression while quietly trying to cope with his loss himself, is impressive and simply profound. Only slightly less impressive is Suchitra Pillai as Piki, the nanny (and I do mean slightly, as she is excellent as well). As for Sofia Rosinsky as the daughter Lucy, I can see the obvious talent, but am not too happy with the instructions she obviously followed with her character. Often times characters are over dramatic, but Lucy felt under-dramatic, even if it meant portraying a more accurate seven year old's coping with the loss of her brother and the deterioration of her mother.

As for jump-scares, yes, there are a few, but anyone who's watched 5 Horror films in their lifetime could tell you that these were subtle, well planned and definitely not exaggerated. A few "boo!" moments don't spoil a Horror film for anyone who isn't looking for reasons to not enjoy (in my opinion of course). The soundtrack and cinematography were also right on the spot, adding a fine dimension of eeriness and uneasiness.

Now, if jump-scares always lower a Horror film's level (even if just slightly) when I'm concerned, smart plot twists and endings definitely make it higher! The film ends with a very nice twist towards the ending, and with a very smart conclusion leaving many questions and "what-ifs". A direct sequel is probably ill advised, as these tend to butcher the franchise and have so far only been done right in Insidious: Part 2 (and even that film wasn't as good as the first). Still, I love finishing watching a Horror film with this feeling of "oh no... oh no!!".

All in all, as I've started by saying, a good film, fun to watch, scary and eerie in the right places, a great experience for both experience and new Horror fans. It's not a masterpiece, and might even be just "good" and not "great" (especially, in my opinion, because of too little screen time given to the first twist, not letting it settle before jumping to the 2nd one, although this may have been deliberate...) But it definitely deserves more than the terrible average rating it currently has. I don't understand you, IMDb, I truly don't. I would definitely recommend this film, had a great time watching it!

Being bored can have it's advantages, it might frustrate you of course but it can also inspire you to do things that aren't boring instead.

Personally I enjoy watching a good movie (something this is not), listening to some good music, going for walks or bike-rides, seeing new things and old things that are worth seeing more than once, playing chess etc etc.

I'm just rambling on here as you can see but that's because as far as this movie goes there is very little to be said.

If you like horrors to be familiar, meaning have all the clichés that's humanly possible packed into one movie or if you've never seen a horror ever in your life then I suppose this is watchable.

The acting is uninspired and the scares are poorly executed and the pace is painfully slow.

And the last scene is one of the dumbest I've seen in recent years, almost enough to lower the rating to a 2 but I'll be nice, they at least kind of sort of tried albeit not much.

I've read a lot of bad reviews slating this movie, I get why. Don't go into this movie expecting a great horror movie, it's not really a horror. It is however a really good tragedy which is portrayed using a medium of creepy devices. If you leave this movie and all you have is 'lame jump scares', you're missing the point of the story. If you're considering watching this, do it, it's worth the 1 hour 35. Each of the actors does a pretty stand up job, the direction and photography went well, my only gripe would be the editing. The flow of the story looked like it wanted to be a horror movie, when it should have looked like a 'Del Toro'.

Produced by Alexandre Aja and competently directed by Johannes Roberts, this rewardingly atmospheric supernatural shocker benefits greatly from its exotically far-flung Indian setting, and the malign mythology is frequently quite effectively rendered. 'The Other Side of the Door' is a viable update on the eternally plagiarised horror classic 'The Monkey's Paw', and, perhaps, having a similarly skewed vibe to Bob Clark's 70s doomy horror masterpiece 'Deathdream'. While it might also be argued that some of the shocks owe a stylistic debt to J-Horror, but, frankly, that's pretty much par for the course these days. Robust acting and plentiful demonic shenanigans make 'The Other Side of the Door' an enjoyably shuddersome trip into the darker realms of a mother's grief.

What we have here is a very average horror movie that viewers would have seen time and time again but what I found with this movie that sets it apart from other ones that are very similar to it is that this film has an awesome ending.

Do not read anything to do with this film and go into it not knowing go anything about it and you will be surprised by the ending.

I must admit here that I have seen much better films like Eden Lake but with that movie the ending was dreadful and a total cop out for the viewers watching it.

So yes there are much better movies out there to watch but most have dreadful endings.

Don't listen to the reviews give it a watch, you might be surprised.

Very distracting from the rest of the movie with her acting and wildly irrational decision making. Seemed easy to make when this movie good with the storyline but somehow it just has you rolling your eyes throughout. Tension building is sloppy and does not help make it any more scary. The bedroom scene at 50:00 was awkward and did nothing to scare me which makes me admire the timing of horror movies that can actually nail that type of scare. My review is too short which is why this part is being written. The dad and daughter do a good job. All jump scares don't play. Rick Grimes is better for not having her around even though that show went downhill, also. Once again, only adding because there is a minimum character requirement. Hope this helps.