Don't Open the Door! (1974 film)

Don't open the door... it could be a creepy shadow!

So, yesterday, we reviewed Don't Look in the Basement.  Today, we'll be seeing a few familiar faces, because Don't Open the Door! was brought to us by the same director, using some of the same actors as before (some directors like to use talent again and again... look at Tim Burton with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter!).  Out of the three I recognized, two of them get a bit larger roles, while the other only appears in a couple scenes.  So, let's get into it!

The film starts off with a man and woman discussing whether to call "her" or not.  The woman wants to call, while the guy doesn't.  Finally, she leaves and places a call to Amanda to let her know her grandmother's not doing well, and to come back, but not let anyone know.  After an opening credit sequence with a bunch of dolls and doll heads (and a very abrupt music halt), we cut to a flashback to when Susan was a little girl and her mother was murdered.  Thirteen years later, and she hasn't gone back there since.

She arrives to her grandmother's mansion and finds her grandmother in bed, and three men in the house... Judge Stemple, Claude Kearn (a museum curator), and Dr. Crawther, her physician.  Upset over both how her grandmother's been treated and how Stemple and Kearn are both trying to get ownership of the house once she's gone, Amanda orders all three of them out, then calls her friend, Nick, to try to get some help for her grandmother.  Later that evening, however, she starts getting strange, breathy phone calls from an unknown man...

This film was interesting, in how it deals with mental strain and the consequences of it.  The stress of suddenly needing to help her grandmother, plus the repeated phone calls and pressure from the other two to sign over the house to them all drive Amanda to the breaking point.  As for how this happens... well, I can't tell you that, it'd be spoiling!

All in all, a pretty good film, another representative for the Grindhouse style.  Not a whole lot of blood in this film, but a lot of suspense.  I give it a 4 out of 5.  Up next, well... we've been warned not to open the window or door, and not to look in the basement.  Now, we're not even allowed in the building!  It'll be Don't Go in the House!  Until then, this is Red Hawk signing out!

Mimic 3: Sentinel (2003 film)

Copyright Dimension Films

Second day of Happy Horrorween, and we finish off the Mimic-palooza with Mimic 3: Sentinel.  Sentinel ups the terror by giving us two Judas Breed bugs, but also restricts one of our main characters to mostly one room.  Yes, it's Rear Window with human-sized killer insects!

The film focuses on Marvin, a shut-in due to health problems lingering from when he was stricken with Strickler's, the disease that was first mentioned in the original film (the disease the Mimic bugs were created to wipe out).  He spends his days looking out his window, photographing the comings and goings of his neighbors, putting together a collage of the people across the way.  When a combination of factors leads Marvin to suspect the Garbageman, a new neighbor, of foul play, the truth he, his sister, Rosy and his new friend, Carmen, discover is much worse...

This film, while not quite up to par with the original, still delivers on some chills and suspense.  Like I said, it sort of goes off of the template of Rear Window, so it has a good set of bones to build off of. The addition of the Judas Breed adds some further suspense to the proceedings, plus the mystery of the Garbageman, as well.  The acting was good, with a couple of then well-known actors, and at least one more who went on to bigger things.

Playing Simone, Marvin's mother, was Amanda Plummer.  Ms. Plummer played Nettie Cobb in Needful Things, as well as having roles in a lot of other films, like Pulp Fiction, The Prophecy, Satan's Little Helper, and Vampire.  Lance Henriksen plays the Garbageman.  He has been in a lot of films, including the Pumpkinhead series, Terminator, the Alien series as Bishop, The Pit and the Pendulum from Full Moon... the list of films he's done goes on and on.  Rebecca Mader played Carmen, the girl Marvin's pining over in the apartment complex.  This was her first film, but she went on to play on Lost and No Ordinary Family, as well as portraying the Wicked Witch of the West in Once Upon a Time.

All in all, I'll give this film a 3 out of 5.  It wasn't really as good as the first two, but it was better than some others I've covered on here.  Tune in next time, when I'll be kicking off Dracula Week: a week of Dracula films from across the years, starting with 1931's Dracula with the late, great Bela Lugosi.  I think it'll be a pretty fun time.  Take care, everyone, and this is Red Hawk signing out!

The Return (2006 film)

This was my first exposure to this film, barring advertisements when it first came out.  I didn't know what to expect going in, but I kept an open mind and found an interesting psychological thriller.  So, let's get into it!

The film starts with a young girl, Joanna, and her father arriving at an amusement park where her dad goes to get her some refreshments.  While he's at the stand, Joanna wanders over to a crane machine.  As she searches for a quarter, she hears a voice saying, "Sunshine."  She turns and sees a man in the shadows turning and walking towards her, causing her to scream and run, hiding under a picnic table. As the strange man's footsteps get closer, she screams for her dad again and again, finally drawing his attention.  The strange man's feet stop right next to the table, but disappear as her father arrives.

Flash ahead a number of years and Joanna's now a traveling rep for a trucking company, one of their most successful.  With a highly influential contract coming up, and a connection in the company, Joanna decides to break her own rule: to work in Texas.  While messing up a coworker's pitch for the same job, Joanna gets ready to head back home.  But what awaits her in the Lone Star State?

This movie had an extremely slow pace to it.  There was a lot of build to the climax and reveal, which was interesting, but again, I can see how that could turn a lot of people off.  The movie had a rather disappointing run on release, but that could be due to a lack of advertising.  I have a friend who would dismiss this film as boring, but in my own opinion, it worked.

The cast worked well here, with Sarah Michelle Gellar (Joanna) giving an excellent performance as the woman trying to uncover the meaning behind her visions.  She's also been in The Grudge, Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Possession, played Robin Williams' daughter on the underrated sitcom The Crazy Ones, and played Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the TV series based on the film.

All in all, a pretty good, underrated film.  I give it a 4 out of 5.  If you're looking for a good psychological thriller with a slow build and a lot of suspense, you could do a lot worse than this one! Until next time, take care of yourselves, and this is Red Hawk signing out!