Open House [Blu-ray] Overview
A couple on the verge of a nasty divorce attempt to sell their empty love nest and move on with their lives, separately. After a successful open house, they are horrified to discover, days later, that a potential buyer didn’t leave their home. While Alice is being held captive in the basement, the unannounced houseguest moves in upstairs. She senses her capture is being kept a rebellious secret. She knows her only way out, if she can only get out alive.
Stills from Open House (Click for larger image)
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Open House [Blu-ray] Specifications
With a True Blood-like poster featuring portraits of Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer hovering in front of a haunted house, one may mistakenly expect a vampire tale starring this popular horror-series couple. However, Open House, written and directed by Anna's brother, Andrew Paquin, is a far cry from the hit TV series. Rather, it is a slow-paced horror film in which couple Josh (Moyer) and Alice (Rachel Blanchard) try to sell their home to prepare for divorce but encounter a hazard in the form of psychotic couple David (Brian Geraghty) and Lila (Tricia Helfer), who steal the home and move right in, with deadly results. In fact, Paquin, as Alice's friend Jennie, and Moyer have mere cameos in Open House. The bulk of the plot is devoted to David's conundrum as Alice struggles to stay alive in the basement. While Open House is not overly gory, there are bloody moments. Overall, it is no Texas Chainsaw Massacre, meaning that the film is not about gore in itself. The film is primarily a psychological investigation of a man who is torn between torturing and killing. This narrative has created some rich horror film territory--see any of Dario Argento's films, such as Opera--but Open House mines no new approach. A couple of odd, funny moments, like when David offers Alice a sandwich while he gets out his laptop to work despite her bruised, defeated appearance, hint at the contemporary edge, an ennui, that this film tries so hard to achieve. But it is mostly a fluffy rehash of a story that horror films can only pull off if they have either style or script going for them, not to mention a captivating criminal character. Open House lacks engaging characters or original vision. For a stronger horror film along similar lines, check out Terribly Happy, a Danish movie with enough plot twists and curve balls that the crimes perpetrated convey not only dark humor but also a deeper social message. --Trinie Dalton
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