At the Devil's Door (2014)

   

Written & Directed by: Nicholas McCarthy

Starring:

Catalina Sandino Moreno .... Leigh
Naya Rivera .... Vera
Ashley Rickards .... Hannah

Release Dates: South by Southwest Film Festival: March 9, 2014; LES FILM FESTIVAL: June 19, 2014; Fantasia International Film Festival: July 24, 2014; New Zealand International Film Festival: July 24, 2014; Zurich Film Festival: October 3, 2014

 

Rating:

 

A real estate agent Leigh (Catalina Sandino Moreno) discovers a troubled lost girl named Hannah (Ashley Rickards) in a new house she listed who can be seen in mirrors and appear and disappear in an instant and after talking to this girls parents and sister Vera (Naya Rivera) that she sold her soul to the devil and a terrible incident happens that confirms Vera's belief that she is possessed and probably by the devil himself.

 

We spot many interesting moments with one of the key characters in this film known as Hannah in which we spot a real effective moment when things are quiet in her home and hear the heavy tapping of the rain falling when she is walking to her room along with some nice careful camera shots on what's surrounding her as you suspect that the terror will happen to her soon. There's some near effective moments that certainly do take you by surprise for sure.
Then things start to slope a bit when we have a real estate agent Leigh having discussions on selling a home or moments when she's in a house with some suggestive suspenseful moments that seems to fail big time when you're supposed to be almost scared. Also we have a moment on the character Hannah running by which is supposed to look mysterious but that even fails.
Yet things seem to look interesting when she discusses to some parents about a girl that ran by the home and they get upset and explains about their missing daughter as this draws you in fairly well. Good camera shots on all of this as well.
We spot a moment when Leigh is slowly approaching Hannah and trying to talk to her in which this was meant to look mysterious as well as suspenseful but yet this doesn't do the trick either.
However things look up a bit when she calls the parents and then they tell her she came home which adds a chill down your spine wondering who this girl is and then things heat up when she gets demanding towards her and suddenly demonic forces start to take place with nice twisted close up camera shots on all of this.
Plus some good genuine freaky moments with close up shots on Hannah hanging herself as you wonder as to how this all came to be.
A nice moment with both Vera talking to someone about the history of Hannah along with flashback segments on her selling her soul to the devil and neat camera shots on a figure approaching her from behind and stuff like that which seems to work well into the story.
A great moment with Vera hearing something and checking out a cupboard in her kitchen which makes you jump out of your seat to see what she spots as this shows perfect creepy horror timing.
A perfect moment with a demonic force attacking Vera and throwing her out a window as the effects looked quite decent while we continue to watch all of this keeping you in suspense as to what will happen next.
Then some nice close up shots on her awakening from a hospital and being in shock after speaking to the doctor leaves an impression of what is going to happen next while he tells her the news which sets her into a state of horror and leaves us wondering if we will see a sequel to what is happening.
We spot the story taking place 6 years after with this antichrist being adopted and having her head turned watching something terrible on the 6 OClock News and her adopted mother telling her to watch something better.Then a good moment on her changing the channel to a cartoon and afterwards when the mother leaves changing the channel back to what she was watching which can offer some laughs.
A perfect moment with Vera talking to this child and talking deep towards her as this for sure draws in a perfect seriousness into what she was saying to her and keeping you in suspnse and near terror on what is about to possibly happen in this scenario which looked good and forceful. However during the ending of the film leaves a new twist that we don't expect happening from Vera herself with this child.
Bottom line is that this film was half decent and half bland as I can see why there's so many damn remakes these days since there's nothing that great out there. This wasn't a terrible film by any means but it could've been better. Title says it better than the plot itself. The movie is pretty much forgettable. We've seen stuff like this many times before my friends.

The acting is in average shape but nothing too spetacular in which we may think the lead actress Catalina Sandino Moreno (Leigh) had noce clear words within her speaking which works well in her favor but yet isn't too convincing while pulling offf her character. Yet does a nice job with her seriousness as a real estate agent. Also seems to do okay when trying to call to one of the main characters and talk to them and puts some okay effort into all of this. Also pulls it off nicely when she gets stern and demanding later on which looked nicely done as well as her shocked and painful reactions to an incident so she wasn't overly terrible.
Naya Rivera (Vera) seemed to be the best in the cast as she pulls off a good sharp attitude and was well alert about what was happening and showing off a good seriousness into her part of the film. Also reacts well to suspenseful moments that is happening around her. She also does a nice job freaking out after she finds out she's pregnant or going into labor. Plus does a terrific job by acting cold, stern and demanding while confronting a child as well as about to go in for the kill just bringing this to a punch.
Ashley Rickards (Hannah) was a real attention grabber and seemed to have a nice key role to the story in which she shows off a great silent motive to her part as well as showing some freaked out reactions to what was happening aroun d her. She also does well with her icy stares or shwoing her evil rage. She was a total ballof energy into what was happening to her and was another good actress out of the cast here.

In certain parts of the story the music didn't seem to do too much for me as it was typical sounds but in other spots works incredibly well with low sounds and having it a total feel to the Shining sort of fashion as well as rusty sounds and other gloomy type of music in which this time it worked in the film's favor sounding fair and can please the horror fans this time. All of this was put together by Ronen Landa.