VOD Review: The Other Side of the Door (2016)

"This is why we can't have nice things... in India."

(aka The Scary Door.)
Release Date: March 11th.
Country: USA.
Rating: R.
Written by: Johannes Roberts and Ernest Riera.
Directed by: Johannes Roberts.
Starring: Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto, Sofia Rosinsky, Logan Creran, and Javier Botet.

Like most Supernatural Thrillers that make it to theaters here in the U.S., The Other Side of the Door has a predictable plot, utilizes a ton of jump-scares, and really never pushes the boundaries it should to make it a truly memorable effort.

It's also not a bad movie at all.

Michael and Maria, expecting their first child, decide to move to India, because they're big Bollywood fans, and they just can't get enough curry in their lives in America. Years later, after the tragic death of their son Oliver, the couple, along with their young daughter, Lucy, wonder if becoming ex-pats and moving to India was such a great idea after all.

"WHY IN THE HELL DID WE MOVE HERE?"

Maria is overcome with grief over the death of her son to the point of trying to kill herself. Noticing this, their live-in housekeeper, Piki Boo, tells Maria that there's a way that she can say goodbye to her son and find some closure by the way of an ancient ritual; there's a temple in the remote Indian countryside that allows someone to scatter the ashes of their loved ones in front of a door, wait until nightfall, and their spirit will appear on the other side of the door. You can talk to them, but you can't open the door, or else ghosts will kill you. Maria swears that she will not open the door.

SHE'S GOING TO OPEN THAT DOOR, ISN'T SHE?

Of course Maria opens the door, because she's a weak-willed American who doesn't care to pay heed to the superstitions of the wise locals of Mother India, which opens up the gateway to the ghost dimension, which allows ghosts (and a Demon) through, which allows them to try and kill Maria and her family.

A bunch of "You've seen it all before" Haunted House tropes ensue. 

THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE?

The Other Side of the Door is a solid, if predictable Horror flick. It's light on scares, and it's nothing that we haven't seen dozens of times before, but somehow we found it fairly enjoyable. The setting was interesting, as were the Supernatural goings-on, and everything was well-handled on a technical level. The Demon, played effectively by [REC]'s own Javier Botet, was pretty cool too, although it didn't get near enough screen time.

It just wasn't as scary as it should have been.

Maybe it's the fact that we love Sarah Wayne Callies from her days on The Walking Dead, or that we're big fans of Jeremy Sisto (who sadly doesn't get much to do here) that made us enjoy this one on a base level. I'm not really sure what it was, but we found this to be a serviceable effort overall.

WHAT IS ROB ZOMBIE DOING THERE?

The main problem with The Other Side of the Door is that it's exactly the kind of thing you expect from the average PG-13 Horror flick, even though it's got an R-Rating. It's safe, tame, overly-familiar and predictable, and there's a really great, potentially terrifying movie in there somewhere that is never fully realized.

It's also the kind of movie where the main character (in this case, a grieving mother), makes a series of foolish decisions that puts the lives of everyone around her in danger, all because she's so overwrought with grief. I get that grief can crush a person, and make them do all sorts of irrational things, but that kind of shit gets really old as a plot device.

And that ending... really?

YEAH, READ YOUR GHOST SON A BEDTIME STORY. SOUNDS RATIONAL.

Why the dog. He was the only one who knew what was going on, and he was trying to warn you the whole time. Why him!?!

"TIME TO GO, HOUSE-PISSER!"

A little bit of blood and and some impressive FX here and there, but nothing to write home about.

HOW DOES SHE NOT SEE THAT THING? OR HEAR IT? OR SMELL IT?

Nope.

DON'T YOU POINT AWAY FROM US IN ANGER, SARAH!

Americans need to stop moving to other countries, or even visiting them, as Horror movies have shown us over and over again that traveling abroad will only lead to certain death!

THE GHOST OF BOB MARLEY WATCHES OVER THE CHILDREN.

If you like your Supernatural Thrillers a bit on the above-average side of things, then The Other Side of the Door is probably one that you'll want to check out. There's no new ground being broken here, and you've seen it all before, but if you don't need bold originality every time you watch a Horror flick, this one will do you right.

C+

The Other Side of the Door is available now on VOD, and will hit Blu-ray & DVD on June 7th.

Sarah Wayne Callies may be the best Horror Milf of our generation. At the very least, she's in the running.

Review: Dredd 3D (2012)

Dredd 3D is our sleeper hit of the year.

After painfully enduring Stallone's 1995 Judge Dredd movie, it's safe to say that we weren't really all that excited about a remake. Sure, there was no way it could have been any cheesier than Sly's version, but could it actually be any good? That was the real question, and the answer that we found was a resounding "Yes!"

Dredd is simply one of the best action flicks we've seen in a long while. It wasn't all bang and flash; it took it's time, handled the source material with a serious tone, and delivered on the uber-violence without making the movie one long gun battle after another.

She can judge me any time.

Karl Urban was the perfect Dredd, and Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey were just as good in their roles. This movie played it straight, unlike the 1995 Stallone version, and was a better movie for it. It was nice to see that they stuck to canon and didn't have Dredd show his face this time out too.

How can you not love that face?

As for the action... tons of people and things blew up, got shot up, got burnt up, got beat up... and it was all shamelessly and excessively violent. It was mindless fun that wasn't dumbed down like most actions flicks tend to be, and yet it didn't take itself too seriously.

Poor kid.

Dredd 3D is one hell of an action flick, and it's now one of our favorite Blu-ray's in our collection. Aside from The Raid: Redemption, Dredd is the best action flick we saw in 2012, and oddly enough, the two movies are fairly similar in plot.

The marketing for this movie sucked, it should have never been released in the crappy-for-movies month of September, and Lionsgate should have played the 3D aspect of things down a bit. If I was skeptical about this movie sucking as bad as Stallone's original did, then general audiences were even more so. Dredd bombed at the Box Office, and it's a way better film than that. This is no John Carter or Battleship; Dredd 3D is an action lover's/Fanboy's dream.

We really hope that it sells well on BD/DVD and that we get a sequel somewhere down the road, because this movie truly begs for continuation. We'll have a Blu-ray copy in our hands come January 8th, and since it's safe to say that most of you probably haven't seen it yet (it made less that $20 million at the box office), we recommend that you grab one too. Trust us, you'll have a ton of fun with it.

A

Dredd is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD.

Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey are in this.

Quick Review: Fright Night (2011)

As remakes go, Fright Night was a good attempt at re-telling a great story, and it managed to be pretty entertaining. We weren't expecting it to be anywhere near as charming as the 1985 original was, but that's alright, because it doesn't really need to be.

The movies that populate the vampire sub-genre are one of two things lately; either sappy and over-romantic, or bleak and bloody. Fright Night manages to be neither, while somehow being a bit of both at the same time. Makes no sense, I know, but it is what it is.

Anton Yelchin was pretty solid.

If you don't remember the original (and shame on you if you don't), Fright Night is the story of Charley Brewster; an everyday ordinary teen who just wants to get laid, but instead has to deal with his new neighbor being a vampire. It's a fun little cat-and-mouse game really, and much more so in this one.

There's so much at stake in this film... LOL

Colin Farrell's version of Jerry Dandridge is a meaner, more menacing one than was Chris Sarandon's; Sarandon's Jerry was more classy and even romanticized, where as the modern day Jerry is slick and player-ish, and even a bit tauntingly mean. He's like a poon-hound who can't get enough blood, and Farrell is perfect in the role. It's all the more sweet because Farrell took the role because he loved the original movie so much. Gotta give him some kudos for that.

Easy ladies, we know. Ugh.

Charley Brewster is just about the same as he ever was, and Anton Yelchin plays him well. Imogen Poots plays a way hotter version of Amy, who comes off as far more sexualized and way less virginal than Amanda Bearse ever managed to be. And hotter. Did we mention hotter?

Sharp teeth or not, we'd still do it.

The only thing that didn't hold up as well was Peter Vincent. David Tennant is awesome, but the new version of the Vampire Hunter just can't measure up to Roddy McDowall's original. It was nice to see Chris Sarandon make a cameo. And what was Lisa Loeb doing in this? Total surprise.

McLovin's version of Evil Ed was more goofy than creepy in the remake, which was also a bit of a bummer. I mean Stephen Geoffrey's laugh alone made Evil Ed a classic movie character. Then again Geoffreys went on to star in a bunch of Gay Porn titles such as "Mechanics bi Day, Lube Jobs bi Night" and "Guys Who Crave Big Cocks," so maybe the pressure of being such an icon was a bit too much.

At least if McLovin ever turns to Gay Porn, he already has the perfect name.

What a pain in the neck... LOL

One of the better Horror remakes to come along in recent years, Fright Night not only managed to avoid shitting on the original, but made the story its own, and made it fun. Farrell was great as the predatory Jerry, and he set the tone for a humorous but bloody fun little Vampire flick. It should be hitting DVD/VOD soon, and if you missed it in Theaters, give it a go when it does.

B+

And no, we did not forget about the hot chicks in this movie. Here they are. Like we'd forget about the chicks... shiiiiiiittttt!