Emotionless in More Ways that One
As they head for a divorce Alice (Rachel Blanchard - Everything She Ever Wanted) and Josh (Stephen Moyer) are trying to sell their home with Josh having already left and Alice wanting to move on as soon as possible. One night, after Alice has had some friends over, she wakes to realise one of them hasn't gone as their car is still there but when she goes looking for them in the basement she finds herself attacked, drugged and being kept chained up in a void behind one of the walls. Meanwhile her attacker, David (Brian Geraghty - Love Lies Bleeding), along with the controlling Lila (Tricia Helfer - Hidden Crimes) move in and start playing their sick games where they kill people who show up to view the house. With Lila believing Alice to have been killed like all the others, unaware that David has kept her locked up instead, the question is will she escape or not?
So "Open House" is another home invasion movie and to get straight to the point it is one which is pretty forgettable. Why? Well to be honest it all seems pretty basic as we have the emotionless David murdering various people who show up at the house, the sexy Lila who controls him and then there is Alice who David is keeping hidden. I suppose we are meant to concern ourselves with what is the connection between Lila and David whilst wondering whether Alice will manage to convince him to let her go. It isn't enough and makes "Open House" a movie which relies on the horror gore to have any impact, which to be blunt it doesn't.
In fairness there is one thing in "Open House" which did stand out for me and that was the performance of Brian Geraghty as he delivers the emotionless nature of his character brilliantly but also with a touch of OCD when it comes to the way he looks and how everything is clean and ordered. Unfortunately the rest of the acting in the movie whilst solid is also forgettable due to its routine nature.
What this all boils down to is that "Open House" isn't technically a terrible movie although it does have noticeable issues. But the biggest issue with it is that it never quite delivers the atmosphere, the tension or in truth the horror and that leaves it being a little disappointing.
