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'The Open House'—A Movie Review

I am still trying to wrap my head around this movie!

By Marielle SabbagPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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Everyone knows everyone in a small town. Let’s see if they can wrap their head around this difficult plot-line.

The Open House is a Netflix released 2018 film, written and directed by Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote. Logan and his mom, Naomi, get out of a town for a while and stay at her sister’s house, which is open for auction. Experiencing strange occurrences, they realize they’re not alone.

I am still trying to wrap my head around this movie! The Open House makes little to no sense, and leaves you on a bleak and endless climax. The writers had no idea what plot to focus on, and feature one of the most un-motivationed villains of all time.

Dylan Minnette (Logan) and Piercey Dalton (Naomi) don’t resolve much of their dilemma. At times, Minnette is like a block of wood, hardly reacting to anything. He is very peculiar in his relationship to his mother, and in his overall behavior.

I enjoyed Dalton’s performance in a couple of scenes, but the way her character reacts is unrealistic. When you’re in a creepy house that has been broken into, DON’T STAY! Run away as fast as you can without looking back.

Sharif Atkins, Aaron Abrams, Edward Olson, Katie Walder, and Paul Rae appear as characters, but don’t do much to support the plot. Some were just there because the writers had no idea what else to do with the main characters.

One character that the film should have invested more into is Martha, performed by Patricia Bethune. Honestly, she was my favorite character. She is a strange and creepy neighbor who shows up out of nowhere. Her character would have made better sense if this movie had a supernatural theme.

Speaking of the plot, what is the plot? I thought this film was going to be about ghosts plaguing the house. Instead, writers decided to make it about this intruder stalking the main characters for whatever reason that is never explained. Like a ghost, the intruder moves objects to other rooms, opens doors, and walks by just for a useless jump scare. We don’t even find out who this guy is, and why he is stalking them!

The setting for the film is beautiful, I have to admit. Too bad the cinematography of the mountains, trees, and a gorgeous open field had to end up in this movie. I liked the interior of the house, especially the decor.

Like most horror movies, there is a dark cellar. You can take a guess that this setting is very important. I give props to Naomi for traveling into the powerless cellar, wrapped in a towel, twice just to fix the hot water heater.

The editing is choppy. It’s strange how it goes from being light to dark outside in a short time. The lighting is too dim in a few scenes, too. The story feels like it was never submitted to an editor. Dialogue makes little to no sense, and it’s even cringe-worthy.

The Open House would have been better if it took the time to explain, make use of a character’s passion instead of forgetting about it, and to write a better ending. Some scenes are well acted, but The Open House was a disappointment. It started with an effective plot-line until testing out a different plot-line that made no sense.

Would I recommend this film? It incorporates suspense, but the ending is a complete waste. If you see it on Netflix, go ahead and watch it, otherwise avoid it, so you won’t feel your head spinning from the confusing ending. If horror is not your thing, especially fingore, The Open House is not your cup of tea.

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About the Creator

Marielle Sabbag

Writing has been my passion since I was 11 years old. I love creating stories from fiction, poetry, fanfiction. I enjoy writing movie reviews. I would love to become a creative writing teacher and leave the world inspiring minds.

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