Don't Hang Up! (1974)

Really Surprised!

Perfect cast and a good story

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Don't Open the Door! (1975) * 1/2 (out of 4) Thirteen years after seeing her mother brutally murdered, Amanda (Susan Bracken) returns to her hometown when she receives a call saying that her grandmother is about to die. Soon after arriving Amanda starts to realize that something strange is happening and after receiving some prank calls she realizes she's not safe. Director S.F. Brownrigg made five films in his career and he's gained a pretty big cult following over the years and it's interesting to read reviews from his fans because all of them are mixed on what film of his is the great. The most popular is certainly DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT but it seems that this film has some calling it his best with others saying it's his worst. I think the film shows some growth from Brownrigg's 1973 film but at the same time there are still many problems here. First for the good stuff. The pacing of the film is certainly much better than what we previously saw from the director and it's really too bad that this more upbeat pacing wasn't used in earlier films because they could have been much better. The pacing certainly helps this film because the story is so lacking in many different ways. For starters, there's really not too much going on. You should be able to identify the killer before the twenty-minute mark so there's really no surprises as you work towards the end. Another problem is that we're often sitting through scenes that just drag on without any purpose and none of them really effect what's going on. The performances here are all rather mixed but I thought Bracken did a decent job in the lead and fans of DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT will be happy to see some of the patients from that film in roles here. Brownrigg once again makes some nice atmosphere but it's pretty much wasted due to the weak story.

If you're willing to forgive admittedly sluggish pacing and have a high tolerance for the natural goofiness of minuscule budget film-making like this, Don't Open The Door has a lot more going for it than its relatively obscure status would suggest.The film follows the descent of Amanda Post, an unassuming gal in her mid-20's who returns to the house where her mom was murdered 13 years earlier to take care of her ailing grandmother. Once she settles into the home, she starts being plagued by a series of disturbing phone calls from a demented stalker, who she slowly comes to realize is responsible for her mother's death and has now transferred his psychotic fixation on her.Other figures in this caper include the shady doctor whose "treatment" of the grandmother is gradually pushing her toward her demise, a greedy lawyer who wants nothing more than for granny to die so he can have the house for himself, Amanda's ineffectual and estranged physician boyfriend, and the odd curator of a local museum which preserves artifacts from the estate's deadly past. Most of these unsavory characters are clearly on hand merely to provide the movie with its body count, and the film's major weakness is how much effort is spent following their ultimately meaningless subplots for the first two-thirds of the run-time.One curious complaint I've read about Don't Open The Door is that the homicidal caller is shown in too much detail early on, so it becomes blatantly obvious who the culprit is before the film even moves beyond the first act. I understand the sentiment, and there certainly isn't any mystery on that front after the second phone call takes place, but investigation of the film's supplemental materials reveals that the identity of the murderer is actually plainly given away in the trailer. Though it's easy to gather why audiences for a thriller like this may assume they're in for a textbook whodunnit slasher, a device which the movie fails miserably at, I wasn't bothered by the missed opportunity. For me, the meat of the yarn is actually the effect the caller's psychological torment and the macabre scenario itself has on Amanda, and the last half-hour, which deals heavily with the killer's mounting menace and the disintegration of her sanity, is by far the most engrossing portion of the film.The campaign of mental abuse Amanda's stalker wages against her is rendered a tad corny by the way it's presented, but some aspects of his systematic attack are still undeniably twisted. The murders themselves are largely bloodless and ho-hum, so fans looking for a straight splatter outing in the vein of the mid-'70s Giallo offerings which were situational kinfolk to Don't Open The Door will probably want to pass here. But as the supporting players meet their ends one by one, we're gradually led down the rabbit hole until Amanda is left alone with the amorous psychopath, at which point the film concludes on a bleak and chilling final note that defies all of the expectations that seem to be suggested by the girl-vs.-killer premise.There are plenty of artful images on display here which demonstrate that the film-makers employed some definite imagination while they were crafting this piece. The use of dizzying camera work and psychedelic lighting creates some truly surreal and effective sequences, and the creepy doll images that run through the opening credits are fitting portents for the utter darkness that overtakes the film by its conclusion. The location is also used for maximum impact, and the house that was chosen for the film, which features unique architecture, spiral staircases, and stained glass windows, is a marvelous setting for a horror excursion; it's a real shame no one thought to shoot a ghost story there.Most of the untested actors deliver about what you'd expect, and our raving maniac isn't nearly as fearsome as one would hope, but the lead turn by Susan Bracken is fantastic. Amanda is obviously the centerpiece of this tale, and while Bracken does an admirable job of bringing her to life and getting us on board with her as a heroine, she's even more impressive during the film's third act, when she's called upon to essay a subtle, gradual, and wholly believable devolving into madness.Clearly, Don't Open The Door is far from a classic, but in its own modest way the film has numerous strengths that elevate it enough to make it worthy viewing for those who have the patience for it. In the end, I'm not sorry I ignored the titular warning, and while I can't wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone, I will suggest that if you're in the mood to be open-minded you could do a lot worse than this.

Not quite as good a low budget effort as Mr Brownrigg's earlier, 'Don't look In The Basement' but still well worth catching. This starts rather slow and predictably but soon develops into a real creepy affair with an excellent central performance from Susan Bracken as she spends the entire movie fending off the crazies. Whilst she may not be surrounded by folks quite as crazy as in the earlier film none of them are the sort you would wish to get too close to and as the film progresses a most unpleasant tone begins to permeate the picture. Bracken does plenty of wide eyed screaming, particularly as she really begins to lose it towards the end and with her red outfit and the dark shadows and is certainly a sight to be seen.

A young woman reluctantly returns to her home town to oversee her dying grandmother's final days. While staying in the house where she witnessed her mumsy's murder thirteen years earlier, she finds more than a few secrets from her past have come back to haunt her. I appreciate that this movie has such strange execution. It's structure is very different from the typical low-budget horrors of this era, completely eschewing things like mystery (the killer's identity is obvious from the get-go) and resolution. Plot-wise, it borrows from proto-slashers BLACK Christmas and SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. While it's lesser than both of those films in terms of quality, I did find it undeniably charming, entertaining, and even creepy at times. While the acting in the movie is generally amateur, Susan Bracken is a hoot as the spunky lead who gets to spout some amusing dialogue. She quickly flips the switch from headstrong heroine to full-on basket case and there's not a moment she's on screen where my eyes weren't on her face. It's one of the most memorable horror performances I've watched lately. The movie's biggest downfall is the irritating soap opera-ish theme song in the opening credits that pops up way too often throughout the movie. The freaky dolls in the opening sequence (who also pop up at other points in the movie) sort of make up for it. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR doesn't make much sense and it isn't going to be for everyone, but I found it to be a bizarre and unique viewing experience.