Directed by Doc Duhame. Starring Catherine Georges, Sarah Christine Smith, Daniel Booko and Ryan Doom. Horror, 94 minutes, cert tbc.

Release Date 14th February 2011.

Angelica is a pretty but naive student whose attempts to hit it off on the status-obsessed high school social scene are thwarted by her oppressive parents. Grounded while they go out for the night and miserable that she cannot be with her classmates, she finds the frequency of a pirate radio station rumoured to be an urban legend. Sitting in the pool and stoking her sorrows, she calls the station’s host, the Oracle, and encouraged by the inviting voice, she wishes her cares away.

THE OPEN DOOR is a rather strange but surprisingly effective film. Slightly schizophrenic in its tone, it makes incredibly good use of two hypnotic voices that that represent the presenters of the radio station. Similar in style to the hypnotic Zelda Rubenstein in ANGUISH, they set the scene and enable the audience to be taken through the film’s different stages by identifying with the characters and there are some truly creepy sequences. When Angelica’s wishes begin to come true, the film becomes a less sexual version of THE EVIL DEAD with the stricken students stalked by an apparently hermaphroditic demon with an extremely deep voice, the tone of which manages to be rather macabre.

The acting is reasonably good, if a little over-egged, with Catherine Georges as the socially unsure Angelica and Kate Enggren as her strict mother. Georges manages to prevent the final section from becoming boring (though a ten-minute trim of the running time wouldn’t hurt). It’s a rather fun film that is better than the typical teen hack and slash fare.

Karen Oughton.

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