The Other Side of the Door – When you think of your typical horror location at no point does India spring to mind. However the refreshing change of scenery gave writer-director, Johannes Roberts, his inspiration for penning The Other Side of The Door. While researching Indian Folklore he and long-term writing partner Ernest Riera came up with this chilling but a deeply emotional story.
The Other Side of the Door centers on Maria (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Husband Michael (Jeremy Sisto) who decide to make a life for themselves in India. A few years later the couple has two children but after an unfortunate car accident involving Maria and the children her son dies. Maria, once a strong, independent woman becomes a shadow of her former self as she blames herself for her son’s death. Her grief takes complete control of her mind and body, she finds herself unable to cope with the pain her loss of her son is too much to bare and she tries to take her own life.
Unlike many films of the horror genre these days, The Other Side of the Door builds a foundation for its story, we are given that back story of how and why our main characters have become the way they are, not only does this give its audience a reason to care about the characters but it’s a great way to build the tension and anticipation that is about to unfold readying the viewer for its jump out of your skin moments.
The couple’s housekeeper, wishing only to help Maria in her grief and to move on tells her of an abandoned temple where she has to perform a short ritual in order to speak to her dead son one last time with only one condition. She does not open the door. Of course, this wouldn’t be a true horror if she didn’t open the door and this is where the story becomes predictable. After returning home to her family, strange things start to happen around the house. Things go bump in the night but as each day passes the presence of her son becomes sinister. Opening that temple door has upset the balance between the living world and the dead and the only way to stop it is for Maria to take drastic actions of her own in order to save her family’s life.
The pacing is extremely slow; whilst it does build tension, on the other hand, it also drags out the film for far too long. The scares are minimal but subtle, they have that affect that will shake you up but they are few and far between.
The Other Side of The Door is out in Cinemas 4th March.