At the Devil’s Door (2014)

Number Rolled: 64

Movie Name/Year: At the Devil’s Door (2014)

Tagline: It’s looking for a home.

Genre: Indie

Length: 93 minutes

Rating: NR

Production Companies: Varient, Candlewood Entertainment, XYZ Films

Executive Producer: Nate Bolotin, Kyle Franke, Kyle Heller, Jeremy Platt, Gina Resnick, Nick Spicer, Aram Tertzakian, Sam Zuckerman

Director: Nicholas McCarthy

Writer: Nicholas McCarthy

Actors: Ashley Rickards, Nick Eversman, Michael Massee, Mark Steger, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Naya Rivera, Wyatt Russell, Daniel Roebuck, Jan Broberg, Arshad Aslam, Kelsey Heller, Kent Faulcon, Bresha Webb, Assaf Cohen, Shaun O’Hagan, Olivia Crocicchia, Jennifer Aspen, Agathy McCarthy, Rob Brownstein, Laura Kai Chen, Ava Acres, Tara Buck

After a young girl is convinced to play a game with her boyfriend’s uncle, strange things begin happening to her. As time moves forward, things only get stranger.

Selina’s Point of View:

Although At the Devil’s Door had an interesting format, it didn’t really live up to expectations.

The actors did a fine job with their parts. None of the blame falls on them. Naya Rivera (Devious Maids, The Bernie Mac Show, House Blend) showed that she has a capacity for horror acting, Catalina Moreno (Falling Skies, A Most Violent Year, The Bridge) made for a wonderful lonely sister-figure and Ashley Rickards (The Outskirts, A Haunted House 2, Struck by Lightning) was sufficiently creepy.

The problem was the story. It simply wasn’t creepy enough to be a horror and not suspenseful enough to be a thriller. The few scares that it did have were jump scares and they were ALL spoiled in the official trailer.

In the end, it comes down to placing too much faith in marketing. Sure, you want to draw in the audience by showing them some scares. Get the butts in the seats and all that. However, if the marketing goes so far as to reveal every single scare in the trailer, there’s nothing left to impress the audience when they’re watching. That results in a low rating from critics.

We here at Trust the Dice don’t like to spoil stories for people. With that in mind, if this film sounds like something you might want to see, skip the trailer. It may make your viewing experience more enjoyable.

Cat’s Point of View:

I will admit that my horror repertoire isn’t as expansive as I’d like it to be. I’m not sure I want to have claimed watching this one.

It was paced too slowly – perhaps they wanted to build suspense in anticipation for the big scary thing. The problem was that the film didn’t really deliver very well on the big scary thing. I wasn’t scared at all, actually.

Sure there were a couple of jump-scares, but I startle easily. My brother’s favorite story to tell is how he once made me jump and run in place mid-air like a cartoon character. Come to think of it, such moments of startle-ment were scarier than this movie.

I was a bit disappointed with the acting here. I was a fan of Ashley Rickards (Gamer, Behaving Badly, Awkward) from her stint on One Tree Hill (2003-2012). I haven’t kept up with her current work, but it was nice to see a familiar face. I know she’s better than this, and while the writing/directing may have been a factor, it just wasn’t happening for me in this one.

Naya Rivera (Frankenhood, The Naughty List, Glee) was another surprise I wish were more pleasant. I just couldn’t connect with her at all.

This was the sophomore effort for writer/director Nicholas McCarthy (Chinese Box, Cry for Help, Maid), whose big screen debut was The Pact (2012).  I haven’t seen that film yet, so am unable to draw any comparisons for writing or directing style. Perhaps he’s still trying to find his ‘voice.’ Cinematically speaking, he needs to stop muttering, and work on his delivery.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 24%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 22%

Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 1.5/5

Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 2/5

Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 2/5

Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 1/5

The Random Rating: R

Movie Trailer: