Movie Review: At the Devil's Door (2014)

The movie stars Catalina Sandino Moreno, Ashley Rickards, Tara Buck and Naya Rivera.

I ended up picking out this particular movie last night because I was in the mood for a horror flick but, since my wife and I were both pretty tired out already and I wasn't sure if we would be able to stay awake, I decided to avoid the movies we definitely want to watch and, instead, experimented with a movie we hadn't heard of before.

I've done this in the past and, on occasion, have ended up finding a hidden gem. That was not the case with this movie. It was admittedly better than I expected it to be. But, at the same time, wasn't anything that was particularly memorable.

The movie premise itself is somewhat interesting because we know, from the beginning, there's the Devil, a demon or some other creature that is in the home but, because it went quite a few years between its first victim (Rickard) and terrorizing the two sisters (Moreno and Rivera), it's not immediately clear what its intentions are.

The problem with the film is the execution is somewhat weak. There are one or two scary scenes. But, the overall film just doesn't manage to deliver in the way it should. A movie like this should have the tension building from the start, with the viewer cringing every time someone the screen turns around or opens a door. But, this film just didn't reach that level of intensity.

Also, while the movie does manage to keep a hint of mystery to it through the first half, once we start learning more about the first victim, it isn't difficult to figure out exactly what the monster is trying to do and, from that point, the film does get a little predictable. As I've said in other reviews, predictable never equals scary.

As I said before, the movie did end up being better than I honestly expected it to be and, at least for the first half, had me interested. However, the second half of the film does seem to lack something and, as a result of that, it doesn't quite live up to its potential.

My Grade: C