Movie Review: The Open House

credit: The Open House

Home invasion is a horrifying reality for many people, but this movie takes things to a level that would be liable to give people a heart attack if they experienced the same kind of psychological torture that this mother and her son endure. The beginning of the movie showcases the death of the father/husband in this family, which is enough to create a serious amount of mental and emotional trauma. Not only this, but the wife and son can’t stay in their home since their debts are far too great, and they’re about to lose their home. When the mother’s sister offers her rental home, which is being shown periodically at the time, the two decide to jump on it and move in, leaving during the day so the house can be shown. Eventually, though, strange things start to happen as the pilot light on the water heater continually goes out, strange noises can be heard in the house, and objects appear to be moved about as the mother and her son begin to snipe at each other after a while. 

credit: The Open House

Home invasion can be interpreted as a loss of control. 

This is just one of the effects of a home invasion, but its one that has profound effects upon those who have to go through it since the idea that your home is your safe spot is no longer valid, and many people might feel the need to add multiple locks to their doors and could develop a serious phobia that keeps them from trusting anyone ever again. This movie shows how a home invasion that goes unnoticed can create a great deal of paranoia and even set people against each other at one point since the blame that’s cast toward others when things start happening can rip at the fabric of a family and even tear them apart. Worse yet is the fact that neither one of them had any idea what was happening, which means that they turned to each other eventually. The terror doesn’t exactly start right away, but the unease and the frustration can be seen to build without fail. 

The grief that the mother and son were experiencing was only augmented by the home invasion. 

This was one of the worst times for the mother and son, Naomi and Logan, to be terrorized by anyone since their nerves were already on edge, their emotions were rubbed raw, and they were liable to snap at each other at any given moment. The fact that they have a neighbor who introduces herself and states that her husband is dead, only to later on state that her husband wants to meet them, seemingly forgetting that she’d stated he was deceased earlier on. This puts a huge spotlight on the neighbor as being the one who might be wandering about, especially when it’s revealed that she might have Alzheimer’s Disease. This, along with the fact that she knows the inside of the house, as she states that has been there before, makes it feel as though she might be a suspect. But then again, being that light on her feet might not be that easy for the bigger woman. 

credit: The Open House

At one point, it almost feels as though this movie has a supernatural aspect to it. 

The way things are seen to be moved about and the fact that the invader is only hinted at and never really seen is enough to make one feel that there is a supernatural lean to this movie since everything appears to be executed too quickly and too perfect for the antagonist to be human. But as the story keeps moving along, that appears to be exactly what the antagonist is since there are ways to explain why certain things are happening, just not why. One might decide to call this movie a bit slow and even cause it to be kind of dull, but the realism in this movie is enough to make one come to the conclusion that even trying to contemplate such a story is bad enough. Trying to make one’s mind go in that direction is tough since many people wouldn’t be able thanks to the many safeguards the human mind tends to possess. 

The ending was the most chilling part by far. 

In many stories, there’s usually a nick of time rescue that comes for those who are being tormented and/or attacked. Not this time. One might think that Naomi and Logan were going to be able to escape their fate and somehow get the police to come in the nick of time, but the invader quickly turns killer once he ends the life of a man that Naomi met in town, and then goes after her and Logan eventually. The worst part comes at the end, when the killer is seen driving toward another open house, presumably to do it all again.