The Entrance (2006) User Reviews

Was Lack of Budget to Complete the Movie?

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 24 June 2013]

Detective Porhowski (Sarah-Jane Redmond) has dinner with her father and he invites her to administrate a clinic that he has just purchased since he is worried with the dangerousness of her profession.

Porhowski returns to the police department and she is informed that a man called Ryan James (Michael Eklund) wants to talk to her. He tells an unbelievable story that he has been abducted and forced to play games against four other men, selected for their sins, in a parking garage. In the end of the game, the sin committed by the loser is projected and he is killed by a supernatural forces.

Ryan has succeeded to flee with the support of the janitor Joe Balberith (Ron Sauvé). Porhowski does not give credit to his story and finds that Ryan is a drug dealer. When she returns to talk to him, she finds that he has escaped from the interrogation room. Detective Porhowski drives back home but she is kidnapped by Ryan that was hidden on the back seat of her car. He tells that made a deal with the supernatural force that agreed to trade him for Detective Porhowski. What is her dark secret from the past?

"The Entrance" is an intriguing low-budget horror movie with an original story. Unfortunately the movie does not have end and wastes a great story. Was it lack of budget to complete the movie? Or does the director and writer Damon Vignale believe that he has made a movie with open end? My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): 'Punidos pelo Demônio" ("Punished by the Devil")

So Much Potential Yet Crashes Hard, Did They Run Out of Money?

[Kashmirgrey · 4/10 · 16 January 2009]

The beginning scenes of "The Entrance" had me optimistic that the film was heading in an unique and frightening direction. Talk about a teasing let down! The flick opens with a terrified man (Michael Eklund, an Ethan Hawk look alike) fleeing from a demon in a deserted parking garage. He escapes and the next thing we know he's yacking with the cops unraveling some ado about being kidnapped and taken to a dark room where he and others sharing his plight are forced to play games. The losers of these games are subjected to 8mm black and white memories of egregious sins they have committed. Then, one by one, each is violently vanquished from the company of the others. The cop conducting the interrogation (Sarah-Jane Redmond) doesn't buy into it. Once she leaves the room to grab him a drink of water he vanishes. She calls it a night and takes off in her car only to get accosted by the guy at knife point who then demands she drive him back to the parking garage claiming, "They took something from me and you are going to help me get it back!" Excited to check this one out? Don't be, 'cuz the film goes absolutely nowhere ending abruptly at 80 minutes in length and useless. Throughout the tale, some attempt at drawing a correlation between the above and the exorcism of a 17th century nun fails to explain itself and what we are left with is a "WTF-There's an hour and twenty minutes of my life I will never get back!" Seriously, the film had tremendous potential and some unnerving visuals. I suspect finances fell short and creativity was sacrificed for a deadline. Disappointing.

A film with some ambition, but too little edge

[FilmBum · 5/10 · 7 September 2012]

Independent films need to push boundaries. With limited budgets, often times little known lead actors and a small chance of distribution, these are the films - of any - that need to 'stand up and be seen', by delivering to the audience something exciting and exceptional. When it comes down to it, the domain of the independent film is one that is ripe with boundary pushing potential; we expect the independents to come in armed with an edge, much more so than their big budget Hollywood Cousins.

The central issue with The Entrance is that it's an independent film which wants to have an edge, and wants to present us with something we haven't seen before -- but in spite of its ambitions, it essentially falls flat. In spite of a somewhat original story, the potential for a good scare or two, an attractive and appealing lead actress and the promise of supernatural horror, we're left with no pay off, even after all of these elements are introduced into the film.

As a prime example of the film's difficulties in translating horror into terror for the audience, we're presented with a number of scenes --a strange woman alone and crying in a creepy, abandoned parking garage, a weird, freaky, wide-eyed old man speaking in strange tones, even people being snatched up and dragged away by an unseen demonic force... But none of these elicit anything from the audience, as there is no edge (little blood, little real suspense and virtually no mood) in each. The audience is left waiting for an eye popping moment, but will likely be unable to do much but shrug as the films slowly progresses.

Another issue lies in the use of the lead actress, Sarah Jane Redmond. While Sarah Jane is a more than competent actress, and delivers the only watchable performance of the film, she is not used to her full potential. There is a certain sensuousness emanating from Sarah's character, a certain sexuality which, as the film alludes to, has been shaped by past events. But this is never explored, and the film largely plays the character as a straight cop, with no deviations. This is not to suggest that Sarah's character needed to get nude, but that different aspects of her physical self and mental self should have been explored - they should have given her character an edge, which she lacked throughout.

More than anything, what really stands out for me was the lack of focus in this picture. In a film with an edge, you'd expect much more of a narrow focus, a certain direction. As this film seems to wander from one scene to the next, and leaves scenes open ended, you never get that razor focus you'd expect in a competent horror film, such as Saw.

Ultimately, the indies need that edge - and this film, though coming with seemingly all the right elements, fails to deliver with any kind of edge at all. It's a shame, considering the energy and work that went into it.

Games the Devil plays

[sol-kay · 5/10 · 18 September 2008]

***SPOILERS*** Tales from the crypt like anthology that has to do with this 17th century exorcism preformed by French priest Sabstien Michalis on a nun from his church.

Were then brought into the present with drug pusher Ryan James being directed by forces beyond his control-the Devil?-to get lady police detective Jen Porhowski to this underground basement. It's there where a number of people are playing cards bingo and just with themselves in order for them to stay alive.

We soon get to see that theses persons including James are to pay for things that did in their past that was in league with the Devil's wishes. The person who seems to be running this operation is this creepy looking janitor who calls himself Joe, even though he's later refereed to as Frank by a fellow employee. Joe's in charge of cleaning up the place that these sinners, against their will, are being held hostage in.

Bsides James the drug dealer we get to see a rapist a card shark and child molester held prisoner by Joe the Janitor who has this strange tattoo on his right hand branding him as being an agent of the Devil.

It takes the entire movie to get a grip of just what's happening and the biggest obstacle to everything in it is non other then Jen herself! What the hell is she doing in this den of sinners when she even in her past indiscretions, that we see replayed by a 1950's like movie projector, did nothing at all to deserve to be there! We also get to see Jen's father Stan Porhowski, who gave her the address to the place, who from what we see, from the movie projector, has a deep dark secret that he eventually is to pay for with his life.

***SPOILER ALERT***The movie does in fact hold you interest even though you have trouble following it hoping that in the end all the loose ends will finally be tied together. You come to some kind of conclusion that Jen in fact is being manipulated by the Devil into commit an act of violence, or murder, just to put her in the same category as those she's with. Try as she does Jen in fact keeps her emotions, especially towards both the rapist and James the drug dealer, from causing her to lose her innocence! That's until the very last moment of the film that abruptly keeps it's audience from seeing what exactly Jen did!

My Review

[joemamaohio · 1/10 · 28 October 2008]

Detective Porhowski (Sarah-Jane Redmond) is trying to find out what's happening in her town. Ryan James (Michael Eklund) says he was in a nightmarish place where some supernatural evil was killing people based on sins they've committed. As she delves deeper into this crazy story, the more she realizes that it might not be as crazy as she once thought it was.

Supposedly this was based on a true story due to some priests' notes or something like that. Basically it's their way of saying, 'this could possibly happen, so we'll say it did happen and make people believe it happened, even though it never really did happen.' Yea, they tried to manipulate the general audience, to little avail.

They are as all men, made or unmade by themselves, creators of their own destiny.

[lastliberal · 4/10 · 14 May 2009]

Priests, demon-possessed nuns, rape, pedophilia - these are the makings of a good horror film when you add demons and the devil. Will this live up to the promise? Sometimes the concept is good, and certainly Sarah-Jane Redmond and Michael Eklund were good, but the story just didn't go anywhere.

There was very little action; mostly just running around and talking. Some characters, like the cops in the precinct seemed to be doing work that was just to explain what was happening, as if they had no other way of doing so.

The ending was left up to the viewer and that sucked.

No gore, no blood, some puking from a strung out doper, and no boobage whatsoever. I really must have blinked once because I didn't see the nun either.

a fair effort

[faggoy · 4/10 · 18 May 2008]

this movie was technically made well... in terms of quality of picture and audio... the lighting in some scenes could have taken more thought and effort however on to the story...

it pretty much portrays the theme of saw where people are being punished for sins they committed in the past... most of it takes place in a parking lot where the people come across supernatural/horror creatures to finish them off...

the dialogue got a bit annoying in some places and they never seem to execute the suspense very well... all in all.. a fair effort... writing and directing doesn't always work for everyone...

not fun bad, just plain bad

[bink-8 · 2/10 · 26 December 2009]

Oh man.....I just read someone's positive review of this abomination, and I'm not the least bit surprised it came from Canada. (where the film was made) No doubt still laughing their way to the bank because suckers like me rent this drivel. This film blackens radiation level buttons. I have no doubt that if you turned on the Beatles White Album, drank a bottle of wine, put this movie on, and then did a crossword puzzle or something, this film could be entertaining. What is anyone's name in this movie? Detective Porhowski? Why should we care or identify with this woman if we don't know her name? No character development means I am actually rooting for her to get vacuumed up by the crazy demon...or the invisible tooth lady that snuggles people to death. Man, was this bad.... What is the damn deal with the parking garage...of death? I will give slight props to the janitor/parking lot guy, his acting is a clinic on acting from the eyebrows you cannot miss!! But what the hell were these people thinking? The most interesting part of the story is the historical link with the nun's exorcism that we see in the beginning, then is ignored, save one line in the middle, until the post-climax 25 minutes of sloppy wrap-up with a character and her dad that we don't give a crap about anyway....Bottom line, SAVE YOURSELF....RUN FROM THIS MOVIE!!!

No Spoon Feeding Here

[AccidntlTourist · 7/10 · 7 June 2011]

If you are looking for a no-brainer, slasher, nudity laden horror flick - don't waste your time on this one.

After seeing some of the comments, I didn't expect too much - but was glad I gave it a chance.

Excellent performance by Michael Eklund as the drug dealer (look him up - this guy has no problem finding gigs); fantastic range in his performance.

The cinema-photography was excellent! Good sound track. All around good production values. Good cast and acting.

I loved the mystery of it; don't expect the "expected". Very good script; nicely layered; loved the way elements unfolded. Just when I kind of thought I knew where things were going, delicious little "twisted" twists were added. I liked that I was required to pay attention, to be patient and observant. Yes, the uneasy pacing - kept me off balance; added to the tension. And, I even experienced a couple startlingly scary moments; doesn't happen much for me anymore; such a treat.

I even liked the ending - unsettling as it was.

Well worth a coffee shop chat after viewing this film - so much going on; so much left to the imagination.

Different

[nathjam · 8/10 · 19 November 2006]

I saw this one today at the premiere and was pleasantly surprised by it. Mr. Ecklund definitely deserved the award he won for his part in this one and the directing was great to take advantage of the actors individual spirits and talents.

If you have the chance to see this one at a theatre near you go for it, there are enough moments to keep you paying attention and wondering what's going to happen next.

I definitely look forward to seeing more from this talented cast and director and would definitely like to see more even about these characters and where the may go from the events in this film as well. Well done.

If you can see it, go see it, plus it's shot local to Vancouver which is a plus for sure. You can see what places you know...

Almost works, but not quite.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 1 May 2008]

The Entrance starts as Detective Porhowski (Sarah-Jane Redmood) is told that there is a man (Michael Eklund) waiting in an interview room to confess something, the man tells Porhowski that he was one of five men kidnapped the previous day & imprisoned in a room where they were made to play games with the losers being sacrificed. Detective Porhowski has a hard time believing him, she finds out that the man's name is Ryan & that he is a drug dealer but he disappears soon after. Then outside the police station he kidnaps Porhowski & says that it's all part of the game, a deadly game that Porhowski is now part of...

This Canadian production was co-edited, written, co-produced & directed by Damon Vignale & at times The Entrance is an interesting little supernatural thriller while at other times it's an incoherent mess of a film. The script takes it's lead from Saw (2004) with it's idea of various sinners & criminals having to play games & if they lose they die, unlike Saw which was a horror thriller set in the real world with real people The Entrance puts a supernatural spin on things & introduces a 'fallen angel' called Baal-Berith who kills sinners for the Devil's pleasure or some such nonsense. The basic concept is really good & at times it's an intriguing & interesting take on the Saw premise but at other times it's a mess. It's far too ambiguous for my liking, as the end credits roll you will have many unanswered questions which I found very frustrating. The plot could have been great with Porhowski drawn into the deadly game, however it's a rather predictable plot twist that's easy to see coming & then there's a bizarre ending when Porhowski is attacked but she hadn't sinned so why did the Baal-Berith demon thing go after her? What happened to her dad? Ultimately The Entrance doesn't quite work, there's some nice ideas & an interesting basic concept but it looses it's way & ends up frustrating & when the end credits roll disappointing.

Director Vignale does a decent job, sure he films everything in very muted blue grey colours like just about every other thriller ever made but at least he keeps the camera steady & the editing is as such so you can actually tell whats going on. It's also nice to see a horror thriller film where the entire cast of character's are adults rather than teenagers & there are some decent performances here. The gore is virtually zero, someone gets a cut on his head & trickle of blood but that's it. There's a werewolf type monster briefly seen at the start which then completely disappears, not sure why & what's up with that girl who throw's up at the start? The games the sinners are forced to play might have been a bit better & a little more dramatic too, I mean musical chairs & a game of bingo don't exactly set the pulses racing!

Technically the film is good & well made with decent production values although the budget does show a little bit when some ancient powerful demon has to set his games & traps inside a multi storey Canadian parking garage! Apparently shot in Vancouver in British Columbia in Canada. The acting is good from a decent cast.

The Entrance could have been a great little supernatural Saw style rip-off but it ends up missing the mark because of a slightly weak & underdeveloped script that leaves the viewer somewhat frustrated. I quite liked it for what it was but it could have been so much more.

visceral. .

[downtownsound · 10/10 · 23 October 2007]

Great performances by a remarkably talented cast will tend to make a good script great. Happens every time. Written and directed by Damon Vignale, "The Entrance" showcases the importance a director should place on getting the most from his cast. In this case, Mr. Vignale started with great talent and managed to get, in my mind, award-winning performances from them. They, in turn, took the script and and ran with it very effectively. From beginning to end the pace of this film is consistent in its flow. The audience is drawn into the bizarre set of circumstances which befall a young female detective after interviewing a visibly upset felon. She embarks on a journey which ultlimately challenges her own humanity while forced to revisit a crime she was victim to in her childhood. Unfortunately, much of the subject matter of the film precludes it's being something for your kids to watch. Nevertheless, The Entrance should be on everyone's list of "should see's". A great piece.

Not for everyone...

[venusboys3 · 9/10 · 29 September 2011]

OK... right off, there is no gore, no explosions, no nudity, very little action/violence... the 'demon' only shows it's ugly face in a couple of quick flashes. So, it's not for the short attention span crowd. Also, it's also not for the crowd who need everything explained in nice clear expositions with a pretty bow tying it all together at the end.

For the rest of us... it's not a bad little thriller. 'Little' both in that the budget is obviously tiny (most of the cash probably went to hire Ms. Redmond) and there's no world-threatening conspiracy. Most of the movie takes place at night and it has the feeling of an intimate little tragedy. Only when the sun comes up does the mood come somewhat undone... I would have preferred the story keep to the cover of darkness.

The only real disparaging thing I'd say about it is that the casting/characters/direction are as bland as a sack of oats. Not that the acting is bad... it isn't... but the folks they chose are so blandly 'thespian'. For a pack of evil sinners and demons they a pretty ordinary looking (for Hollywood) bunch... no one is too pretty or too ugly or too old or too young... none of the performances are noticeably weak or inspiring (though Ms. Redmond has the heaviest sack to carry so props to her). It's a decent/interesting story but it could have used some more imagination in the casting and character dialogue and direction and... well... it generally could have used more imagination... and I'm not equating 'imagination' with FX or action or gore... just some more flavor to the faces, words, performances.

Still, I enjoyed it... and if it really is the first of a trilogy I'll be sure to be there for the next one.

Spoilers follow ...

[parry_na · 8/10 · 29 August 2017]

Directed with assurance by writer Damon Vignale, 'The Entrance' is a true gem. To review it in any way, it is unavoidable to include some spoilers which will affect your enjoyment! Ryan James (Michael Eklund), drug dealer, is alone and afraid in a multi-storey car-park. With the aid of the Janitor (Ron Sauvé), he flees. He is interviewed by Detective Porhowski (Sarah-Jane Redmond), who explains he has been kidnapped with four others. The others have been killed, all of them having dark secrets (rapist, child abuser etc). Porhowski, meanwhile, is considering quitting the police force to work with her businessman father (Bernard Cuffling).

Driving home, the detective is held at gunpoint by an escaped James who explains he had been set free by 'the Janitor' only if he provides another life to take – and Porhowski will be his replacement. Soon, she is in the thrall of the possessed Janitor and the Devil (one assumes), where they try to convince her to shoot the man who raped her six years before. It seems she needs to have a dark secret of her own to join them. She resists.

Later, she is once more confronted by Ryan James, now possessed by the same spirit that inhabited the Janitor (revealed by the passing on a circular tattoo on the hand). It seems James has caused her father to succumb to a fatal heart attack. As the spirit within James laughs hysterically, Porhowski aims her gun at him, seemingly intent on killing him.

This is where the story ends. My take is that the action of her shooting James would provide the spirit with the means of possessing or recruiting her to his minions. The whole production is left beautifully open ended in a way that is purely open to speculation.

Made on a low budget, 'The Entrance' is compelling, a series of twists and turns every step of the way. Some are explained, some left deliberately vague. The cast are superb throughout, especially Redmond. It has a similarity to parts of the 'Saw' franchise, but is a superior horror/thriller in its own right, and strongly recommended.

Parking Garage Of Doom...

[azathothpwiggins · 5 January 2022]

THE ENTRANCE features a playfully sadistic demon busily rounding up sinners in order to torture them with silly games of life and death.

Detective Porhowski (Sarah-Jane Redmond) finds herself caught in the malevolent monster's snare.

Though it does drag in spots, this movie has a decent amount of mystery and suspense. It also has a high weirdness factor going on that helps to keep things interesting.

Ms. Redmond is especially good in her bedeviled role...