At the Devil's Door (2014) User Reviews

Film with great promise switches too many gears

[mecheart · 4/10 · 10 August 2014]

'At the Devil's Door' opens with an intriguing series of events reminiscent for this viewer of Clive Barker's 'Lord of Illusion'. In fact, as act one got underway, I was in the process of making a case for a potentially new favorite horror movie. The film begins with a girl of perhaps seventeen years of age (credited only as 'the girl') led to a small mobile home in the desert by her shifty looking boyfriend, to play some kind of occult game for a few hundred dollars cash. I found both the premise and execution to be effective from a horror movie creep factor perspective, and was anxious to see more.

The film continued to interest with the young female protagonist jamming out to decidedly eighties flavored music, which mistakenly led me to anticipate some sort of retro theme similar to that found in some of Ty West's work.

Unfortunately, act 2 quickly shifts the focus off the young girl and her deepening involvement with the occult to a pair of female characters whose lives are far removed from the original heroine's atmospheric descent into the unknown.

For a time after this shift in viewpoint the story follows Leigh (Catalina Sandino Moreno), who is a lonely immigrant real estate agent destined to stumble upon the events of early act 1 by easily inferred means.

Frankly, I was deeply into following the story of the teen girl(Ashley Rickards) and her terrifying journey, so much so that when the perspective shifts and we are introduce to the people in Leigh's life, I thought I was suddenly watching a different movie.

Throughout Leigh's section of the film the story does at times flashback to the teen girl's plot line, but by then most all the original atmosphere is dispersed.

I did not find Leigh's segment to be entertaining really, nor could I identify with her or her character's plight. What compounded this further for me was a third perspective shift in late act 2 to Leigh's sister, Vera (Naya Rivera) who actually becomes the film's main character from that point on. If Leigh was a difficult character for me to get into, Vera's is even more so and I cannot imagine why the writer/director chose to squander what atmosphere he had crafted early on in exchange for the confusing and disappointing perspective shifts of later acts.

Essentially, the story boils down to a supernatural birth and leads the viewer onto the much worn path of evil children and the parent who sets out to stop them at all costs, only to throw in a last minute, unsatisfying twist at the end.

For my tastes the plot of 'At the Devil's Door' wandered too much, became too many different stories too suddenly, and never really committed to one identity. And that's a shame as the film opened with some really great horror potential that demanded focus on one character's perspective and continual thickening of atmosphere. Even the tension the film does build just happens in too many places to ever rise to the level of terror.

A recommendation to horror fans, in my opinion, would lead only to their disappointment.

Excellent creepy thriller with extremely unsatisfying ending.

[gbevan3 · 5/10 · 24 August 2014]

I watched this film and it had me glued from the onset.The suspense is excellent and the acting is superb.The young girl plays an exceptionally good part at being spooky without even speaking.BUT,for me personally,I like a film with an understood ending. Young girl sells soul,kills herself then the story goes South from there. The Sister plays no relevant part although the acting is very good and the "Demon" itself is played to perfection. There is no explanation at the end,it's not even a case of leaving you guessing,...it just spoils the film as it had all the hallmarks of a truly memorable Horror but failed miserable at the end.If you can cope with loose ends and like "momentary" thrills then this is for you.

"You're not the One I Want"

[MattBirk · 6/10 · 29 December 2014]

At The Devil's Door is a mixed bag of horror elements, there are some great scares and a strong atmosphere, but then there are parts of the story that just seem irrelevant. As for the better aspects of the movie, the opening scene is phenomenal, it does what every movie should do, it hooks the viewer in a matter of minutes. After those great opening minutes, the atmosphere in the movie is nice and thick, and it lasts for just about the entire movie. But the atmosphere can't save the movie from a very odd and spotty narrative timeline that jumps all over the place between past and present for no apparent reason. The movie is the tale of three characters and the middle character is just filler to get from the first girl to the last girl. The second act is where the story starts to get muddy and the excitement level drops significantly, and the questions start to rise.

And as for the end (which most people have a problem with), I have to agree, very anticlimactic and disappointing. Like I said above, the final minutes of the movie just ruins the ride, just a lack of logic on the characters decision is just disappointing. At The Devil's Door was the type of movie I really wanted to like more than I did, but looking back, there are just too many empty scenes that don't add up. The whole movie jumps through time like crazy, from the past to the present, then like 7 years into the future, which definitely makes you wonder why a character waited that long to do so? And if you can't get past the middle girl in the film and turn the movie off, you're not really missing much of a conclusion, let alone anything you haven't seen before in the horror genre.

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Really could've been better

[Red_Identity · 10 August 2014]

I sort of appreciate what this was trying to do, honestly. I just wish it had done it better. The film really isn't the typical mainstream slasher/horror flick, and it knows how to build atmosphere... to a point. It just slogs throughout most of its running time, and it really seems like it goes nowhere. The biggest crime a horror film could make is be boring, and at times, this is incredibly dull. I like the destination and I like how it doesn't feel the need to speed up its pace, but the really thin screenplay and some questionable acting make this not very good. It's a pity too, because it really does have some nice scenes and atmosphere.

Bits of nonsense does not a Horror make!

[ArchonCinemaReviews · 2/10 · 24 September 2014]

A fragmented bundle of story pieces, At the Devil's Door doesn't add up as the sum of its parts.

The film effectively opens with a runaway teenage girl in the arms of a teenage boy in what looks to be a mobile home in the desert. He takes her to play a shell game unlike she's ever played and wins $500. While at her home later she is viciously attacked by an unknown force. Fast forward to Leigh, a hardworking real estate agent trying to sell the very house the girl in the last scene was attacked. While surveying the house she comes across the girl, who we believe is the daughter of the couple selling the house, and becomes the target of the ominous supernatural force; unknowingly bringing her sister Vera into its sights as well.

That convoluted summary and plot description is due to the plot being a loosely jumbled mess. To call At The Devil's Door a narrative would be an offense to all other narratives because it is so discordant from a typical plot. Nicholas McCarthy desperately and ineffectually tries to splice the tale together loosely by connecting the satanic undertone throughout. For a film marketing itself as a 'horror' it shies away from the truly terrifying aspects of demonic rage as a satanic being clamors to take a human form and is underwhelmingly tame.

At The Devil's Door is unnecessarily overcomplicated and contrived in trying to be different from typical demonic possession films. Incoherent perplexing chunks of the film should have been amputated and reevaluated. Editors are resigned to fade to black scenes to attempt to piece together a film with no cohesive plot direction. The fragmented plot and poorly conceptualized screenplay by McCarthy is only highlighted further by the forced dialogue between the characters.

Further, there are three protagonists. There is a formula to horrors and supernatural thrillers, a very simple formula, you must have one clear protagonist for the audience to follow. Ashley Rickards is great as the disturbed teen assaulted in the first scene who menacingly skulks about, tormented by the decision she makes to allow this dark force to enter her life. The next protagonist Leigh, played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, unfortunately gets featured far too much and further splinters the story. The film could have contained a single scene with her as a minor character in order to connect Rickards' plot to Vera, the sister, played by Naya Rivera. If it were not for the sufficient performances of Rickards and Rivera this film would be unwatchable. Once Vera is the primary focus for the film it picks up slightly but pathetically shuffles its way to a weak finale.

At The Devil's Door is a bland and disjointed interpretation of the hellish thrillers of yesteryear when humanity was afraid of losing its soul to Satan. With no clear plot and no serious scares it expediently fast forwards through the various shorts attempting to be key plot events to an ending the audience can not care or be invested.

Poor

[thecla555 · 2/10 · 20 April 2015]

*****This contains SPOILERS******** It's the age old, demon wants a human body to inhabit so it impregnates people story....just it's been done so much better, this is a bit of a pathetic attempt.

I wouldn't say the acting was bad exactly, perhaps it was the script and direction that caused the lack of atmosphere, and the inability to relate to any of the characters due to their entire lack of personality.

It is such a loose story, girl sells soul, demon impregnates girl, girl kills herself. Girl haunts previous home for a number of years...demon does nothing until some random real estate woman arrives who can't have kids...so the demon kills her and goes after her sister....why? Apparently we don't need to know why.

We are informed very loosely that the sisters have no family, and a somewhat strained relationship, seems they have no friends either.

I will commend the actress who played Vera for her passive aggressive portrayal, even though we are given no reason as to why she is so bitter.

Also what is with the adoptive mother at the end who appears to ignore her child's ability to change channels telepathically; who allows a total stranger into her home to be alone with her daughter, then doesn't even notice when they leave until about 15 minutes later...also how does she find them so easily....Can I also ask why Vera waited 6 years, then turned up to murder her demon spawn with what looked like a kitchen knife tucked in her pants...???

To end, the child looks at her real mother(Vera)with black eyes, yet Vera chooses instead of death,this demon child should be loved by her so kidnaps her....wait, what?

I really don't get how or why this film was made. Garbage.

The most not watch of the year

[madstreg · 1/10 · 9 August 2014]

This movie needs a coupon where I can reclaim that hour and a half of my life back.. The storyline is really flimsy, and so is the acting. There was no connection at all with the characters, and the dialogs hardly added anything to change that fact. There is a way too long build up to the tension, and when something does happen, it's disappointing. The ending did nothing to change the vagueness of the overall movie. The best acting came from the red trench coat. The boots were a close second. Even I, who has watched many of bad horror movies in my day, felt the need to warn people to stay clear of this one. Simply one of the most boring horrors I've seen in a while.

Some new animo in the horror genre ...

[peterp-450-298716 · 7/10 · 7 October 2014]

When you expect a kind of "The Exorcist" variant with a person possessed by a demon, ranting and raving while being chained to a bed, vomiting green slime, reciting incoherent fragments of text in a foreign language that he/she doesn't master and spinning his/her head around in a supernatural way, then you're wasting your time with "At the Devil's door", because this is not that type of film. But if you are a lover of the more subtle horror genre with a nasty undertone and a sinister, menacing atmosphere created by the use of shadows, moving objects and a constant palpable threat, then this is a must see.

Of course there will be grumbling about the lack of depth of the characters and of real scares. Firstly, I think a horror isn't always successful by using irritating artificial frights (as in "The Quite Ones" where they used deafening sound effects) or by excessive use of gore elements. To me a horror is brilliant when, even if these elements are applied to the minimum, and it still has a nasty and devilish atmosphere. And you don't need profundity to create that. I suggest you watch a Shakespearean drama when you're into that. You also don't expect scary moments while watching a romcom.

It all starts with a teenage girl called Hannah (Ashley Rickards) who makes the mistake to accept the invitation of her boyfriend to play an innocent game and as a reward gets 500 $ for doing that. In a ramshackle caravan somewhere in the middle of a desert, an eccentric, horrid guy plays a cup game with her and comes to the conclusion that she is "chosen" and she should go to a particular intersection and speak out her name so that "he" will know her when the time is right to call her ... Years later we meet the real estate agent Leigh (Catalina Sandino Moreno) who's going to sell an abandoned house which later appears to have been the parental home of Hannah. Together with her sister Vera (Naya Rivera), she is sucked into a demonic game where evil is trying to nest in human society.

"At the devil's door" basically covers the same theme as told in Goethe's work "Faust" : the closing of a pact with the devil and giving your soul in exchange. In this case it's not really voluntary, but it's kind of the same idea. The scene in Hannah's bedroom suggests that it will turn out to be a typical horror about possession and that an accumulation of clichés will be the result. Nothing could be further from the truth. The story very slowly unravels a sinister plot while using the principle of "less is more". This paranormal horror, in which a mix of "The Exorcist" and "Rosemary's Baby" is interwoven with a little family drama, makes sure you haven't got a clue where it's leading too. In addition, there are some surprising twists in the story which sufficiently compensates the lack of some decent frights. There are some extremely strong fragments in it. Like Hannah's bedroom scene, the "Little Red Riding Hood" type of girl who turns a babysitters night into a hysterical experience for the concerned parents, Leigh's confrontation with evil and the ultrasound ("The Possession" flashed through my head for a second). Simple and unspectacular portrayed. Subtle and exciting at the same time.

The two main players Catalina Sandino Moreno and Naya Rivera are two outstanding actresses and beautiful at the same time. For once they aren't like most girls in a horror film, run around screeching and being slaughtered by some demonic power. They are intelligent go-getters who defend themselves. They both have a very different role in this film and divide the whole into two additional episodes. And the little girl Ava Acres who played "the girl" at the end, had such a minimal role but played it in such terrifying way. Most will call the end weak and disappointing. Personally I thought it fitted the entire movie and made it pretty open-ended so a sequel isn't unthinkable. All praise to Nicholas McCarthy who tried to create some new enthusiasm in the horror genre.

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Disappointing

[TdSmth5 · 5/10 · 20 May 2015]

A young couple visits the guy's uncle. He's got $500 if the girl plays a game. She picks a happy face pin from a box and has to guess under which of the cups it'll be after the creepy old man spins the cups around. She guesses right 3 times and the third time the pin has an ash cross over it. The uncle tells her she's been chosen and to go to a crossroad and say her name so "he" will know who she is and then gives her the $500.

Back at home the girl hears something and she's lifted in the air and thrown around. She tries to bury the money, then burn it but it keeps appearing in her drawer.

Next we meet a pretty real estate agent. She has a sister who's an artist and is about to do an exhibition. The agent visits an empty house she's going to sell. There she sees the girl from the intro. She tells the owners who think it may their missing daughter who ran away with her boyfriend. But then it turns out the daughter is found. The agent discovers that the girl she's seeing is someone else who committed suicide. But then, the unseen force kills her.

Now her sister, the artist, picks things up. She interviews one of the suicide's friends who tells her all sorts of info on the girl. Then the artist is attacked by the force and ends up in the hospital. When she wakes up from a coma she's told that she's pregnant. During the ultrasound she sees an evil face on the screen and demands the doctors take out the kid. Several years later she visits her creepy-looking daughter.

I had high hopes for At the Devil's Door. I enjoyed the writer/director's previous effort The Pact, although he's yet another male who insists on making movies without any significant male characters. Is that what it takes these days to make it in Hollywood? Unfortunately this movie is a step in the wrong direction. The strongest female, Ashley Rickards, gets only the secondary role of the intro girl, while the weakest actress get the more significant role. The main problem though is the nonsensical story. A movie about a demon looking to procreate should make for a good horror movie actually. But here it's told in too roundabout a way. You can't really care about most of the characters including the main character, which is a terrible flaw. Like most movies, this one, too, goes eventually on mute with no one saying much of anything, certainly the demon doesn't say a whole lot, he doesn't even make a sound.

That said, Nicholas McCarthy is a good director, perhaps not so much when it comes to telling a story, but definitely when it comes to shooting a movie. And he goes for subtlety instead of hyper explicitness--always a good idea in horror. So when we see the demon, it's usually at a distance, unfocused in the background, or in a mirror reflection. That does make the demon less menacing, which is why he should have been given more of a voice. At the Devil's Door is a movie that had potential but most if it was unrealized.

Intriguing horror?

[begob · 7/10 · 12 December 2014]

Hard to figure out if this is really a horror.

First up - the acting, sound, shooting, and editing are brilliant. On that basis it's an award winner.

The story starts with selling one's soul to the devil, and this passes through four characters, all female. She just gets $500 and when she speaks her name at a crossroad he comes for her and she ends up committing suicide.

So most of the story seems like a metaphor - the illusions of lonely women in a declining society. There's no significant male character - just the shadow of the beast.

I thought this was going to go Mulholland Drive, with the artist sister having invented the story to justify her evil deeds. But it ended straight.

Overall really impressed, especially with the expectation of something new in each scene. But it needed an extra level. Horror has to horrify, and a great story has to be meta - very hard to combine them.

I rated The Pact, which was a genuine horror but with much lower standards. So I reckon McCarthy will blow my mind next time round.

One more thing: I got confused distinguishing the female characters in this movie and in The Pact - is it just me?

A few memorable visuals, but little else to offer

[adamarmour · 4/10 · 4 March 2015]

Taken on their own, there are a lot of little things to like about "At the Devil's Door." It's competently directed, but not flashy. There are some really nice creature make up effects. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least two visuals creepy enough to remember two days later. At least one jump scare worked for me because it came out of nowhere.

The problem is, none of these things really add up to anything special. "At the Devil's Door" suffers from something I just made up: Handful-of-Interesting-Visuals Disease, or HIV for short. Wait … that may already be taken. Whatever. HIV is where a filmmaker suddenly musters enough inspiration to come up with a neat shot or two, but then doesn't have much else to build around them. What this movie lacks is likable characters, believable dialog, a coherent timeline of events and — when all is said and done and the credits start to roll — a story worth telling. The story jumps from character to character all willy-nilly, never giving us the chance to get to know any of them. Months, then years, go by with the flash of a title card. Once, for no particular reason, the movie jumps backwards in time. Words spill from character's mouths with little thought as to why they are saying them or what they actually mean. There's a bit of clever misdirection at one point in the story, but the reveal doesn't really mean all that much because nothing happens due to the protagonist having the wrong information. It's just there for to make the audience go, "oh." I'm shaking my head; that's just bad writing.

While I'm generally a fan of backdrop horror … that is, scary stuff going on in the background of scenes … this movie relies on it almost exclusively. I don't have enough fingers to count out the number of times we get a shot of something in the foreground while scary stuff goes on just out of focus. Or, the trick where a character walks by a window or mirror and there's something standing there. These are occasionally accompanied by music stings, but only when the character happens to notice whatever it is.

I'm also not sure the ending of this movie makes a whole lot of sense. It certainly isn't satisfying, but it may also be completely nonsensical.

All in all, not a waste of time, but not exactly a great way to spend it, either.

a really good paranormal horror movie

[paranormal14 · 9/10 · 20 December 2014]

If you like insidious and the conjuring then you would love this movie. I don't why it doesn't have better ratings. it pulled me in, had me interested, kept me on the edge of my seat. there was quite a few jump scares and the atmosphere of the movie was really creepy. it's a good scary demonic horror movie. At first I was confused but it all got explained later on in the movie. I didn't really understand the ending, that's probably why it doesn't have the best ratings. I however loved it, and I recommend it to any horror and paranormal fans. It's got a whole different story to it. it's not like your average demon, haunting and possession type of movies. it's different and really scary.

I can't take IMDb reviewers seriously

[Dorjee_Wang · 7/10 · 11 June 2015]

As an avid horror movie fan I've seen my fair share of supernatural horror (sorry slashers are stupid and annoys the hell out of me), I can't take any reviews on IMDb seriously.

It shocks me to see better horrors like this one having low ratings whereas atrocious ones like The Possession of Michael King (this was awful), or The Haunting in Connecticut 2 (this was laugh worthy) getting higher ratings. It's really vexing.

Now let's get to this movie.

The movie as a whole is enjoyable. A girl sells her soul (unintentionally) so she could make her boyfriend happy (and also $500). She then starts getting haunted by an unknown force. If I say anything more it'll be spoilers.

The story is okay, not a gem but not bad either. The ending could've gone better. But it's still comprehensible enough to be enjoyable.

The movie doesn't follow the usual horror recipe of being a loud scream fest. But in contrast it's very silent which intensifies the ambiance.

The performances are the highlight of this movie. There are 3 female leads and all of them give equally good performances. And gives a good few scare performance.

Definitely recommend it to a horror fan.

Not Sure What To Make Of It ......

[ArdentViewer · 5/10 · 23 December 2014]

I didn't think it was awful - I thought it had promise and was interesting for the most part. However, the execution came up short. So, I'm going to split the difference and give it a 5/10.

Positives *Nice visual atmosphere *Generally kept my interest *Decent acting *Mostly good concept

Negatives

*Disjointed - the main characters kept changing throughout. I think Vera was brought to the forefront too close to the end of the movie to be an acceptable protagonist. *Plot holes and inconsistencies (to be discussed further) *Soundtrack was EXTREMELY distracting – I was more startled by the sudden volume and tempo changes than by anything on the screen. Music should be there to enhance the mood, not to shove it down the viewer's throat. *Lack of resemblance between the two "sisters." Naya Rivera and Catalina Moreno could hardly look more different if they tried. They have distinct skin tones, hair type and color, face shape, facial structure, eye-and-nose-shape just to name a few features. If this was meant as a vehicle for Naya, they should have chosen an actress who more closely resembled her. To me, the dissimilarities were distracting.

PLOT HOLES Even with the suspension of disbelief (a prerequisite for watching horror movies), there should be some consistency and dare I say it, logic to the theme and the scares.

1. There should have been more explanation regarding the teenager and his uncle. What was their relationship with the devil? How did it come about in the first place? What did they get out of the deal? There was so little there that these two characters might as well have been discarded on the cutting room floor. At that level, their inclusion was more harmful than helpful. They didn't take it far enough

2. If Hannah sold her soul to the devil, wouldn't the devil's domain be her and her alone? How and why would Satan have been able to wait so long and attempt to inhabit someone else? Wouldn't there have been better things to do, more souls to conquer, etc.? It doesn't make sense that just because Leigh and Vera both went into the house, saw "Hannah," and touched the soot, they would have been ripe for the picking. In some movies, the devil can get anyone and everyone - but this film was not presented in this manner at the outset. If the devil could get to both Leigh and Vera, why not Charlene, the runaway daughter? It would have had ample opportunity with her living in the house.

3. What Vera saw at times didn't really make sense. If she was seeing the pretend Hannah (and later, her "daughter"), why would she also see various manifestations of demons/the devil in the same situation? Why do both? It seems like an awful lot of effort with no purpose.

4. Why did Vera even get to live? If the goal was to create offspring so that the devil could be "all of someone," wouldn't Vera have served her purpose as the vessel? It was obvious that the only reason she remained was to extend the movie. I don't think the ending added anything. Vera would hopefully have realized that it would be impossible to kill the devil's spawn. But if that was her goal, why did she leave with the child instead? We didn't see any overt manipulation/possession that could account for this behavior. To me, the ending fell flat.

KARA IS LOOKING FOR A HOME

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 30 November 2018]

The title is a bit of a plot spoiler, but the film lacks the depth to be a good mystery. Hannah (Ashley Rickards) agrees to play a simple game for $500.00 because $666.00 would have been better for the script. The film then jumps to the future which made IT a bit confusing. Leigh (Catalina Sandino Moreno) is a real estate agent and her sister Vera is an artist with a "dark side."

The film has flashbacks and sightings as the girl in the red slicker keeps popping in and out giving me Adelina Poerio flashbacks from "Don't Look Now."

The production was poorly edited. The trite script is one of the worse "Omen" type films since that Christian Slater disaster. The film attempts to develop some minor depth with a home with a checkered past, but ends up taking away more from the film then adding. At times it was like watching a made for TV Lifetime "Omen" film. They also needed a better sound track.

Will do as a Redbox rental.

Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.

Home with a dark past

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 9 June 2018]

Saw 'Home', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued by the idea which was reasonably different when it comes to recent viewings of horror. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.

Giving 'Home' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'Home' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.

Starting with the positives, generally the production values could have been much worse. There is a real sense of eeriness, foreboding and a decently stylish atmosphere, and it makes the most of the confined and at times effectively claustrophobic setting. The music is also suitably haunting and manages to not be too intrusive, likewise with the sound not being too obvious (a bugbear of mine with low-budget viewings recently).

There is tension, suspense and genuine creepiness. The acting is better than average, with the three leads carrying the film pretty decently.

Would have liked however more tension and suspense and for some of the scares to be more creative and less trying-too-hard to the point of cheesiness. The dialogue is cheesy and awkward generally.

Found that the story could have been executed better too. Too many parts are uneventful, the narrative structure is not always coherent and it can feel padded, not to mention an ending that perplexes in its anti-climactic and muddled convolution. There are exceptions to the better than expected production values, the effects are shoddy and the editing could have been tighter.

Overall, better than expected but didn't blow me away. 5/10 Bethany Cox

A Piece of Crap !!!!

[syed-faizanshah001 · 1/10 · 15 August 2014]

hey , I just watched & lemme say it straightforward NO OFFENSE , "It's a piece of Sh**" if you are a horror movie fan, just don't download it, I just wasted my precious 190 minutes for watching it! trust me, i really don't write reviews, it's my 3rd i guess :) don't waste your time - watching it. neither horror nor a good story. so that is all I wanted to say. have a nice time, i just have to... u know "complete the 10 lines text" i don't know why they made that least limit, means 10 lines? what am I suppose to write in 10 long lines. whatever, I'm doing this for you guys, I don't want that someone else waste time on watching it, don't take any offense, but I really didn't like it I'm not responsible for any offense.

Risky and raw

[TuesdayThe17th · 7/10 · 22 December 2014]

This horror film is very well made. It is a new age Gothic story horror that redoes an idea that has been toyed with in many many movies over the years. This time, though, Director Nick McCarthy decided to really wring out the rag of provocative horror ideas. This movie has a thick storyline, and I really like how the movie opened the way it did. The idea explored here is that a young girl sold her soul to the Devil in order to make some quick cash. She clearly had to be the type of girl who feels that she has very little to live for, because come on, who would actually agree to do such a thing. I could see it being a joke, but when there's a $500 reward for doing it, it starts to get a little sketchy. This girl was portrayed as a poor girl who doesn't seem to have any parents. The Director of this movie also directed "The Pact" which is a little bit similar to this movie. There is a pact made between two people in both films, and the characters get whipped and flung around by a ghostly entity in both films. I really like McCarthy's style and I advise you all to check this movie out. It's terrifying!

Bad decisions

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 20 October 2014]

Yes every other horror movie lives and dies (no pun intended) with the characters making bad decisions. And while the initial beginning of the movie is really strong (despite the pact that is being made not really making much sense), the rest does let off. More bad decisions coming along, one of them been done twice, which is really hard to swallow however you look at it.

Home is where the heart is, but this "Home" is telling us something else. It's also not about the heart as much as it is about the soul. But horror movies are different or at least try to be. This has a few things going for it (strong beginning and ending), but also a couple of letdowns too.

Took a while to hit it's stride.

[AdamJACox · 6/10 · 16 July 2021]

The opening of this film is very slow and although it builds some important story it didn't draw me in until Vera (Naya Rivera) takes over as the main character from there it really starts to develop the story and actually becomes a pretty interesting film, it has little in the way of gore for a horror film and relies mostly on atmosphere, the occasional jump scare and some paranormal body manipulation. It must also be said that the ending is a little anti-climatic (although a simple post credit scene showcasing the future ramifications would have helped)

A Bit Of A Nonsensical Farce

[dfa120374 · 3/10 · 7 June 2015]

Wow! What an absolute mess of a film this was. The story just jumped about all over the place; the acting wasn't the best (but at least it wasn't awful, I suppose); it wasn't scary; there was no tension or suspense. Just a bad film all round really.

At the Devil's Door is one of those films you have to really pay attention to as well because it jumps back and forth from one moment in time to another, so if you don't watch you'll end up getting lost very easily. Although in saying that, you're not missing much if you do get lost, because this film is just awful so it's not as if you'll kick yourself if do you miss anything. It's also pretty hard to pay attention when nothing really happens for 90 minutes, and you find yourself wanting to do something more interesting...like watching paint dry.

I guess the story idea itself isn't all that bad (I've seen worse after all), but the direction and the execution of the script makes it worse than it actually is. There are no lead-up's to the different scenes...they just follow on from one another randomly and are all put together like a disjointed jigsaw. It actually got pretty painful to watch for about the last 20 minutes (well, the pain started before then if truth be told), and I just wanted it to end quickly.

The only real good parts of the film were a couple of creepier moments. Well, the ONLY creepy moments in the film actually - all two of them - in which there were glimpses of the demon, with the first viewing being a scene that involved it's glowing eyes...not to dissimilar to that of The Amityville Horror (1979), which I must admit was executed well. If only there were more scenes like this because apart from those, there was nothing happening in this film.

At the Devil's Door isn't the worst film I've ever seen, but it's still miles from being a below average horror, and you'd be better off giving something else a go in all honesty.

Stands out from the crowd

[reallyevilboy · 8/10 · 27 August 2014]

I will normally give Horror movies a higher rating than what I should because of two reasons.

1/ Because I'm an extreme fan of the genre. 2/ The overall quality of horror movies is actually a little low so I feel there is some kind of grading curve.

So with this in mind when a descent horror movie comes out you can imagine my delight.

"At the devil's door" has a script that progresses in unexpected directions. This is a pleasant turn of events in a genre that tends to follow the same route over and over again.

It's quite creepy, a few little scares and I really like when horror movies keep the monster just out of view. It's there but you cannot really focus on what it is.

It's not incredibly brilliant but it's a good watch and that's all I really need.

Really good movie

[atinder · 6/10 · 11 August 2014]

This movie does not take long to start off, it actually got me of guard near the start of the movie,

As the movies goes on, it kind flows really well, it tends, to have right mix balance of decent creepy scenes and a few jump scenes , those scenes are really good .

I loved the power cut science was really good, a tad creepy and hospital scene with scan , loved that scene,

The only downside , that there were no ending to the movie, they did want to finish the story , there were no cliffhanger or anything , just ended with no payoff

The acting was decent not great

Really good movie 7 out of 10

Deserves a 0 out of 10

[safepethaven · 1/10 · 23 December 2014]

Not one thing to benefit by trying to watch this attempt at a horror movie. Oh, it's a horror alright, but not as a genre. It's just a horrible attempt at entertainment and misses in every aspect. What a waste.

Filming in the dark for such creep movies is formulaic but does not help when all the characters are filmed in the dark, have identical features, the dialogue (this poor attempt barely has any dialogue to critique) is minimal, and there are so many convoluted flashbacks -- if indeed that's what they were -- that nothing makes any sense.

Perhaps the writer had several beginning attempts at a few scripts, none completed, then just tossed them up into the air & submitted the way the pages fell on the floor to the film company. That could be the only explanation for how this film rates as a zero in every category.

The devil is a bad person

[calderwoodleslie · 3/10 · 12 October 2018]

The devil ran a stop sign and I don't support any movie without road safety, I bet they weren't even wearing seatbelts