Studio: Shudder
Director: David Charbonier, Justin Powell
Writer: David Charbonier, Justin Powell
Producer: Rick Rosenthal, Jim Hart, Ryan Scaringe, John Hermann, Ryan Lewis
Stars: Lonnie Chavis, Ezra Dewey, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Micah Hauptman, Scott Michael Foster
Review Score:
Summary:
An abducted boy escapes captivity, but he must also find a way to free his best friend from their kidnapper’s house.
Review:
An IMDb summary for “The Boy Behind the Door” reads as follows: “After Bobby and his best friend Kevin are kidnapped and taken to a strange house in the middle of nowhere, Bobby manages to escape. But as he starts to make a break for it, he hears Kevin’s screams for help and realizes he can’t leave his friend behind.”
I hesitate to mention where this synopsis took my mind because there’s a dilemma about bringing a true-life tragedy into what should be a run-of-the-mill review for a horror movie intended as entertainment. Please bear with me though, as I pledge to treat the subject matter as delicately as possible.
Upon reading that plot description, I couldn’t help but think of the tragic case of Jacob Wetterling. In 1989, 11-year-old Wetterling, his younger brother, and a friend biked to a convenience store to rent a video like any average kid did with his buddies back then. On their way home, a masked man with a gun terrorized the boys by forcing them to lie face down in a ditch. After asking several questions, the man set the brother and friend free with instructions to run and not look back or else they would be shot. Wetterling was chosen for an even crueler fate, and he was never seen alive again.
The list of heartbreakingly horrifying aspects to Wetterling’s abduction and murder is unfortunately endless. But among the many crimes committed that night was the permanent mental trauma inflicted upon the witnesses. Every time news related to Wetterling’s kidnapping crossed my way, as it did in 2015 when his killer was finally arrested, I often wondered about the psychological scars tattooed on the two boys who were with him. I can’t begin to fathom the lifelong nightmares that undoubtedly come with escaping such a harrowing experience only to be haunted by the replayed memories, survivor’s guilt, and “what ifs” that agonize over whether or not they could have done something to save their brother and friend.
I passed up an opportunity to interview “The Boy Behind the Door” directors David Charbonier and Justin Powell. I didn’t think I needed direct confirmation to know that sad stories such as Wetterling’s almost certainly influenced their film.
The kind of tale “The Boy Behind the Door” tells always has heavier gravity because of its grounding. There aren’t any ghosts. No supernatural curses. Kidnappings happen countless times each day all over the world. This is a real fear, and “The Boy Behind the Door” bottles that “this can happen to anyone” element that’s unsettling in a way fantastical horror films can’t emulate.
In its early going, “The Boy Behind the Door” excels at projecting a relatable rural backdrop. Here are two regular boys playing catch in their Little League uniforms, sharing big dreams about breaking free from a small town in the Midwest to move to the bright beaches of California someday. They could never imagine that they’re mere moments away from having their lives irrevocably altered forever. It’s frighteningly easy to put yourself in Bobby or Kevin’s shoes, just as it was to remember I was barely older than Wetterling when he was taken, and I could have been snatched off the street in similar circumstances on any of umpteen trips to my own local video store.
“The Boy Behind the Door” soon starts dripping with dreariness, both visually and textually, that gradually grows into a downpour. With most of the movie framed from Bobby’s perspective, the emotional weight at stake increases as Bobby struggles to sacrifice his own safety to save his friend. The sympathetic discomfort “The Boy Behind the Door” uses to instill psychological chills is reminiscent of the uncomfortable realities reflected in movies like “Megan Is Missing” (review here) or “The Lovely Bones” before the latter introduced paranormal activity.
Fortunately, if this unnerving mood hits too close to home for you, or unfortunately if you were hoping the film would stay off the path toward traditional thriller territory, “The Boy Behind the Door” doesn’t stay this dark. Once Bobby decides to return to their kidnapper’s house to rescue Kevin, the movie basically turns into a classic cat-and-mouse chase as Bobby continually creeps around failing one escape attempt after another.
As your mindset starts shifting from “this could really happen” to “this is like every other hide-and-seek nailbiter I’ve seen,” you find yourself consciously wishing for fresh plot beats to replace the recycled ones. Of course Bobby and Kevin aren’t going to get out of the house within the film’s first half hour. The kidnapper also leaves the scene for a little bit, so you’re stranded there waiting for another immediate danger to be introduced while Bobby repeatedly runs into dead ends by looking for keys, fiddling with a phone, turning random doorknobs, etc.
VAGUE SPOILERS
It might be for the best that “The Boy Behind the Door” becomes more fictional than factual, at least as far as rattling viewers with too much “ripped from the headlines” realism is concerned. Personal trauma triggers are unlikely to stay tripped after the plot starts bleeding logic like a raging river, particularly with regard to how the villain behaves once the jig is up and a sensible endgame no longer exists. The conclusion also gorges on a series of seemingly never-ending climaxes. Do we really need a faceoff in a tool room, in a vehicle, then outside that vehicle, in an oil field, down a ravine, and so on? Four or five fewer fights would have been fine. While we’re at it, we could have probably used a more heroic ending where a serendipitous deus ex machina doesn’t become the savior after everything the boys endure.
END SPOILERS
Like I said about the duo’s previously released feature “The Djinn” though (review here), David Charbonier and Justin Powell know how to make slick suspense, even if it can be seen as routine. They try so hard to keep a certain pseudo-surprise a secret that it becomes predictably conspicuous, and their shot-for-shot tribute to “The Shining” is so on the nose it touches the back of the head. But their sense of cinematicism is as evident as ever.
With “The Djinn” and now “The Boy Behind the Door,” Charbonier and Powell confirm they’ve got chops that can compete with anyone for taut “kid in danger” scares. I expect to see their next outing in this subgenre debuting in theaters instead of at home, as I’d be shocked if they haven’t already had multiple meetings with Paramount, Universal, and any other studio who wants efficient talent making their mainstream horror movies.
Review Score: 60
At least the movie only runs 70 minutes, though I suppose that extra 10 technically disqualifies it from being a literal amateur hour.