TheLittleSongbird 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

ditziie The spoilers are really only in one paragraph, labeled **spoilers**This isn't a bad movie, although I wouldn't say it's a great one either. It has plenty of suspense and a few moments that are truly terrifying. The atmosphere throughout the whole movie was, in my opinion, particularly well done, they really nailed it! I felt like the characters were well portrayed, however, I think they were not developed as well as they should have been, and although you got a few glimpses into their history and backstory, there really wasn't much to fill in the blanks, and let you really get to know them, or understand them. I think just a little more effort in that area could have made some huge improvements. As it is, it's sort of just like, here's a bunch of people going through some bad stuff, you don't know much about them, and therefore don't have a reason to care about them really, you don't really understand how they got to this point in their lives, and although it doesn't matter much to the story line, it leaves you feeling unconnected to them. So, when something bad happens to them, or they get killed, it's just like, wow that's awful, but oh well.But, as far as the story goes, it is a pretty good one. Actually, it started off great, i thought. The first few scenes had me really into it, but it kind of lost it's momentum at some point. It had plenty of twists and turns, and kept on surprising me all the way through, which is always a good thing. The downside of that, though, is that it was sort of too much packed into one movie. Just when you think you'd figured out what was going on, everything changed. When you think you knew what to expect, the opposite happened. And usually that's good, but in this movie, it happened so much it started to feel...almost ridiculous, I guess. Just like there was too much going on.**Spoiler** For example, when first sister (can't remember her name, sorry) died in the house of 'heart failure', she'd only been there once before that, so it's not like she had a big connection to the house or something. Then, the sister came there, and very soon she was attacked. Again, not a big connection to the house, or even the girl that had killed herself there. But then there's the suicidal girls parents, who I lived in the house too, and I assumed they probably remained there at least for a short while after her death, nothing happened to them, right? Or what about the girl who grew up there, and her parents, who were the ones selling it, although she'd encountered the girl in the red raincoat, she hadn't ever been attacked, nor had her family. So why is it only the sisters are who attacked? The things that happened to them were scary enough to make the movie good, but it sort of left me confused because I don't understand why they were targeted.**I feel like it would have been better if they'd split it into 2 movies, and expanded on the scenes with more detail and more explanation.Then there's the ending...Maybe it's just me, but I thought it sucked. To me, though, that doesn't necessarily ruin the movie, and I don't regret watching it. It was a good watch with a disappointing ending, but again, I think splitting it up would have really made it much better, cause one of my problems with how it ended was that I just felt it was too rushed, and not enough explanations were given.Overall, I'd recommend it to any horror fans, especially lovers of possession or devil themed films, just don't go into it expecting too much or you will most likely be disappointed. It's not going to blow your mind, or have you re-watching it again in a day or two, but it won't have you bored to death, wanting to turn to something else half-way through it.

safepethaven 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.

Nicole of ArchonCinemaReviews.com 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.