Open House

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Open House

September 1st 2010 00:19

Alice (Rachel Blanchard) opens up her home to potential new buyers, which includes striking couple David (Brian Geraghty) and Lili (Tricia Helfer), who immediately take a shine to the house. Brian even takes a shine to Alice. The new home owners move in and make them selves comfortable. Fiendishly comfortable, indeed. This form of perverse comfort involves killing people, and stashing their dismembered bodies in freezer compartments in the garage. David and Lili have a very strange relationship, but codependent it seems. David, however, is keen to break routine, and that involves stashing one of the victims in a crawlspace in the basement … alive and shackled. Poor Alice, trapped like a rat.

Brian Geraghty as David

Open House (2010) is the debut feature of Andrew Paquin, Anna Paquin’s older brother (born in Canada, not New Zealand, like his more famous Oscar-winning sister). Andrew has written and directed, and the production smacks of nepotism. Oh I forgot to mention, Anna and her boyfriend, Stephen Moyer, both have bit-parts in the movie. Yes, very much bit-parts; Anna plays Alice’s best friend Jennie, and has about two minutes screen time, while Stephen gets to enjoy a few minutes more, before being savagely murdered with a kitchen knife plunged into the side of his neck after he succumbs to the psycho-sexual intent of Lili in the plunge pool.

Tricia Helfer as Lili

Because of their success on the True Blood series Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer have been used to help sell Open House, and it’s definitely a lure, but it’s deceiving as well. Ironically the movie is actually carried successfully by the performances of Brian Geraghty and Tricia Helfer (arguably two better actors). Rachel Blanchard’s role is borderline thankless, effective only as a catalyst for the collapse of the relationship between Brian and Lili. It is this psychotic breakdown that is at the core of the movie, and what makes it work.

Rachel Blanchard as Alice

Open House Anna Paquin and Rachel Blanchard

Alice and Jennie (Anna Paquin) have a brief and meaningful

Andrew Paquin’s direction is solid enough, if perhaps a trifle pedestrian. The unpredictable nature of his two serial killers keeps the tension taut and provides some decent scenes of suspense. Overall, Open House plays more like a really good television movie, or even better, a pilot episode to a series about a pair of roaming serial killers whose relationship keeps threatening to implode, but they manage to stay together long enough to keep their travelogue of death afloat. Certainly the last scene of the movie provides ample suggestion for the possibility of a sequel, and I must say I enjoyed the twist that came during the confrontation finale. It’s always good horror fun when the psychos keep a grip on things.

Open House Stephen Moyer and Tricia Helfer

Lili and Josh (Stephen Moyer) have a deeper, more meaningful

The gruesome detail of Brian and Lili’s killing spree is left mostly to the imagination. But boy, that garage must have really started to stink. There is more attention given to Brian’s penchant for videoing the murders, and to Lili’s delusional lifestyle. She is unaware of Brian’s hidden agenda, his private joy. But it’s inevitable Lili will discover Alice. The question is will Alice survive her ordeal? Will Brian be punished when Lili founds out what he’s been keeping from her? Lili is the one who wears the pants, but Brian wants some kind of emancipation, whether it be his own, or Alice’s.

Open House Rachel Blanchard and Brian Geraghty

Alice and David have several quiet and meaningfuls

Open House is best enjoyed for the performances of Geraghty and Helfer. Tricia Helfer could even rival Linda (The Last Seduction) Forientino in the scheming femme fatale stakes. I hadn’t heard Stephen Moyer talk in his natural English accent, and it was a pleasant change, but Anna came across as Sookie (still seemed to be employing her Southern twang) which was all too strange, considering Stephen Moyer was also in the cast.

Jennie gets it in the neck ... hmmm, looks familiar

Here’s the trailer:

Open House DVD is out now through Hopscotch Films’ Other label.

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

2 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

September 3rd 2010 21:26

Film & TV on DVD

Hadn't even paid attention to this one Bryn. With all the potentially entertaining films I have queued up to watch, this will be easily forgotten again.

Comment by JMD

September 14th 2010 03:41

Glad to see you somewhat liked this film Bryn. I had it for a week before I finally watched it. But in hd and dts, I finally got sucked in and watched it (although the dts track really wasn't pushed hard). I agree with you on Tricia Helfer's performance. She is a rather sexy, seductive woman. Overall, it turned out to be better than what I thought (why I waited to watch).

[ Previous - THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED MOVIE TICKET GIVEAWAYS! ]

[ Next - SUFF PREVIEWS: Trash Humpers, The Taint, El Monstro del Mar! ]