Plot: What’s it about?
A family experiences a tragedy, and decides to leave their life abroad in search for closure. A car accident claims the life of the young son of Maria (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Michael (Jeremy Sisto). Maria made a choice in the accident, and saved her daughter instead of her son as a last resort. Needless to say, Maria is beyond devastated and needs some sort of closure in order to move on with her life. Maria’s housekeeper, Piki asks her one day if she would like one last chance to say goodbye to her son. Obviously, she says yes, but that choice comes with consequences. There’s a bit of exposition, but ultimately, Maria is told not to open a temple door for her son. As we see Maria following the instructions, she does see her son, Oliver. He pleads with his mother to open the door for him, and she reluctantly agrees. It’s when Maria returns home that we begin seeing strange things happening because of what she did.
There’s a really nice story at the heart of this film, but unfortunately it’s washed out by loud music, jump scares and other clichés often associated with this genre. I like the idea of having to let go and move on as well as not being able to say goodbye. I’ve lost some friends in my life, but never a really close loved one. With that being said, the film does get some emotional mileage. Still, there’s little else here that holds our interest. The pacing is very sluggish, the frights are more predictable than anything else. I admit that I knew little of the film before sitting down to watch it. Sometimes that’s a good thing as expectations are often killer. I admit that after reading the premise that I did expect something a bit livelier than what we get.
Video: How’s it look?
We get a solid transfer, but also one that does suffer a bit during some scenes. There are many scenes at night that appear a bit murkier than I would’ve liked. It was never a deal breaker by any means, but things could have appeared smoother. Otherwise, the transfer is fine. The print doesn’t show many flaws, details remained strong as well. The image is AVC encoded with a 2.39:1 ratio.
Audio: How’s it sound?
Expect a lot of volume toggling during this film. I constantly had to adjust it since some scenes were quieter while others were loud and jumped out at you more. Vocals were fine and crisp as well. All in all, this track suits the film well. The track is DTS HD.
Supplements: What are the extras?
- Deleted Scenes – Half dozen are included, none of which adds any life to the film (baddam-chh).
- Behind the Door – A fairly routine “Making of…” featurette with some of the cast and crew as well as some behind the scenes footage. Again, pretty standard.
- Still Gallery – Some stills from the film can be found here.
The Bottom Line
While the story at the heart of the film is a touching one (coping with losing a child), it can’t help but feel pedestrian. It’s too often predictable and attempts to frighten us but fails. Also, the pacing became as issue as the film never really takes off. Skip it.
