Couldn’t wait to see Glee fave Naya Rivera in a horror movie, so I went into At the Devil’s Door with no expectations beyond hoping for her to gain main girl status. I definitely got that (score), plus a whole bunch of creepy moments and one particular jump scare that nearly made my heart stop.
The thing is, At the Devil’s Door is essentially three different stories in one movie. First, there’s this girl who makes a deal with the devil for a wad of cash—a wad of cash that tries desperately to play a significant role in the film but ultimately fails.
Girl, just drop the money in the road and run!
Next, there’s the story of a pretty real estate agent who comes to sell a house in which she keeps seeing a girl in a red raincoat and red boots. This section delivers some of the eeriest and most tense moments of the whole film. But it’s hindered by the frequent interruptions jumping back to what happened to the first girl—although, those are pretty intense, too.
And finally, Naya Rivera comes in as a young artist who wants to find out what happened to her sister…the real estate agent. It’s during Naya’s section that I nearly peed myself, plus we get to see the incredibly frightening devil a few times. Not to mention, all signs seem to point to the idea that the devil’s door is simply…a cabinet? Huh?
Naya goes to the house in which much of the sister’s story took place, so the film kind of reminded me of The Pact in that sense, right down to the uber-tense atmosphere. But the plot is more straightforward—yet more convoluted. We get into possession territory…and then fricking Rosemary’s Baby territory! WTF? In the last twenty minutes no less! While shit gets crazy and keeps your interest, every idea introduced into the film feels completely rushed and the ending is a totally absurd bust!
As for Naya, it is awesome to see her in horror, but seriously, she pretty much had Santana bitch face on the entire time. It’s almost like she got into character by constantly thinking about how she’s going to take down Lea Michele….
Must destroy Rachel, must destroy Rachel…..
