The Other Side of the Door (2016 film)

The Other Side of the Door

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Johannes Roberts
Produced by
Written by
  • Ernest Riera
  • Johannes Roberts
Starring
Music by Joseph Bishara
Cinematography Maxime Alexandre
Edited by Baxter
Production
companies
  • 42
  • Kriti Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • 4 March 2016 (2016-03-04)
Running time
 95 minutes[1]
Country
  • United Kingdom
  • India
Language English
Box office $8.1 million[2]

The Other Side of the Door is a 2016 British-Indian supernatural horror film directed by Johannes Roberts and co-written by Roberts and Ernest Riera. Starring Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto, Javier Botet, and Sofia Rosinsky, the film was released in the United Kingdom and the United States on March 4, 2016.

Plot

Six years after losing her son Oliver in a car accident in India, his mother Maria is a wreck. During the accident, Maria chose to save her youngest daughter Lucy instead of Oliver and the guilt devastated her. One night, her husband Michael finds Maria unconscious after a failed suicide attempt. In the hospital, Maria is comforted by her housekeeper Piki. Piki asks Maria if she wants one final chance to say goodbye to Oliver. She explains that in her village, there is an abandoned temple where the line between the living and the dead is very thin. Maria must scatter her son's ashes at the temple steps and lock herself in. Oliver will speak to her once night falls. However, no matter what Oliver says, Maria must not open the temple door for him. Maria agrees and the pair have Oliver's body exhumed and burned. Maria notices some strange men covered in ash. Piki explains that they are shamans who consume the flesh of the dead and coat themselves in ash to strengthen their bonds between the worlds of the living and the dead.

The next day Maria arrives at the temple and follows Piki's instructions. Inside, she uncovers a mummified corpse of a woman. Night falls and Oliver begins talking to Maria, who apologizes to Oliver for leaving him. Oliver starts pleading with Maria to open the door and explains that someone is taking him. Maria panics and opens the door but sees no one. She returns home the next day; now having closure, she focuses her attention on Michael and Lucy but doesn't tell Piki that she opened the door. Strange things start happening; their piano plays itself and Lucy tells Maria that Oliver has come back and that he is hiding from someone. In, Oliver's room, a chair moves toward her, along with The Jungle Book, which Maria was reading to Oliver when he died but never finished. Realizing Oliver wants her to finish the book, she does so. Maria later has a nightmare. Piki notices that nearby plants have started dying and begins to realize that Maria has disobeyed his instructions at the temple.

Lucy's pet birds die suddenly and when Maria and Lucy go to bury them at sea, Maria has ash rubbed on her head by a shaman. Later, the decomposed body of Oliver appears near Lucy. Maria discovers a bite mark on her shoulder, implied to be Oliver's doing. She enters Oliver's room and tells him that he can't hurt Lucy. Oliver pulls out the chair and book again and Maria starts reading to him as long as he doesn't hurt Lucy. A shaman appears at the house and points behind Maria; she sees the mummified body from the temple behind her, which chases her. The next day, an outraged Piki confronts Maria and explains to her that due to her actions, Oliver's soul has become evil and is now on the loose; the door that she opened was preventing him from leaving. He reveals that the strange figure Maria was chased by is The Gate Keeper, who reclaims the soul of the dead. Piki urges Maria to burn all of Oliver’s possessions to break his hold on the living world or he will continue to cause harm to the family.

Maria starts hallucinating and when she comes to, Lucy is missing. Maria runs out to look for her but is attacked by The Gate Keeper, who vanishes when Michael shows up with Lucy, who was just outside the whole time. Piki's daughter appears and lures Piki to the pond, where Oliver's spirit drowns her. The family discovers Piki's body. After Piki's funeral, where Michael notices the shamans, Maria burns Oliver's possessions. Michael comes home and sees Maria burning Oliver's stuff. Michael calls Maria crazy and Lucy denies any knowledge. Maria realizes that Oliver has possessed Lucy. Michael believes that Maria is becoming mentally unhinged and locks her in a room, promising that he will get Maria help.

The shamans begin to crowd the house; the possessed Lucy kills the family dog and injures Michael. Michael realizes that Maria is right. Oliver plans to kill Michael so it will just be him and Maria forever. Maria breaks out and heads up to Oliver's room, where she sees shamans chanting over Lucy's body. Since they cannot remove the spirit from Lucy, they plan to sacrifice her. Michael stops them; Maria tells Oliver that he needs to leave. Oliver says he is scared, but Maria says she will go with him (to save Lucy and atone for leaving him). Oliver’s spirit leaves Lucy’s body and hugs Maria, absorbing into her. She charges the shaman with the knife, telling him to take her instead. He obliges, fatally stabbing her. She falls and awakens in the room alone. The Gate Keeper appears and its eyes crack down the middle with light, much like a door, and the light envelops Maria. Back in the real world, Maria dies.

Maria then wakes up and briefly believes that she is alive. She hears Michael's voice call out for her. She sees the temple steps and realizes Michael is attempting the same ritual to bring back Maria as she did with Oliver. Maria screams for him not to open the door but he does. Now Maria's soul will become corrupted and she will turn on her family like Oliver did, starting the curse again.

Cast

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released on 26 February 2016.[3] However, the release date was pushed back to 11 March 2016 and then later moved up to 4 March 2016.[4][5] It opened on March 4th, 2016 in limited release at only 546 locations where it got $1.2 million dollars opening at #16. As of March 28th, 2016 it has $2,871,432 in the United States and $4,536,933 internationally for a total of $7,408,365.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 46%, based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "Laden with flimsy jump scares and cheap stereotypes, The Other Side of the Door wastes solid work from Sarah Wayne Callies on thoroughly middling horror fare."[6] Metacritic gives the film a score of 41 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed to average reviews".[7]

References

  1. ↑ "THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 20 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "The Other Side of the Door (2016)". The Numbers. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  3. ↑ Han, Angie (24 November 2015). "Fox Finally Gets Around To Pulling 'Fantastic Four 2' Off Its Release Calendar". Slashfilm.com. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  4. ↑ Billington, Alex (25 November 2015). "Sarah Wayne Callies in Trailer for Horror 'The Other Side of the Door'". FirstShowing.net. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Watch An Exclusive Trailer for The Other Side of The Door". Conversationsabouther.com. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "The Other Side of the Door (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  7. ↑ "The Other Side of the Door reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 22, 2016.

External links

  1. REDIRECTTemplate:Metacritic film
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