OPEN POSSIBILITIES
Movie Review – Doors
Review by Ray Schillaci
The new indie sci-fi anthology Doors opens many possibilities with fascinating ideas. But, some of the stories are mere concepts while others fall flat with open endings. Perhaps the filmmakers intended to leave those stories with a question to tax our minds, but the overall affect is more frustrating than intriguing. But, at least two out of the four segments are worth checking out for fans of the genre.
Six writers, three directors make up the conceptual team of Doors fueling the four stories all connected with the subject of alien portals mysteriously arriving all over the world while a radio personality keeps us informed throughout the segments of the weird goings-on. The introduction of these “doors” is unsettling with the introductory tale, Lockdown. A teacher tries to conduct class when everybody’s cell phones begin ringing in the cabinet he has locked up. When the teacher has an urgent call from his wife, he excuses himself from the class insisting the kids should stay in the classroom as several military jets fly overhead.
As the teacher is gone, the kids argue amongst each other as to whether to leave or not until they finally break into the cabinet that contains their phones. The message on all the phones claims an emergency broadcast. The radio in the classroom has no reception. The kids eventually opt to go against their teacher’s wishes and venture out only to find a bizarre giant door in the middle of their school hallway and somehow it is communicating with each of them.
Using Lockdown as the introduction of the anthology sets the suspense for the film and establishes a tone for the rest of the stories. But, that tone shifts with the second segment, Knockers, as a science team ventures into the doors while being monitored. What the writers have come up with is confusing and a bit deflating yet it still manages to hold our interest.
The third segment is by far the most compelling with Lamaj. An independent researcher has been hiding an alien door deep in the forest to study it and try to form some type of communication. At this point the government has been seeking out these portals and trying to eliminate them since they believe the doors pose a threat to mankind as people who have encountered them have ended up missing. When the man does establish a breakthrough, he reaches out to a trusted colleague.
The researcher has surmised that the door he is dealing with is of a friendly origin and could lead to a major leap for the human race. This story nearly proves to be the most thought-provoking segment until it settles with a typical old fashioned sci-fi trope of man turning on the unknown. The concept of Lamaj is so strong that we are unsatisfied with the outcome.
This brings us full circle to the radio personality that has been informing us the whole time as to what has been going on with this phenomena. Unfortunately, this segment has none of the production values of the others and consists of a zoom call between the radio personality and someone who purports having a great deal of knowledge about the alien doors. This story feels truncated as a forced wrap-around.
Conceptually, Doors opens many sci-fi scenarios that spark the imagination. But, the team behind all these wonderful ideas never quite follows through. The film does flex its muscles at times as a low budget sci-fi indie and some storylines will be appreciated more than others. One cannot hope for somebody to take a leap through these doors and come up with something deeper and more tangible.
Visit Ray’s blog at themonsterinmyhead.com
Directed by: Simon Kesh, Jeff Desom and Dugan O’Neal
Release Date: March 23, 2021
Run Time: 81 Minutes
Rated: NR
Country: USA
Distributor: Epic Pictures Group
