DID YOU REMEMBER TO LOCK YOUR DOOR?

Crispian (AJ Bowen) brings his girlfriend Erin (Sharni Vinson) to meet his family at their country house in Missouri… but a dinner that evening turns into a battle for survival when they are all attacked by strangers. Starting out in traditional slasher mode with a semi-nude girl and a masked maniac, this surprisingly entertaining horror thriller/comedy keeps its tongue firmly in cheek but never strays from other ambitions as well. There are laughs, but it is also genuinely horrifying and exciting, and it’s easy to get involved in the characters and the mysterious motivations behind the gruesome attack. Further elevated by an icy electronic score and Vinson’s kick-ass lead performance.

2013-U.S. 94 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Simon Barrett, Keith Calder, Kim Sherman, Jessica Wu. Directed by Adam Wingard. Screenplay: Simon Barrett. Music: Mats Heldtberg, Jasper Lee, Kyle McKinnon. Cast: Sharni Vinson (Erin), Nicholas Tucci (Felix Davison), Wendy Glenn (Zee), AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Sarah Myers.

Last word: “Agatha Christie novels were a big source of inspiration for me. Also, chamber mysteries and screwball comedies like ‘Bringing Up Baby’ was a point, but then it just occurred to me the other day, and this is a slightly more obscure film I guess for most people, but someone I follow on Twitter was talking about ‘Twitch of the Death Nerve’, Mario Bava’s ‘Bay of Blood’, and I realized, like I hadn’t seen that movie in forever, but that actually probably was a reference point too. That’s kind of considered one of the first horror killer movies.” (Barrett, Indiewire)

IMDb