AFI FEST film review: 'The Boy Behind the Door'
Difficult to watch, hard to stomach but impossible to turn away is the best warning that can be given regarding the kidnapping horror-thriller 'The Boy Behind the Door' (screening during AFI FEST 2020).
In short: After Bobby (Lonnie Chavis) and his best friend Kevin (Ezra Dewey) are kidnapped and taken to a house in the middle of nowhere, Bobby manages to escape - but rather than save himself, he breaks into the house to save his best friend.
An unwritten rule of cinema is: Violence against children is, generally speaking, off-limits. And when it does occur, it almost always occurs off-screen. For every Georgie Denbrough, there are 100 other films that don't show the actual violent act (if the victim is a child). Filmmakers know harming children is the fastest way to lose an audience - if only because watching a child in terror is one of the worst things anyone with even a tiny bit of empathy can endure. 'Behind the Door' kicks down this rule and says 'OK audience, these two kids are going have to desperately fight for their lives ... and no one will be able to save them. Deal with it.'
Simply put: this is a very disturbing movie to watch. There have been more violent thrillers - but making the protagonists two children ups the stakes immeasurably. If 'Behind the Door' was filmed with two young adults trying to escape their captors, it wouldn't nearly be as stomach-churning or nerve-wracking. This simple choice changes everything. In any normal, horrible torture porn thriller, the audience would root for the victims to overpower and possibly kill their tormentors - but rooting for a little leaguer to kill, even in self defense, just feels fundamentally wrong. And what's worse is knowing, no matter how the story ends, these two kids will essentially traumatized in a way that will alter their lives. It's not something most people consider in one of these escape thrillers but its absolutely top-of-mind throughout the entire film.
As difficult as it is to watch what happens to Bobby and Kevin, 'Behind the Door' absolutely grabs the audience and doesn't let go for nearly 90 agonizing and intense minutes. Bobby is a selflessly brave and endlessly resourceful kid. And 'Behind the Door' pulls no punches at all - the two kids have a brutal fight for survival, and they're fighting an ominous evil that has zero compunction with murdering children. The film strongly alludes to the intentions of the kidnappers, but keeping the ultimate threat vague allows any empathetic adult to fill in the gaps. And this dread-inducing movie, while light on story details, is pure, palpable and deliberate terror - a nightmare where the scenario is all to plausible and uncomfortably grounded in real-life monsters.
Final verdict: Pure concept executed with chilling efficiency, this thriller will have the audience holding its breath from start to finish.
Score: 4.5/5
'The Boy Behind the Door' screens at AFI FEST. This drama is unrated and has a running time of 88 minutes.
