Open House (1987)

one of my absolute favorites!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Wow, does this film have problems! The director has passed away, the producer has passed away, and the movie company went out of business in 1996. Sad stuff. As for the flick itself, well, it's not the best slasher movie ever made. That would be "Club Dread". This movie, unlike some of the other 90,000 slasher films made in the 80's, attempts to put together a...story. That's right, a story. Yeah, yeah, does Friday the 13th have a story? Not last I checked, and I checked out about 8 of those movies, if you critics want to call anything 'trash' or 'crap'. I don't understand how all a slasher flick needs is a high body count and no story to tell, and everyone seems perfectly okay with this?? Really? OPEN HOUSE was made in 1987, back when the genre was finally starting to die down. It has it's pro's and con's, which is more then I can say for some of the other loser slasher flicks I've seen in my life, and yes, I've watched quite a few. ( I think we all could have done without Evil Laugh, but hey, it's just my ADHD talking here!). OPEN HOUSE combines three main elements together, or at least, tries to: the cutthroat business of radio, the cutthroat business of real estate, and the cutthroat...the cutthroat...ummm, that's a pun, that's a pun. Actually, there are no cut throats in OPEN HOUSE, in fact, the blood and body count is kept to a minimum. I'm sure that's the problems with a budget, you know, only so much in petty cash and cash stash, you know....we're trying to make the money, not spend it. Isn't that the philosophy of a real estate agent, trying to talk you into a buying a house with a truck-load of problems. Hey, this house is missing a plunger, oh, that's right, that's the killers weapon...uh, you think I'm joking?? Hey, he's homeless, he don't have money to blow on much of anything. Okay, so enough of all that, let's talk about the body count. That's kind of hard to calculate, since almost all of them are off camera. Yeah, that's another thing, I hope you like your slasher movies both annoying and silly, because that's the offering on this table, pals and gals. Looking for graphic violence, look elsewhere, because these days, this movie is just and hour and a half episode of 'Criminal Minds.' It's not even scary, at least, I didn't think so. So, let's examine the story: Real estate agents are falling victim to an unseen mad slasher. A guy down at the radio station is accepting callers, and it's awfully brave of the killer to call in to the radio station, and saying stuff to tick the DJ off. He feels the victims deserved it. What gave them the right to live like that, when other people just want to eat? Enough said. So, the DJ (played by Joseph Bottoms, underrated actor ) has a different problem on his hands, and its the fact that his girlfriend is a real estate agent, and he fears that her life may be next. There's talk about tracing the killers call, no, that could hurt the ratings. Callers have to be confidential. Hmmm. Does OPEN HOUSE want to be a slasher flick, or play as a drama. Maybe it's trying to be both, what's wrong with being experimental? I dig unique. The slayings? Very comical. We got about 1 minute of what YouTube would call a 'scream sequence', in which we have a real estate agent sliding down a wall, screaming her head off, as if she was the one being slayed, but all she's looking at is a fly infested, blood soaked dead body placed in a bath tub. Well, we know why you're selling homes, and not a cop, because you can't handle it! We have a male victim with a dumb Donald Trump haircut style knocked off, that's after he loses his fingers trying to close a door...and, maybe I'm the dumb dolt here, but why was he holding the door with his hand WAY OVER the doorknob, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR EVEN! And, lock yourself in a bathroom, where there was another door to exit out of? Why didn't they just go out that door, shouldn't the agent know these things if she's trying to sell that darn house? Next off, we have an electrocution, we have a severed head (done with an axe just laying outside, you'd think people would put that stuff away after they're done.) And, let's not forget the finale... a silly, letdown ending that we'll leave you wondering why, why, why. Why wasn't the movie a little more creative? Why was it so choppy? Why wasn't the dialouge a little smoother? I'm wondering why there wasn't a sequel. For the most part, OPEN HOUSE is a good movie. Overlook the silliness, that's half the battle. It's not super saturated with profanity, gore, or nudity, so I would go so far as to say it's okay for children 14 and up to watch. Just a few more comments on this movie: I think this has just about the most useless SWAT team I have ever seen. Then again, kudos for a slasher flick that even has a SWAT team. I think that's the funniest scene out of this movie, is watching SWAT team members ordered into the house where the killer is, and the killer is upstairs babbling and babbling and babbling and more and more babbling, WHAT IS TAKING THE SWAT TEAM SO LONG TO GET UP THERE? Oh, let's train our guns down on a dead body, looks like someone beat us to our job, boys, pack the team up, let's go on home. Brother! Find this little oldie, and give it a peek, you may be surprised.

Rare-Slashers-Rated-2 described this one pretty well. The early scenes, even though they weren't especially effective, of someone killing themself in a phone both while on line to a radio program, and of the discovery of a very bloody bathroom might lead one to believe the rest of the movie will carry on in that way, but not so. There are a lot of tedious scenes and the soundtrack at times sounds like a very poor TV movie.The revelation of the killer is disappointing. The killer also gives a rather lengthy speech, yawn.Still, Adrienne Barbeau fans might like to check it out.

Now, I've seen many many B-grade films in my 15 years of living, and I must say that this was one of the better ones. I personally enjoyed the real estate and the storyline, but it did suffer from amateur acting (although Adrienne Barbeau did give a decent performance as Lisa Grant). Joseph Bottoms couldn't hold his part well enough to be considered good. The other performance which really fit the film was that of Barry Hope (Barney Resnick). It begins with an eager real estate agent taking an Asian couple through a house, only to find there's a dead girl in the shower of the showhome. It progresses with detective speculating, and introduces the key characters with reasonable grace. I think that for any person who's in for a giggle at the over-the-top drama the victim realtors provide during the over-the-top gory scenes, this truly is a gem... XD Who am I kidding? It's not that great, but worth a watch if you're insanely bored.

Low-rent slasher movie about real estate agents being slaughtered by a maniac in the homes they are selling. The local radio talk show host receives strange calls from the killer. The slasher story of a maniac picking off real estate agents is original enough for this genre, however, the filmmakers just can't seem to bring this thing to life. It starts off promising with a bloody double killing in a bathroom and scenes of a dead bloody woman covered in flies, but after the first half hour mark, everything goes stale. Boring characters, and stupid situations hamper the story telling. Things start to get rolling again in the last 20 minutes, but by then it's to little, to late. Features gratuitous nudity, boring conversations, and a couple whacked to death with razorblades attached to a toilet plunger (the highlight). Should be fine for a single view by the avid slasher viewer. Otherwise, stay away. Two Stars.