The Boy Behind The Door — The Boy Behind The Door( Blu Ray)
The Boy Behind The Door is a kidnap thriller-come-horror film told from the point of two twelve-year-old boys, who are snatched one sunny afternoon. The film is a tight ‘n’ taut affair, pretty much flowing with tension and unease from the off- barely letting up over its one-hour twenty-eight-minute mark. It features two great young leads, with an effective blend of taut anticipation, coiled tension and gloomy-to-shadowy moodiness. Here from Acorn Media International is a Blu Ray release of this Shudder original film.
Made in the year 2020 The Boy Behind The Door, was jointly written and directed by David Charbonier & Justin Powell. Charbonier has three other writing/ directing credits to his name- going from two early shorts, 2021’s The Djinn which finds a mute boy summing up an evil genie. And Justin Powell has nearing fifty editorial credits to his name, as well as few writer/ direct credits- including the two shorts and The Djinn which Charbonier fronted. The Boy Behind The Door is the pairs feature-length debut- and for the most part, it’s an impressive enough opening film.
It kicks off on a summer's day as twelve-year-old baseball buddies Bobby (Lonnie Chavis) and Kevin ( Ezra Dewey) dream of going to California and leisurely playing ball. The ball gets thrown into the nearby woodland, the tamer and more subdued Kevin runs after it- but after some time, he’s not returned, so the slightly tougher African American Bobby goes looking for him- and promptly gets knocked over the head. He comes around finding himself gagged and tied in a car boot- he of course panics, and after some twisting back and forth he works himself lose- kicking open the boot. When out he finds he’s out in the countryside by a stand-alone house- he at first starts running then hears his friends screams from the house, so turns back to try and save him.
At first, Bobby makes his way around the grimly grey lite and condensation window fogged house- with Charbonier & Powell creating a great feeling of glum apprehension, which is edged with moments of tension. As the film goes on, and night leaks into the house- we get a blend of shadow unease, jarring moments of blood violence, and of course more edge of the seat tension.
Both Chavis and Dewey are impressive and talented young actors- carrying out their roles with real believable conviction. Sure, as with any thriller/ horror situation they make silly decisions that will have you rolling your eyes- but if logic/ sense was followed, you really wouldn't have a film. There are just a few supporting actors, and these are fleeting/ well placed- so it's basically just the boys, the house, and of course the script carrying it along. For the most part, the story flows in a believable/ tense manner, with one or two neat twists along the way- sure we still have a few cliched moments and a few points where logic/ sense are a little stretched. But for the most part, this is a good and tight kidnap thriller, edged with uneasiness and fleeting horror tropes.
Other than the film, this blu ray features a two-minute music video- with some of the more dramatic and broodingly bombastic score on it, and two minutes' worth of bloopers. As this is a modern film, the quality of the picture itself is good- though maybe a little murky/ ill-defined in some of the later night-time shots.
By using the young victim's point of view for its kidnap storytelling The Boy Behind The Door, adds in extra tension and a few fresh twists to this type of thriller/ horror film formula. I’ll certainly be keen to see what both the directors/ writers, and two young actors do the next.