The Door [Die Tur] (2009) Review

The DoorWhat would you do for a second chance? What sacrifice would you make to go back and rewrite the past? Would you risk everything, would you take on someone else’s life, would you kill?

The Door is all about these questions and how far we will go for a second chance to change the mistakes of the past especially when those mistakes lead to the death of someone we love in this case the young daughter of successful painter David (Mads Mikkelsen from Casino Royale).

David is a man who has grown bored and scornful of his own life. Too busy playing away from his wife with the neighbour to play with his own daughter his contempt is punished when his child trips and drowns in the family pool sending his life spiralling out of control in grief and despair.

The Door

Finding him again five years latter David is a shell of his former self, unable to let go of the past or his wife who has now moved in with another man and still blames him for everything. Deciding to end his own life in the same pool that claimed his daughters he is led by a butterfly to a strange dark tunnel deep in the woods.The Door

Walking to the other side he finds himself five years in the past on the very same day of his daughters death. Filled with joy at his new found second chance he sets about altering the past to get back everything he had lost however David soon realises all is not what it seems and that there is dark price to pay for his happiness.

Playing out like a cross between an extended episode of The Twilight Zone and a dark moralistic fairy tale The Door is a brilliant thriller directed by Anno Saul and adapted from a novel by Germany author Akif Pirinçci.

Constantly creepy there is a nightmarish quality to the movie which keeps you on edge the entire time never sure what horror or dilemma could be waiting for David around each corner.

The story is sensational and the ideas within it disturbing and unsettling yet morally intriguing leading you to question what your own reaction would be if put in David’s time travelling shoes.

Although comparisons with horrors such as The Butterfly Effect, Triangle, The Stepford Wives and Invasion of the Body Snatchers are apparent this is a highly original tale with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing till the very end.

The cast perform well especially Jessica Schwarz as David’s wife and child actress Valeria Eisenbart as his daughter. Mads Mikkelsen is excellent as David however he takes a while to warm to and his angst ridden sullen sombre mood seems inappropriate and unrealistic in the initial scenes after he regains his hearts desire. That said you do warm to him and he carries the film right through every difficult decision and shocking revelation till the bitter and tragic end.

The Door is a dark tense disturbing thriller well acted and directed with an excellent story, which challenges the viewer and deserves to be seen by audiences beyond its native land.

Once you have opened The Door it is true to say the journey through it will stay with you a long while afterwards.

Movie Rating: ★★★½☆ 

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Alex Humphrey

Alex studied film at the University of Kent and went on to work for Universal Pictures in their Post Room gaining an inside look at the movie industry from the very bottom. Constantly writing reviews in everything from local magazines to Hip Hop sites Alex honed his critical skills even spending a brief period as a restaurant critic. Read more

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