Netflix's history of its original horror movies is a rocky one at best. Some of them are okay, some other ones have been well received, and others have instantly become solely for the internet to laugh at. Within the horror-loving community, there is a specific film that comes to mind though as one of the very worst. The Open House was a big disappointment to everyone because it has an interesting premise and a decent setup, but the third act falls so flat it ruins the entire movie.
The Open House came out in 2018 and stars Netflix "It Boy" Dylan Minnette. He of course was at the time on their hit teen show 13 Reasons Why, which isn't a stranger to controversy either. This film is about Minnette's character Logan and his mother. They have recently lost Logan's dad very suddenly, and have no money. A family member offers up a house for them to live in free of charge, but it is currently for sale and they can only stay until it sells. They also must leave the house on certain days, for open houses. Whilst they live there, they start to experience some creepiness and shady activity and Logan starts to suspect something sinister is going on.
Part of what makes this movie so disappointing is that it should have been good. The premise is intriguing and the beginning of the movie isn't bad. The production value is also pretty high, and the performances don't entirely fall flat. Ultimately, that all turns out to be part of its downfall. The beginning of the movie is spent setting up multiple things and a lot of characters are introduced. The viewer is spent really wondering what's going to happen and who is going to be important and of course, what is behind all of the weird and scary things happening to Logan and his mom. When all of these turn out to be misdirects, and no one that's introduced in the movie matters at all, it's disappointing and the viewer feels kind of cheated and taken advantage of.
So much of this movie feels like it's supposed to be very intentional. There are some very specific shots that seem like they're meant to be introducing something important. Ultimately, none of these pan out. They meet a neighbor who is an older lady that seems to have some form of dementia, and she sometimes says her husband is alive and sometimes says that her husband is dead. It comes off very creepy, and there are implications she's involved in what's happening. They meet a man named Chris who seems a little too interested in them and the house, and make him seem like a villain. He isn't. Every single clue as to what is going on is a misdirect and sometimes an outright lie
The viewer actually never learns who the villain is. It seemingly just turns out to be a random man who stalks them after staying behind during the open house and he terrorizes them after. This comes out of nowhere and doesn't even make a little bit of sense. It's so disappointing. It also dramatically reduces the rewatchability factor of this movie. When it's already known that essentially nothing in this movie matters and the ending has no emotional payoff for the viewer, it doesn't make watching it again all that appealing. And if for some reason someone is watching The Open House for a second time, the first part of the movie just feels so annoying.
When people who know film, especially horror films, watch The Open House, it's probably easy to imagine it as something so much better. And that's very frustrating. The beginning of the movie is decent, and if there had been some payoff as to knowing what was going on and who was behind it, the ending could have been decent too. There were so many storylines introduced, that it's also kind of easy to think of one that could have filled up the middle part of the movie and provided that payoff and explanation. Instead, Logan just walked around the house a lot looking pretty confused and at one point, he and his mom were very mean to each other for no real reason. It's dull and disappointing.
Having an open-ended conclusion and not revealing a lot of answers can be really effective when it's done right. The Open House does not do it right. Movies that are successful in providing mystery, tension, confusion, and a plot twist do so with subtle clues. They don't do it by introducing 100 plot lines and characters that go nowhere. It's kind of a cheap way to get a shock. There are some tiny moments of the film that achieve a good jump scare or a creepy moment, but those are few and far between. Ultimately, this film wasted what could have been a fun premise and made something so bizarrely bad on so many levels.