Open House (2010)

Director:

Andrew Paquin

Writer:

Andrew Paquin (written by)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Plot:

A couple on the verge of a nasty divorce attempt to sell their empty love nest and move on with their lives...

Plot Keywords:

House | Basement | Divorce | Psychopath | Open House

Cast

Brian Geraghty	...	David
Rachel Blanchard	...	Alice
Anna Paquin	...	Jennie
Stephen Moyer	...	Josh
Tricia Helfer	...	Lila
Gabriel Olds	...	Carl
Jessica Collins	...	Lauren
Larry Sullivan	...	Oscar
Ryan March	...	Hayden
Kris Wheeler	...	Brian
Mia Riverton	...	Meredith
Naja Hill	...	Bethany
Gerald Downey	...	Seth
Eddie Martinez	...	Jose (as J. Eddie Martinez)
Magda Rivera	...	Maria
Timothy Thomas Brown	...	Real Estate Agent (as Tim Brown)
Cary Alexander	...	Alex (as Cary Kazemi)
Bonnie Kathleen Ryan	...	Alex's Wife
Ashley Walsh	...	Woman
Paula Christensen	...	Second Woman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dave Abrams	...	Police Officer (uncredited)
Damon Christopher	...	Detective (uncredited)
Jennifer Cummings	...	EMT (uncredited)
Shaun Guttridge	...	Police Officer (uncredited)
William Morse	...	Home Buyer (uncredited)

Directed by
Andrew Paquin

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Andrew Paquin		written by

Produced by
Cyrus Ahanchian	....	executive producer
Barry Brooker	....	executive producer
Sriram Das	....	executive producer
Nicole Ettinger	....	co-producer
Nicole Ettinger	....	line producer
Mitchell Goldman	....	producer
Danny Roth	....	producer
Nathaniel Salter	....	executive producer
Jack Schuster	....	producer
Dana Settle	....	executive producer
Steve Shapiro	....	co-producer (as Steven Shapiro)
Kaiser Wahab	....	associate producer
Spencer Wang	....	executive producer
Randy Wayne	....	co-producer
Stan Wertlieb	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Nathan Barr		(music by)

Cinematography by
Joseph White		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Tim Mirkovich

Casting by
Sig De Miguel
Stephen Vincent

Production Design by
G. Andrew Hussey

Art Direction by
Mercedes Blackehart

Set Decoration by
Harrison Yurkiw

Costume Design by
Tricia Gray

Makeup Department
Vanessa Cartier	....	key makeup artist
Stephanie Kae Panek	....	makeup department head
Lyndsay Phillips	....	assistant makeup artist
Chad Washam	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Erin Sullivan	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ariana Malik	....	second second assistant director
Steve Shapiro	....	first assistant director
Clenet Verdi-Rose	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Chris Craine	....	art department: production assistant
Jesse Doland	....	assistant art director
Joe Mason	....	storyboard artist
Becky Slane	....	scenic painter

Sound Department
Lisa Gillespie	....	boom operator
Eryne Prine	....	sound effects editor
Alex Ullrich	....	foley artist

Stunts
Monica Braunger	....	stunt double: Rachel Blanchard
Timothy Thomas Brown	....	assistant stunt coordinator
Ryan Sturz	....	utility stunts
Trampas Thompson	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Brandon Alperin	....	electrician
Ian T. Barbella	....	additional first assistant camera
Benjamin H. Bernard	....	data tech
Matthew Castellitto	....	best boy electric
Jonathan Coyne	....	grip
Miko Dannels	....	key grip
Sara Elia	....	additional best girl grip
Grzegorz Gill	....	best boy grip
Rob Givens	....	first assistant camera
Justen Hernandez	....	additional dolly grip
Kaoru Ishizuka	....	additional second assistant camera
Owen Jones	....	set lighting technician
Nate Kalushner	....	digital imaging technician
Matthew Lim	....	dolly grip
Gigi Malavasi	....	camera operator: "b" camera
Nicolas Martin	....	camera operator
Jay Muranaka	....	gaffer
Maia Nakashima	....	additional second assistant camera
Rich Pereksta	....	first assistant camera
Brian Pope	....	still photographer
Kelsey Risdon	....	assistant camera
Ari Robbins	....	Steadicam operator/camera operator
Ari Robbins	....	director of photography: second unit
James Rydings	....	additional first assistant camera
Sam Schroeder	....	electrician
Wilson Stiner	....	camera operator: behind the scenes
June Zandona	....	second assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lauren Silvestri	....	set costumer
Anni Speckheuer	....	costumer
Tera Struck	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Andrew Drapkin	....	digital intermediate colorist

Music Department
Joel J. Richard	....	music programmer
Joel J. Richard	....	music scoring mixer

Transportation Department
Robert Dargenzio	....	transportation

Other crew
Peter Paul Basler	....	production coordinator
Marc Brewer	....	production assistant
Jennifer Cummings	....	craft service
John Emmons	....	set medic
Ashton Golembo	....	production assistant
Jared Greenhouse	....	production assistant
Shaun Guttridge	....	production assistant
Jack Hamren	....	assistant to director
Jack Hamren	....	production assistant
Eric Hughes	....	office production assistant
Toby Lomas	....	production assistant
Hector Padilla	....	production assistant
Krista Parker	....	set production intern
Jasmine Sarbaz	....	production assistant
Peter Sestina	....	key set production assistant
Jenny Siff	....	script supervisor: dayplayer
Tracy Sproull	....	production assistant
Jack Waite	....	production assistant

Thanks
Siri Baruc	....	special thanks
Julian Brain	....	special thanks
Jon Cotton	....	special thanks
David Griffiths	....	special thanks
Kevin Iwashina	....	special thanks
Shara Kay	....	special thanks
Oliver Luckett	....	special thanks
Phil Parmet	....	special thanks
Franz Stahl	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• StoneBrook Entertainment

Distributors

• Showtime Networks (2012) (USA) (TV)
• DTP Entertainment (2012) (Germany) (DVD)
• Grindstone Entertainment Group (2010) (Canada) (all media)
• Grindstone Entertainment Group (2010) (USA) (all media)
• Lionsgate Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Roadshow Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Mojoflo Productions  funding
• Mojoflo Productions  product integration
• Mojoflo Productions  sponsoring agent
• Anarchy Post  sound post-production

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for bloody violence, some sexuality and language

Runtime:

USA:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #46023) | Australia:MA (2010) | Canada:18A (Ontario) | New Zealand:R16 | Singapore:M18 | Portugal:M/16 | Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

StoneBrook Entertainment

Movie Connections:

Features Falling Hare (1943)

Soundtrack:

I Know I'll See You Again

A New Kind Of Serial Killer Movie Rendered Weak By An Incoherent Plot.

As usual, when I watch a film with psychopathic homicidal criminals who seem to have everything go their way despite taking ludicrous risks and being sloppy to the extreme, I sit there half angry trying to process it all.

The film is about a serial killer duo who apparently move from house to house, killing all the occupants, setting up residence for a week or two, then leaving to repeat the process again. Criminally speaking, this can go on successfully for a time and eventually they WILL get caught. They operate in a way in which they leave tonnes of evidence; fingerprints, witnesses, plus half a dozen dead bodies, people who had plans/appointments to come to the house and apparently NONE of them informing their loved ones or friends about where they were going, and thus, the police stay well out of the picture. This is what we know after having sat through half of the film, so at this point we realise 1. they arrive on scene ALREADY wanted by the police. 2. composite sketches should be being blasted all over the news. 3. chances are they should be identified by fingerprints and/or DNA (hair strands/blood). The fact that both killers, but the woman in particular are being so brazen during this film more or less gives them a 95% chance of being caught

All this being said, assuming they're the luckiest serial killers alive with an unnatural blessing to kill as many people as they want to (It's a weak poorly planned serial killer movie, so OF COURSE.), and assuming they are this lucky, let's examine the 5% window that this film lives in. One question people will always ask themselves is "how is it that no one in the neighbourhood took notice or showed suspicion." A valid question, though even more valid is the general lack of concern by people uninvolved. e.g. I once personally saw someone get kidnapped off the street and hauled into a moving van, and I didn't particularly care enough to call the police, as I was already late for my train, and I didn't see any of the other few people around reaching for their cell phones either, so this aspect of the film's integrity which other reviewers have brought up, is honestly not a worthy criticism.

Where I turn to now is the character's actions. The worst and most nonsensical aspect to me is the character driven premise... WHY does the male killer not simply kill the owner the second she walks into the room, finding her friend dead. He has absolutely no reason not to, has already killed 3 people in the house, so it makes no sense, as well as being really stagy how she backs into where he's hiding and then all fades to black and she SOMEHOW conveniently loses consciousness basically so the encounter/interaction between the two wont have to be dealt with and she can awaken later in chains. Not very smooth directing at all. That being said, the directing is VERY American school, as the film is riddled with 5 or so scenes where characters show up JUST at that pesky moment.

To top it off, an important criticism that many brought up was the dialogue and thus the motivation of the characters. Firstly, despite the owner stating that she believes the male killer is DIFFERENT than his female counterpart, he is clearly just as brutal as her, if not moreso, and there is no real worthy conflict between the 2 killers shown. He is really given NO motive, emotional, logistical, or otherwise to abandon his current companion for this new woman that he for no particular reason spared, and had no meaningful dialogue with, and thus no real basis for any emotional connection.

The ending however was more or less the final shitscoop on the turd Sunday we've been forced to swallow here; contrived, melodramatic, stagy, and the climax of an entirely unfounded plot premise for all the reasons I have listed above. Even though the acting is fairly competent, especially by the male antagonist, it really leaves you feeling nothing in the end, and honestly, I really cannot see the point in sacrificing any of your time on a film written/directed by someone who took no time to produce meaningful dialogue, and who clearly put no thought or planning into the nature of the criminal elements portrayed on screen.