Behind Closed Doors

_Behind Closed Doors_, with a screenplay by Shannon Latimer, is a very gripping hostage thriller with a few gasp-worthy, jump out of your seat moments. The tension builds throughout the story, and you never know if Kevin is actually going to survive since he seems to have made it his mission to antagonize Grant. It's a nice little twist that allows Morgan to actually interact with the neighbors while forcing her to pretend that everything is fine, instead of just having her make excuses that they're all sick or something (and she makes it clear if anyone thinks they are sick, they will show up at the door with a pot of soup). You really don't want to tear your eyes away from the screen, but then all the air is let out of the story in the last few minutes that is set 'One Year Later', leaving us to wonder if the one character who did sustain a major injury survived or not. That time jump was a bit of a jolt and totally took away everything the movie had been building up to. I also found the character of Cody perplexing as he seems to be maybe nine-years-old but everyone treats him like he's five or six. I almost felt like maybe he was supposed to be on the autism spectrum, but nothing was ever specified. It's also a bit frustrating that Kevin goes out of his way to antagonize Grant, but perhaps once the truth about how they are connected is revealed, we have to look back and consider that Kevin knew who Grant was the whole time (though he never alluded to that at any of the times the two of them were alone together). Director Anjali Nayar does a fantastic job of keeping the story taut and never letting the audience have a moment to breathe, it's just a shame that it all gets deflated by the coda. Full review at https://hotchka.com/behind-closed-doors-review