Door 1 of the 5 Doors to Hell
Four horror fans piss off a rental clerk enough to give them a cursed VHS containing a horror anthology. When they put the tape it, they are pulled in one by one to live out the segments in the film. They have to use their knowledge of the genre to stay alive or they will be forever pulled into the doors to Hell.
I’m pretty late to the party on this one. I think it came out toward the end of 2017 but better late than never, right? I’ve been seeing it pop up online from time to time and have been wanting to see it but never got around to it. So, while we were at the premiere of Chickens Blood I talked to writer/director Chuck Conry about getting a screener to check it out. And here we are.
I love low budget movies that don’t take themselves too seriously and Door 1 of the 5 Doors to Hell definitely delivers on that front. The writing is solid as fuck; the movie is boasts good dialog, horror references, a massive dick joke, and a range of humor, and one hell of a concept. Seriously, I don’t think I have seen this concept done before and I would kind of like to see more of it.
Other than the concept my favorite part of this is the humor. Seeing these average folks pulled into a horror movie to replace a character is always funny. Think Quantum Leap but with more death and no Ziggy. They’re just confused, lost, and irritated. Another thing I dig about the humor is how self aware it is. At one point one of the protagonists witnesses a murder and when questioned about it by the police he tells them “I’ve seen some pretty bad effects before but this looked terrible,” and I about fuckin died. There’s also a guy whose head turns into a big ol’ dick and he ends up delivering some deadly facials.
All in all, would I recommend this movie? If you’re into low budget flicks and can get past the fact that it looks like a low budget film, yeah definitely. Door 1 of the 5 Doors to Hell is worth watching for the humor and concept alone. The effects aren’t terrible and some of the performances are really good. Seek this one out, just don’t accept it from a pissed off clerk at a video store.
