Shudder has been on a consistent path of pumping out great original content over the last two years. This time, the horror streaming platform teamed up with the new filmmaking duo of David Charbonier and Justin Powell to release The Boy Behind the Door, a new abduction horror-thriller. The film stars Lonnie Chavis (This is Us), Ezra Dewey (The Djinn, Criminal Minds), Kristin Bauer van Straten (True Blood), and Micah Hauptman (Homeland).
The Boy Behind the Door follows 12-year-olds Bobby (Chavis) and Kevin (Dewey) as they’re abducted by an unknown person while out playing. The kids are taken to a strange house in the middle of nowhere, and Kevin is locked in a room their abductor rents out to strangers while Bobby is left restrained in the trunk of the car. Bobby escapes and must make the choice between running for help or staying to save Kevin from their attacker.
This was such an intense story. Home invasion films always creep me out, but there’s something about abduction films that take the creep factor to the next level. I think it’s because the sense of familiarity in one’s surroundings is completely taken away, and decision-making has to always be made on the spot in this type of scenario. Sometimes, this works out in the protagonist’s favor, but often it can be to their detriment.
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There is also a certain brutality to child abduction (and the acts intended) that set it apart from regular kidnapping-genre thrillers. Once you realize there is no ransom involved, the premise becomes that much scarier, and all bets are off on what the villain is willing to do to keep an operation going smoothly. There was also a much deeper coming-of-age friendship theme here. It very much felt like something Stephen King would write, and the film itself seemed to take inspiration from popular King stories like Misery, Gerald’s Game, and The Shining.
From a technical aspect, everything looked great. Top-down camera angles were used to perfection to intensify shots during shocking scenes. Dim red, blue, and yellow lighting was used to contrast against dark environments to not only highlight the characters but to add an ominous-feeling level from shot to shot. Everything was done with a brooding, harsh build-up and didn’t rely on jump scares, which was appreciated.
I’m not sure enough credit could be given to Lonnie Chavis and Ezra Dewey for the amount emotion and dedication put into their roles. Both of the actors were incredible. I’ve seen Chavis’s impressive talents in This is Us, so I was expecting greatness there, but this was my first experience seeing Dewey act, and he knocked it out of the park. Both of these kids have solid careers in front of them.
I don’t want to go into too much detail about the other characters, but know the actors were effectively menacing and sometimes downright insane. The dynamic between the cast was perfect for this type of story and the type of characters they were playing. They couldn’t have had a more polar opposite demeanor, which complemented their villainy extremely well.
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My one and only issue with this film was that I wished the ending was more satisfying. The entire film was building to one final moment, and when it came, it just wasn’t as impactful as I expected or wanted. To be clear, it wasn’t a bad ending in the least, I was just a little disappointed in the way things felt rushed after building such an intense film.
Charbonier and Powell have created an amazingly intense thriller here, and it shouldn’t be slept on. The duo recently wrote and directed The Djinn, a horror film also starring Ezra Dewey. The Boy Behind the Door is now available for streaming on Shudder.