The Open House

This thriller starts out great and it continues to get better as you move along. A teen boy (Logan) and his mother stay in her sister's mountain home (which is up for sale, hence the title) after his father is hit by a car. Trying to cope and overcome their bitterness over his death and the rising tensions between mother and son, they begin to encounter mysterious locals: a woman who contradicts herself about very important things, like her husband passing months before to his still being alive, peculiarly-behaving realtors who insist mom and son must be gone every Sunday, and a retail clerk who may be trying to seduce Logan's mother. Shot in Big Bear, the scenery is beautiful and the home gorgeous. The film is quite atmospheric using the beauty of the mountains and the interior of the massive home to pull you into a dark mystery. Stuff goes missing, doors are left open without explanation, but is someone already living in the house? Somebody unseen?

Sounds really good, right?

It is.

Until you reach the end.

Something even more mysterious happens. The writers copy and paste an ending from another movie idea and forget to come back to all of those incredibly engaging characters and strange incidents encountered throughout the story line and explain what they are doing there. When we get to the 'conclusion', a villain is revealed, but nothing is explained. Did the writers get amnesia? Did they mix up the closing act with another script?

Worst ending ever. Cynical. Confusing, Incoherent.

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