TuesdayThe17th Review of The Pale Door

The Pale Door (2020)

I'm that guy who rates poorly conceived films 10 while the majority rates them 1... With that being said, this movie is a 3 from me....

[3/10 · 16 October 2020]

As a film lover and a horror freak, I give every horror movie a chance. I love indie and b horror just the same as the rest and I usually appreciate lowly rated films more than most people. However, sometimes there are true stinkers released and it's sad to me when i see a director with potential release a bad film because it leaves a slight stain on their name and typically removes them from my radar. An example of this would be Corin Hardy, who, directed the suspenseful and action packed "The Hallow" but then went on the release the AWFUL single location flop "The Nun" in 2016. Id imagine studios are hesitant to work woth Hardy after his last epic failure. The same goes for this film, "The Pale Door" directed by Aaron Koontz who previously made the decently conceived "Camera Obscura". "The Pale Door" is a western horror film that follows a group of outlaws sometime in the early 1900s as they attempt to execute a high stakes train robbery one dark and foggy night. One of the main characters are injured during the robbery and from there we are lead to a brothel inhabitated by a coven of witches where suspicions arise and and demises befall. The plot has been dome numerous times but this is still MY type of plot in a film. I love that creepy ambiguous sense of dread in a film. Often what you don't see is the scariest part of a film. However, there was something afoul since the title credits began. The movie has a very hokey vibe to it. A vibe very similar to Ted Geoghan's films but I actually truly love Geoghan's two films so this movie still doesn't even hold a candle to them. The clothing worn here is all freshly pressed and uber clean as if they were just taken out of the wardrobe bags minutes before filming began. There was no dirt, no dust, and no sweat on any of the characters clothing through out the entirety of the film. There was also no grit or rawness here. Everything felt so..b polished. The "witch creatures" we're awful looking and were more funny than scary. Their big long noses were a joke. The director is clearly an airhead and has awful taste. There are several iconic names involved in this movie and I feel quite bad for them that they now have to add this film to their resumes. In my opinion, every cast and crew member should "Alan Smithee" themselves from this piece of garbage so it doesn't affect their future careers. Itd be funny to see a movie with a complete cast of "Alan Smithee"s. Overall I feel bad for the director, cast, and crew of this movie because you'd have to be an idiot to actually like the turn out here.