Door is a 1988 horror thriller about a housewife who is terrorised by a visiting salesman.
Directed by Banmei Takahashi from a screenplay co-written with Ataru Oikawa. Produced by Kôsuke Kuri. Executive produced by Fumio Takahashi.
The Agent 21-Directors Company co-production stars Keiko Takahashi, Daijirô Tsutsumi, Shirô Shimomoto, Takuto Yonezu, Masao Ishida, Hiroshi Noguchi and Yoshihiro Shimada.
Plot:
Yasuko Honda (Keiko Takahashi) lives a quiet life with her son and husband. One day the family is visited by a salesman who won’t take no for an answer. The pushy intruder gets his hand crushed in the door as he attempts to force a brochure into the apartment, which initiates a series of increasingly terrifying experiences for the Hondas…
Review:
You may have seen Door described as a ‘home invasion’ film and, rather pedantically, I’m going to argue with that. There is a home invasion aspect to the film, but pointing it out is arguably a tad spoilery. The narrative is closer to the obsessive stalker films of the 1980s and 1990s, everything from Fatal Attraction to The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, though this feels much more intense and twisted. It’s also more unnervingly authentic than those films, dealing as it does with a rapidly spiralling situation that comes out of nowhere.
American stalker movies were always the counterpoint to slasher films, usually with crazy women who target either men who have wronged them in some way – a one-night-stand that they expected to mean more, for instance – and their families. While these films presented the women as unhinged and ultimately monstrous, they also played with the idea that the man involved was also guilty – his actions brought this on himself and others.
Real-life stalker cases are more ambiguous – not only are women arguably more likely to be victims than men (though this is a crime that certainly affects every gender, sexuality and social status), but stalkers are often only loosely associated with their victims… if they are associated at all.
In this story, housewife Yasuko (Keiko Takahashi) living in a tower block with a workaholic husband and a remarkably annoying child finds herself dealing with a constant barrage of cold-calling salesmen trying to flog insurance and the like. Her patience runs out when Yamakawa (Daijirô Tsutsumi), an especially persistent language class pusher, opens her unlocked door in order to push literature at her. Unsurprisingly, she takes badly to this and slams the door shut on his hand, injuring his fingers in the process.
Initially, this feels like it is simply a comic moment in a story that seems to be shaping up as a satirical commentary about the way scammers, cold callers and unwanted sales pollute our lives. Yamakawa does not take rejection well though. His response starts out as vindictive and frustrated – kicking at her door, more out of anger than in any expectation that it will open, and then painting lurid graffiti across it. He also leaves a jizz-soaked handkerchief in her mailbox!
Things get progressively worse, however, as he sees what she looks like and develops an obsession. Like many stalkers, hers quickly finds out everything about her – where her son goes to school, where her husband works and how often he is away overnight. He spies on her in private moments and taunts her on the phone. And then, when her dreadful son sneaks out to play with friends, she runs after him, forgetting to lock the front door in the process…
Door often feels like a masterclass in building tension, allowing Yasuko to do just enough stupid things that you find yourself shouting in frustration at her, developing the level of threat consistently while making it ambiguous enough to only ever seem a genuine danger to her (and the viewer). In a moment that mirrors real life far too depressingly, her attempts to report the harassment to the police fall on deaf ears because no significant crime has been committed and she has no idea what the stalker’s name is or who he works for. Her husband fails to take it at all seriously (he is spectacularly useless throughout the film) and her son is little more than a spoiled brat who you half expect to join forces with his mother’s assailant during the final act.
[Spoiler alert] And so we come to the ‘home invasion’ aspect. Yes, Yamakawa does get into the flat and the film’s final act is a relentless series of battles between the pair of them – not all physical, we should say. As assailants go, he’s pretty incompetent and Yasuko gives as good as she gets as the pair battle it out. This might be the only film where you will see an umbrella used in self-defence against a chainsaw (the latter weapon being rather clumsily telegraphed at the start of the film) and things become remarkably intense as you wait to see just how much injury someone can sustain before they give in. That and just what part the child will play in events.
Takahashi brings an impressive visual style to a film that might have otherwise been a bit cramped, taking place as it does primarily in one location. The two leads are impressive – Takahashi, dressed to the nines in classic Eighties fashion, effectively portrays the ennui of the housewife and the terror of the victim, while Tsutsumi is convincingly creepy. He doesn’t look like a monster – he’s a good-looking smooth-talker, but you are never in any doubt about his madness. Speaking of madness – the film’s score by Gôji Tsuno is very much of the period, perky and bouncy and wildly inappropriate much of the time. One can only imagine – and hope – that this is a deliberate bit of distraction.
Door is a distinctly odd film – blackly funny in parts, intensely bleak in others, awash with the sort of splattery violence and suburban realism that was still a part of Japanese horror in those pre-supernatural days. It has deeply uncomfortable moments of bodily terrorism that viewers might still find heavy going nowadays.
What’s more, the filmmakers know exactly how to push the viewer to the edge of their patience as characters do stupid and frustrating things that are never quite beyond the realms of realistic possibility (Let’s face it, who hasn’t run out leaving their keys behind at least once?). I can only imagine what the more exploitative sequel must be like though.
David Flint, MOVIES & MANIA – read more of David’s reviews and articles at his new website Desperate Living
Release:
Rent or buy via Amazon Prime. Door is now available to watch for free with ads on Tubi.
In the UK, both Door and Door 2 were released on Blu-ray together by Third Window Films on October 30, 2023. Extras include:
Bonus feature: Door 2: Tokyo Diary
New digital remasters on both films, from their original negatives
Door 1 audio commentary by Jasper Sharp
Interview with director Banmei Takahashi
Trailers for both features
Slipcase with artwork from Gokaiju
Reversible sleeve featuring both Door and Door 2 artworks
‘Director’s Company’ edition featuring insert by Jasper Sharp – limited to first 2,000 copies
Buy Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk
Trailer:
Blu-ray trailer:
Cast and characters:
Keiko Takahashi … Yasuko Honda; Daijirô Tsutsumi … Yamakawa; Shirô Shimomoto … Satoru Honda; Takuto Yonezu … Takuto Honda; Masao Ishida … The Man Next Door; Hiroshi Noguchi … Policeman; Yoshihiro Shimada … Delivery Man
Country of origin:
Japan
Trustworthy recommended reviews:
Asian Movie Enthusiast [YouTube]
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