The Boy Behind the Door

The Boy Behind the Door
Starring Lonnie Chavis, Ezra Dewey, Micah Hauptman, Kristin Baker van Straten
Directed by David Charbonier & Justin Powell

The power of friendship is often tested when you're adults, but when you're a kid it's plain and simple: you're friends to the end, no matter what. Before the weight of the world, the allure of the opposite sex, and distance comes between you, there's nothing more that you need in life than to hang out with your best buddy doing innocent children stuff. Yet when that friendship is tested to the extreme, you really learn who'll be there for you through it all, and that's the message of "The Boy Behind the Door," a tight, low-budget horror film that parallels real life in shocking ways, and centers around two young boys who say they'll be friends to the end, as they hope the end doesn't come that night.

Bobby (Lonnie Chavis) and Kevin (Ezra Dewey) are best friends, twelve years old, and are on their way to a baseball game when they're abducted and taken to a desolate home. While Kevin is taken inside and chained in a room, Bobby is left in the trunk of the car to die, before kicking and punching his way out. As he's about to flee to freedom, he hears Kevin screaming in the house, and decide to free his best friend so they can escape together. As Bobby eludes their captors he learns a shocking truth about them - he and Kevin aren't the first children they took, and he'll make sure that they're the last.

The topic of child sex predators is an all-too-real one, especially for someone with young children. Back in my day, we were able to go out bike riding down the street for miles without fear of being abducted, and without cell phones or any means of communication. Today, parents won't let their children play in their front yard in fears of them being abducted, and that's not an over-exaggeration. Hundreds and thousands of kids are abducted every year, and unfortunately many are never found again and sold into sex slavery. Most of the time girls are considered the target, but "The Boy Behind the Door" sheds light on a less notable option: boys are also taken for such sadistic purposes. This is what makes a film like this more terrifying than ones like "Halloween" or "Friday the 13th" - because it's real.

First-time directors David Charbonier and Justin Powell make use of their limited budget in a highly effective way, focusing the action on one setting and using every talent at their disposal to bring forth a truly unnerving experience from start to finish. Running less than 90 minutes, the film starts off with a shocking reveal and continues the trajectory in that direction throughout, never giving the audience a moment to catch their breath as the deadly game of cat-and-mouse ensues, and for those with young children, this is all the more terrifying. The film is primarily set in a house that seems lost in time, both on the outside and the inside - it's set on a steep hill with only woods and grass surrounding it, and inside it's like stepping into the 70s, with rotary phones and old big box television sets alongside peeling walls and creaky floorboards. It's the perfect setting for such a movie, and also makes use of the labyrinth of rooms and action, involving an obvious nod to Stephen King's classic "The Shining."

To add to the tension, cinematographer Julian Amaru Estrada utilizes natural light to illuminate the senses, as day turns to night we see the house silhouetted with barely enough light to see what's happening, which pulls us in even more as we sit with bated breath in anticipation of what will happen next. Likewise, the use of sound and silence adds to the tension, where you expect loud music to accompany a jump scare isn't there, but instead true terror lingers.

The setting, lighting, and music would all be for naught if the film didn't have a compelling script and fantastic actors, but thankfully "The Boy Behind the Door" doesn't skimp on these. The script is well thought out and provocative, and without spoiling anything it takes a surprising turn halfway through that'll shock you and make you think twice about who you see in your hometown. The acting itself is the shining achievement, delivered with brilliance by the young actors Lonnie Chavis and Ezra Dewey, who haven't really appeared in much before but deliver performances akin to child actors who've been in the business for years. Lonnie's Bobby is a fierce, determined warrior with a heart of gold who won't leave his best friend behind, and utilizes everything he can to save them both from their hell house. Ezra's Kevin has a bit less to do considering the fact that he's chained up for most of the film, but the terror he experiences is shown through his powerful emotions, leaving anyone with a child with tears in their own eyes at the thought of something this horrible happening to their own children.

"The Boy Behind the Door" does experience some pitfalls that come with films of this nature, but since it's children who are the center of the abduction, it can be more forgiven than a grown person. In an almost humorous scene, Bobby finds a rotary phone but doesn't know how to use it, and I laughed thinking how stupid it is that he doesn't know, but then I realize that he's only twelve, and probably most kids his age in real life have never seen one of those phones before. Yes, he does make some errors that kept me yelling at the screen (he keeps leaving the axe behind!), but again it's due to his youthful innocence rather than elder stupidity. The film ebbs and flows with the highs and lows, as freedom is often a few feet away but just beyond reach time and again, which is something typical for an abduction film, but is still done rather well. While it kind of falters in the third act, it still maintains a sense of continuity and tightness that followed, resulting in a powerful, thought-provoking horror film that'll have you holding your children a bit tighter.

Filled with impressive performances, shocking moments, and true-life terror, "The Boy Behind the Door" reinvents the genre and provides a unique look into the sadistic world of child sex trafficking in its most ugly form.

The Score: A-