Amanda Post (Susan Bracken) hasn't returned to her (rather palatial) family home in 13 years, as she witnessed her mother die there as a young child. However, she gets a call informing her that her grandmother is near death, and Mandy dutifully goes home again to care for her in her final days.Upon arrival, she reunites with a host of her small town's odd cast of characters, who all pretty much have their agendas stamped on their foreheads, given the unsubtle writing.First we've got Dr. Crawther (Jim Harrell), who is AWFULLY fond of pumping poor granny full of extra sedatives, Judge Stemple (Gene Ross) who is the executor of grandma's affairs( and clearly has an interest in real estate ~wink, wink...nudge, nudge~). To round out the bunch of potential cannon fodder, Claude Kearn (Larry O'Dwyer) the nebbishy curator of a museum devoted to the house and its history, attached at the hip to antique dolls, doilies and the like.Shortly after arriving, Mandy is subject to a series of threatening and increasing perverse phone calls, from someone who has a severely unhealthy fixation with the women of the Post family and the estate.The first 3/4 of the film is mostly wasted on secondary characters and their subplots, with bonus run time padding from various ineffectual visits from Amanda's doctor boyfriend, Nick(Hugh Feagan).None of it is sketched deeply enough for you to care, and none of the actors here are talented enough to make something out of the utter nothing they're given. Scares and blood are few, and even the centerpiece phone calls are kind of goofy rather then menacing.The only bright spot is Amanda remains a good step more feisty and plucky than heroines of the genre, and the additional agency makes you actually root for her in spite of all of the quality issues.The tension and a nice touch of visual dime store surrealism finally starts building through the last 30 minutes, then drops with a thud into an abrupt and unsatisfying ending, lacking much narrative sense and leaving all of the early plot threads blowing in the breeze.Why do the Judge and Claude hate each other so much? They're both covering the other's dirty deeds, so why no united front?What did the doctor get out of drugging the grandmother senseless if the judge gets the house?How long has Claude been talking to a dummy of Mandy's mum and dressing in drag on the weekends? The dolls and his brief drag turn were a few of the better unsettling visuals/plot points, and both are barely utilized.Why is Nick so utterly bloody useless? The world may never know.All in all, a watchable little film with a few treasures amongst its trash pile, but far less interesting than it could have been. The best I can say for it is that it was an early adopter of elements that would later be far better utilized in genre classics like "Black Christmas" or "Don't Answer The Phone"

Not quite as good a low budget effort as Mr Brownrigg's earlier, 'Don't look In The Basement' but still well worth catching. This starts rather slow and predictably but soon develops into a real creepy affair with an excellent central performance from Susan Bracken as she spends the entire movie fending off the crazies. Whilst she may not be surrounded by folks quite as crazy as in the earlier film none of them are the sort you would wish to get too close to and as the film progresses a most unpleasant tone begins to permeate the picture. Bracken does plenty of wide eyed screaming, particularly as she really begins to lose it towards the end and with her red outfit and the dark shadows and is certainly a sight to be seen.

A young woman reluctantly returns to her home town to oversee her dying grandmother's final days. While staying in the house where she witnessed her mumsy's murder thirteen years earlier, she finds more than a few secrets from her past have come back to haunt her. I appreciate that this movie has such strange execution. It's structure is very different from the typical low-budget horrors of this era, completely eschewing things like mystery (the killer's identity is obvious from the get-go) and resolution. Plot-wise, it borrows from proto-slashers BLACK Christmas and SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. While it's lesser than both of those films in terms of quality, I did find it undeniably charming, entertaining, and even creepy at times. While the acting in the movie is generally amateur, Susan Bracken is a hoot as the spunky lead who gets to spout some amusing dialogue. She quickly flips the switch from headstrong heroine to full-on basket case and there's not a moment she's on screen where my eyes weren't on her face. It's one of the most memorable horror performances I've watched lately. The movie's biggest downfall is the irritating soap opera-ish theme song in the opening credits that pops up way too often throughout the movie. The freaky dolls in the opening sequence (who also pop up at other points in the movie) sort of make up for it. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR doesn't make much sense and it isn't going to be for everyone, but I found it to be a bizarre and unique viewing experience.

I enjoyed this movie and you have to give it credit as well as it was made in the mid 70's. Black Christmas is a way better movie but that was from a movie genius Bob Clark. SPOILERS AHEAD...This movie revolves around a stalker who has hid himself in a house and makes obscene phone calls from inside the house. One obscene call I liked was "I wish those breasts were pushed up against me". No it's doesn't have the harsh language that Black Christmas did like "Little pink pus%@". If it wasn't for this movie Scream and the Ghostface killer in the late 90's would of never been thought of. Slasher reviewer gives this one a thumbs up and says if you a true slasher fan you will check this original flick out. Some minor gore as well to satisfy gorehounds but tame. Worthwhile 70's slash and hack!!!