There are few slasher's today that tackle socially relevant topics today as 1987's Open House which takes a stab at the real estate market in a crumbling society, but this fails on almost if not every level.Okay when it came to the latter part of the 1980's, every important holiday has been covered and practically every location, but this has to be the first time that we have a setting in the real estate, a serial killer, hacking his way through a bunch of unlikeable and untalented cast of estate agents. It's not hard to see why that this piece of rubbish is unheard off despite starring a horror icon Adrienne Barbeau, whose worked with the likes of (Craven, Romero and John Carpenter) is seen slumming it in this. Although I did hear that she only starred in this to pay for her son's college fund, which is almost forgiven. Here we get a pathectic and rather unconvincing killer who eats dog food and makes stupid noises. And despite featuring nudity, that doesn't at all save this mess along with cheap and badly staged murders and a totally unconvincing romantic sub plot with a radio talk host and the female lead. The acting is also terrible, not one of the cast members is even remotely likable, the female estate agents here are portrayed as sleazy and even slightly racist, like in the opening scene where we have a woman finding a dead body and she screams for so long it becomes laughable, and then we have a double murder with an female estate agent and her potential cilent who do nothing when they're being pursued by the killer only scream and stand there, no attempt at tension or scares whatsoever. The only sort of redeeming quality is that the killer's explanation was sort of original, but even he was just as poor as the rest of the cast.

Open House (1987) * (out of 4) There's no question that by the time 1987 came along the slasher genre was on its last legs. The majority of the big guys were still being released to theaters but with smaller box office takes and the majority of trash was heading straight to VHS. Just about every holiday and scenario were used just as long as innocent people were slaughtered and the psycho in OPEN HOUSE is after real estate agents who are charging too much for houses. One agent (Adrienne Barbeau) fears that she might be on the psycho's list so her DJ boyfriend (Joseph Bottoms) starts working with the police to try and capture the nut before more are slaughtered. There's no doubt that this is a horrid movie made by people with no intent on making a good movie. It's clear they were just trying to throw something (anything) together in order to take a few more breathes away from the genre that was clearly dying. There's not a single ounce of suspense to be found in any of the killings and the majority of the performances are downright bad. The screenplay is beyond a joke as we get some horrid dialogue but we also get a terrifically insane ending where the DJ, a radio psychiatrist, tries to get the killer to discuss his emotional pain!!! This film, on a technical level, certainly deserves the rarely given BOMB rating but I just can't do it because this thing is so incredibly bad that you'll probably find yourself laughing at most of it. Take one example where a man and woman lock themselves in a double door bathroom trying to keep the killer away. The killer can't get through door one so he then goes around to door two. The duo never try to escape and when the killer finally gets in he neither try to defend themselves and instead one just sits by while the other is killed waiting for their turn. The murders are all extremely silly including one where the killer takes the handle from a toilet plunger and puts razors on it. Fans of Barbeau will probably want to check this out since you'll at least get to see her naked. She's actually pretty good in the film as you can tell she's at least giving some effort. Bottoms is downright hilarious during certain moments as is Rudy Ramos as that guy who is usually screaming when it's not really necessary. OPEN HOUSE has a silly plot, silly murders, bad acting, bad special effects and all of this badness is what makes it worth sitting through at least once for fans of the genre. There's no question that it's a horrid movie but thankfully it's bad enough to where you can at least laugh at it and the final five-minutes are so brain dead, jaw-dropping insane that you'll be wishing there was a sequel.

Now, I've seen many many B-grade films in my 15 years of living, and I must say that this was one of the better ones. I personally enjoyed the real estate and the storyline, but it did suffer from amateur acting (although Adrienne Barbeau did give a decent performance as Lisa Grant). Joseph Bottoms couldn't hold his part well enough to be considered good. The other performance which really fit the film was that of Barry Hope (Barney Resnick). It begins with an eager real estate agent taking an Asian couple through a house, only to find there's a dead girl in the shower of the showhome. It progresses with detective speculating, and introduces the key characters with reasonable grace. I think that for any person who's in for a giggle at the over-the-top drama the victim realtors provide during the over-the-top gory scenes, this truly is a gem... XD Who am I kidding? It's not that great, but worth a watch if you're insanely bored.

"Open House" is a pretty mediocre, later than usual slasher film.**SPOILERS**A serial killer decides to attack the real estate agents showing expensive houses, but no one takes him seriously when he calls into Dr. David Kelley's, (Joseph Bottoms) radio show. He's in hot water of his own, and it's starting to take it's toll on his girlfriend, Lisa Grant, (Adrienne Barbeau) a real estate agent herself. As David continues to get calls from the killer, who continues to pick off more real estate agents, he figures it's just some nut who wants attention. When it finally appears that Lisa is the next target, David goes all out to stop the killer from taking her.The Good News: Even though this one came out a little too late for it to be in the initial slasher craze of the early 80s, this one still ain't that bad. The main thing that impressed me with this film is that the killer is incredibly giallo-inspired. We only see a small part of him every time he's on screen, and there is a characteristic that appears as well. Even though it isn't a black glove, the biker-gloves and cowboy boots work in the exact same manner, to let us see the killer without giving his appearance away. These are trademarks of the giallo films, and it was nice to see the influence in the film. The killer is easily the best features of the film, and that also includes some pretty nice deaths. There was some nice ones, including a hanging with a garden hose, a rather brutal electrocution, and the movie's claim to fame, an attack with a razor-bladed toilet-plunger. That is perhaps the best part of the film, which shows a little bit of creativity in there that most don't try to exude.The Bad News: The slow, slow pace of the film. It starts off hot, with a couple great kills immediately, but then it goes off and nothing much happens for an extended period of time. For the way the plot wants to go, it needs a bit tighter pacing than it has. This could be the main point drug up against the film as well: it's just too dull. The slashing sequences aren't that terrific, the gore is pretty non-existent for the kills on display, but the main thing to drudge up against it is the slow pace. Even the traditional inane dialog, lack of characterization, and weakly drawn-out explanations for plot holes that find themselves in common with most other films in the style.The Final Verdict: If you can forgive the traditional weaknesses inherit in slasher films, you might find some interest in this. It's a belated entry into the slasher series, so fans will want to give this a shot, but those not interested in these films will find nothing that will sway them into becoming fans.Rated R: Violence, full Nudity and some Language