RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR (2006)

If you are looking for frenzied gunfights, forget it. If you are looking for Matrix inspired Kung-Fu action, forget it. If you are looking for aliens and gratuitous nudity, then forget it. If, however, you are looking for a film that is both thought provoking and emotionally stirring, then Right At Your Door is a DVD that you should seriously consider sitting down and watching.

This film takes the rather unique view of telling the story from the eyes of a victim. I don’t mean that in the beginning some one is sent to hospital and then after years of recuperation and secret ninja training goes off to exact their bloody revenge. No no no, I mean a victim of the ‘every day Joe’ type. The sort of people that you see in the supermarket buying their weekly fruit and veg. The sort of person that lives next door. Or maybe even you. And because of the fact that the main characters in this film are not superhero’s, it makes it that much more hard hitting and memorable.
The movie is set in Los Angeles and follows the life of a city working wife and her out of work musician husband. They have just moved into the suburbs and as such still have boxes of unpacked clothes and ornaments in various rooms of the house. Their day starts the same as any other: a cup of something hot and a little food before she jumps in the car to go to the office, whilst he stays at home and listens to the radio. This is when everything goes wrong. There is an explosion in the city. A number of others follow in quick succession. The show playing on the radio is interrupted by an emergency news broadcast reporting the explosions and where they happened. Panic sets in as he realises that his wife is in the vicinity of the blasts and he’s straight on the phone trying to contact her. As you can imagine the mobile networks are jammed with people trying to do the same thing so his efforts are in vain. The police are blocking the roads to stop the general public from entering the danger zone so his physical attempts to get to his wife are hampered when he is turned back by the authorities.

Soon after an even worse piece of news is broadcast: The explosions have been identified as ‘dirty’ terrorist bombs and that the ash from them is poisonous. People are urged to stay indoors and seal themselves in. This is where the dilemma starts. What should he do? If he seals himself in then he’ll be sacrificing his wife, if she’s still alive, she won’t be able to get back inside without risking his own infection. This is where the story starts to get really intense. I’ll be giving too much away if I continue to tell you about the story, but believe me when I say that the film continues down this moral dilemma path and never gets any easier to watch.
The movie, in a rather poor pun, was a breath of fresh air. It was wonderful to see a story that wasn’t a tale about a man with big muscles and bigger guns blasting the hell out of anything that looks like a terrorist. The fact that the leads were everyday people added to the realism of the whole piece and multiplied the tension of each scene. There are many points were I thought to myself, what would I do?, and that doesn’t happen very often when I watch a film as I very rarely have to chose (whilst I’m sitting at my desk in the office) whether to use the Uzi or the AK47. Simply put, this film is great. It is well worth a watch, but just remember my warning at the start of this review: if you’re wanting guns and guts then you won’t get them here. This is a story, not action based piece, and it is all the better for it. The acting is very good and completely believable, making me really feel for the characters and the situation that they have been forced to deal with. It’s emotionally charged and it successfully conveys the panic and feeling of helplessness that I’m sure we would all experience if we, heaven forbid, were plunged into the same situation.

Lionsgate's UK DVD release contains 2 alternate endings, but rather than watching filmed scenes, they are presented in script form for you to read. There is also an audio commentary by Chris Gorak and an interview with him too. One of the most interesting pieces in the extras section though, is aimed at all of you wannabe Spielberg’s, as Gorak gives us all some tips about how to make an independent film.