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The Film (1.5/5)
I have been a fan of Lucio Fulci's films since I was about 16 years old. I cannot remember exactly what I saw first, it was either a cut and bleached out VHS of New York Ripper that was rented from a local Video Library store, or a copy of the Anchor Bay VHS of Zombie that I bought while home from school with a bad flu. Either way from the moment I was introduced to the films of Fulci I was obsessed by them.
Fulci directed many films in many different genres over the years, and until recently only his more popular titles have been released on home video. It pretty much goes without saying that anytime an unseen (by me) Fulci film shows up in my mailbox it becomes priority viewing, and because Door into Silence is Fulci's final film it became even more a priority. I had to know if Fulci went out with a bang or a bomb? Unfortunately, Door to Silence feels more like the latter.
Most of you will remember the famous sequence in The Beyond where Catriona MacColl is driving down the Lake Ponchartrain causeway, and is getting increasingly closer to the blind girl Emily, and her dog who are standing still in the middle of the road. Door into Silence feels like this one incredibly cinematic moment was stretched out into a 90 minute movie.
Door into Silence concerns itself with Melvin Deveraux a businessman who is returning home from a business trip when he attends a funeral with a person who possibly shares his name. He follows the driver of the hurse from the cemetery, and thus begins a series of bizarre encounters through the back roads of Louisiana. As many other reviews have said, Door into Silence feels like an episode of the twilight zone stretched out to feature length. This sadly, does not work for the film, and what could have made a very interesting short film, or TV piece makes for a fairly awful movie. The plot twist at the end of the film is so obvious from the very beginning, that my 8 year old daughter could have had it figured out from the start. Seeing as how this was the case, I tried to focus on the atmosphere, which has the same ethereal quality of many of Fulci's supernatural efforts, and while it does share a look and atmosphere from those earlier Fulci films, it is not enough to save this movie.
Video (3/5)
Severin Films has done a fine job cleaning up Door into Silence for this DVD release. The film is presented in it's original 1:33:1 theatrical aspect ratio. The print they used is clean, although there are some instances of grain, and moderate scratching throughout, this does not really affect the viewing experience.
Audio (3/5)
Severin has presented Door into Silence with a Dolby Digital English mono track. The track works well enough, the dialogue is clear and audible. There does not appear to be any background noise or other aural disruptions on the track.
Extras (0/5)
Severin's DVD of Door into Silence does not have any extra features on the disc.
Overall
This film is pretty much for hardcore Fulci-philes only. Severin has done their usual great work restoring the film. It would have been nice to include some sort of extras to put the film into some sort of technical context. However, the disc is reasonably priced, so it wouldn't hurt that much to pick it up if you are curious.
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