Right at Your Door

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with Brad (Rory Cochrane), an out-of-work musician, making coffee for his wife, Lexi (Mary McCormack), who is still in bed. She leaves for work and Brad is left home alone. Over the radio, he hears that several suspected dirty bombs have been detonated across Los Angeles. He exits his house and sees large amounts of smoke rising from the city. Brad gets into his car and drives to the city to find Lexi. Brad tries to contact her through her cell phone, but only receives a busy signal. He soon finds that all roads now have police blockades.
An ash-covered car is stopped by the police. One officer notices Brad watching from inside his car and goes over to him to tell him to go back home. The police officers aim their weapons at the driver as he gets out and demand that he get back into his car. He ignores their warning and is shot down by the police. Brad decides to leave and go back home when he encounters a small boy called Timmy (Scotty Noyd, Jr.), who is watching the rising smoke from the city. Brad tells him to run home, and continues to his house.
Once home, Brad sees Alvaro (Tony Perez), in the house. Alvaro asks Brad if he can stay with him as there is no one at the neighbor's house where he was working. Over the radio, they hear that survivors of the blasts are being quarantined due to the bombs' deadly toxins, and that the authorities advise people to seal up their homes before the toxins reach them. Brad and Alvaro then proceed to seal up the house with duct tape and plastic. As it becomes increasingly more obvious that Lexi might not come home, he takes some of Lexi's clothes and leaves them outside the back door with some food and water. Radio newscasts claim that the bombs contained several toxins and an unknown viral strain.
Lexi has been involved in a car crash but is still alive. She walks home, still covered in the dust. Brad, who sees her, realizes she could infect both himself and Alvaro so he does not let her in. Lexi becomes desperate after being locked out. She loses her temper and throws her cell phone at one of the door panes, breaking it. Brad and Alvaro both rush to cover up the breakage and seal it off. Together, they manage to calm Lexi down.
Brad then seals off the main bedroom from the rest of the house so that Lexi can get into it. Lexi receives a call from her mother, who realizes that she was near the explosion and is probably infected. Her pleas for Lexi to go to a hospital fall on deaf ears as Lexi tells her that the rest of the country is seeing news that doesn't all reflect the truth of the situation. A car alarm goes off nearby, and Timmy is seen next to it. Lexi calls him over and Brad seals off another part of the house in order for Lexi and Timmy to clean off the ash in the bathroom. Alvaro decides to leave the house, saying he needs to be with his wife. Brad tries to convince him to stay, but Alvaro leaves anyway and is seen slowly walking away through a downpour of toxic ash.
Lexi hears a noise from the back and alerts Brad. A masked man appears, who introduces himself as Rick (Jon Huertas). He tells Lexi that there is a ship on the coast that has medical supplies and is helping people. Lexi, Rick, and Timmy leave for help and Brad hears newscasts on the radio that elaborate on the unknown viral straining, saying it is hybrid and attacks the respiratory system. That same night Brad is visited by a Corporal Marshall (Max Kasch) and his men. He asks Brad several questions, such as how well his house has been sealed, who else is currently or recently been there, and if there has been any contact between him and anyone on the outside. Brad mentions the phone that Lexi threw the door window and the Corporal demands a sample of the dust off the phone. He tells Brad that he will soon be back with the results and that his wife under no circumstances should be let into the house. As he leaves, he is heard reciting the home's address, and then saying, "red tag."
Lexi returns home the next day without Timmy or Rick and sees the red tag placed outside the house. Lexi tells Brad that Timmy was treated with other children and that she saw police assault and arrest five people. Lexi calls her brother, Jason, (Will McCormack) so that she can have someone to talk due to her mother being frantic with worry.
The next couple of hours are spent with Brad and Lexi on their respective sides of the door, who talk about what they will do assuming they survive. Brad imagines that after this they will both probably end up on one of those morning talk shows where everyone goes to reveal their woes. Suddenly, soldiers appear and grab Lexi, and prevent Brad from coming outside. One soldier manages to calm Brad down and explains to him that because he did such a good job sealing up the house, there is no new air to circulate through, but also explains that, unfortunately, when Lexi broke the door window, the virus was brought inside and has now multiplied to lethal levels, making the air inside extremely dangerous. Brad doesn't understand what the soldier is saying and insists that they bring his wife back. A large heavy piece of plywood is put over the back door, completely covering it. A hole is drilled through the wood and a pipe appears through which a gas starts to be pumped in. More boards seal the windows and doors but Brad manages to break down the plywood covering his front door, only to discover that a fumigation tent has been erected over the whole house. He tries to tear through the tent and is knocked unconscious by a soldier, as Lexi screams Brad's name. The camera cuts to Brad as he takes his last few breaths.
Lexi is later seen sitting in an ambulance, being attended to by a nurse. The film ends with Lexi in too much shock to say anything, her cell phone ringing.

Tags: mystery

Review:
She wakes up in the morning and heads in her convertible to the highway to work downtown.Brad listens to the news that dirty bombs have just blown up in Los Angeles in a terrorist attack and the authorities warning people seal off doors, windows and any opening and stay home.
It's a very real possibility LA could be hit with a dirty bomb, and the repercussions would probably be similar to what's in the film.It does suffer from some holes and stretches in logic and performance, but most thrillers do, so that's not necessarily a slam.I can't say I liked the ending, but I was gripped by the story and the way it was shot.A solid thriller..
Right At Your Door taps into the current climate of fear caused by international terrorism, with a tale of a 'dirty' bomb attack on downtown Los Angeles that results in a cloud of toxic dust engulfing nearby residential areas.Focusing on a married couple caught up in the disaster, the film seeks to wring tension from a rather inspired and decidedly awkward situation which sees husband Brad (Rory Cochrane) safely sealed inside his house (as instructed by the authorities), when his contaminated (and now potentially deadly) wife Lexi (Mary McCormack) turns up outside, demanding to be let in.Such an intense situation requires class-A dialogue, top notch acting, and flawless plotting from start to finish in order to succeed, and, at first, it seems as though Right At Your Door might have what it takes: the promising opening, in which Brad gradually realises what is happening and then desperately attempts to locate his wife in all of the confusion, is well realised.Unfortunately, as the film progresses and the action becomes concentrated on the dilemma faced by the terrified Brad and Lexi, too many mundane scenes of chit-chat, the inclusion of a couple of pointless characters, and some very ill-considered moments that really take some swallowing, ultimately mean that the movie fails to maintain its tension.Towards the end, obviously sensing that his script desperately needs a boot up the rear, writer/director Chris Gorak tacks on a last minute 'shock' twist ending, but it is so far fetched that it is unable to save the film from being yet another example of a good idea let down by a poorly constructed script..
The film opens with an unemployed musician, played by Rory Cochrane who was great in A Scanner Darkly but can't seem to flesh out his hero here past a certain point, showing a tender servile nature by making a cup of latté for his wife Lexi, played by Mary McCormack, who is still in bed.
His instantaneous judgment is for his wife and her wellbeing so he drives in the direction of the city center to find her.While it is a small-budgeted dramatic film more than anything it may seem to have pretensions about being, Right at Your Door shows several real matters Homeland Security planners are under immense pressure to handle like the interference with telecommunication because of so many calls, or the worried well who assemble to hospitals and emergency shelters and overpower emergency services, a great deal about the threat of contaminated people coming into hospitals and the necessity for facilities in which to work on decontamination.
Even though this paranoid thriller maintains as a vital element to the story that a virus can develop and become more lethal just by being confined, a virus needs the infection of a living thing to reproduce.Right At Your Door taps into the present feeling of apprehension brought about by worldwide terrorism, with a fable of an attack on downtown LA that causes a haze of toxic dust overcoming adjacent suburbs, where many people generally feel the safest.
Concentrating on a married couple mired in the catastrophe, Chris Gorak's script aims to squeeze frantic drama from a somewhat clever and unquestionably thorny circumstance which perceives Cochrane securely sealed inside his house as instructed by people in charge, when his infected and now possibly lethal wife McCormack arrives insisting to be allowed to enter.
Such a strong dramatic conflict needs dialogue, acting, and plotting that are just as strong all the time to make it.Alas, as the exactly ninety-minute-long film advances and the conflict grows determined upon the catch-22 challenging the fate of the two petrified leads, an excess of humdrum scenes of inert dialogue and some especially half-baked moments that put a strain on suspension of disbelief in the end lead the movie to fail to sustain its tautness..
This is where Right At Your Doors comes in, which acclaim on the festival and been critically received by people like Empire Magazine and Mark Kermode.Opening on an seemingly ordinary day, Brad (Rory Cochrane) and Lexi (Mary McCormack) a normal couple in Los Andreas prepare for another day.
The couple are scared, with the US government talking extreme action because of toxic atmosphere.Chris Goark makes a good film about on of America's biggest fears, and brings it to a ground level, and how it affects real people.
With only the radio for information, Brad waits for any news while, at the same time, an exposed Lexi tries to get back home.This was a reasonably topical film at the time, perhaps not "hot on the heels" of 9th September 2001, but the fear of terrorist attacks on the West had not subsided five years later – and indeed it is still a button that can be pushed as we saw even as recently as 2008's US election.
Many parallels can obviously be made to the September 11th attacks as well as Gorak's not-so-subtle criticism of government rescue operations ala Katrina, but everything seems exploited in just the right way as to make the fear actually feel viable as we watch from the safety of our chairs.The third act does wind things down possibly a little too slowly compared to the full-throttle assault that was the first thirty minutes, although despite lapses in logic now and then I felt the movie represented an honest scenario the best it could up until a poetic, but underdeveloped and gimmicky ending..
"Right At Your Door" shows what could happen should such an attack occur in Los Angeles.The film focused on an married couple named Lexi (Mary McCormack) and Brad (Rory Cochrane).
Shortly after sealing the last door, Lexi shows up, obviously contaminated by the chemical attack, putting Brad in the heartbreaking situation of not letting her in out of fear of bringing radiation in the house.
Brad and Lexi wait in the hopes that someone with medicine would arrive, but help seems not to be on its way."Right At Your Door" graphically demonstrates one likely reaction and result of a dirty bomb attack and the limits government can do in aiding masses of people sick or dying in the event of such an attack.
The story also tests the love between the couple and leaves questions as to whether anything you hear from your radio or your government can even be trusted in a time of crisis.After the film, Writer/Director Chris Gorak took questions from the audience and even Mary McCormack herself made a surprise appearance!
What I am commenting on however is how Gorak seems to drag out the film to make the conclusion all the more effective, and instead of causing surprise as a twist should all the ending does is leave the viewer thinking, 'Is that it?' With bombs being so recently detonated in London and other cities around the world I can see why this film has been made; in order in investigate whether people are ready for such an event, or whether mass panic is an eventuality that cannot be avoided.
Minutes later, a series of dirty bombs bearing a mysterious "molecular toxin" goes off across Los Angeles.Writer-director Chris Gorak, an accomplished art director who worked on "Fight Club" and "Minority Report," does a lot with very little here, using Cochrane's terror, radio reports and the briefest glances at ash clouds and emergency vehicles to create a real sense of panic, while keeping the worst destruction off camera.But then, as soon as Cochrane seals himself into his house and we're forced to settle in with a handful of survivors, the movie slowly but surely loses its hard-earned claustrophobia.
because I believe the twist is so over hyped and that I pretty much figured it out 30 mins into the film ..b. I didn't really believe the acting in the film, I'm not saying it was poor, just that me personally don't think that it was realistic decisions made by the main characters throughout the film given the situation.c. The film is only 90 minutes but I honestly felt like I was in there forever, If it wasn't for the fact I had my girlfriend with me I would of walked out I was so bored.But that's my ten pence worth, I could of been more in-depth however I really don't think this film deserves such attention..
The woman goes out to work leaving the man alone in the house, when suddenly, SHOCK HORROR!!, a series of so-called "dirty" bombs explode and release a miasma of noxious toxins and lethal micro-organisms unto the unsuspecting and unprepared citizenry of downtown L.A.For me to go any further would likely result in me being blacklisted for revealing a spoiler, but really, this film is so predictable, that such a term seems to become somewhat redundant.
Seriously, I was expecting the LAPD or something, but these guys looked and acted more like an ill-equipped SWAT team that were completely indifferent as to the lives of the inhabitants of L.A, which was at first quite intriguing, but eventually got boring and began to suffer from "I know what you're going to do at the end" syndrome.The acting was dire, as was the script, as was the direction.
RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR, though owes a certain debt to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, where characters are isolated and have to protect themselves from the mass panic and threat that is outside of there home, and its this simple isolation set up that is effective for this film.
The best part of the film is the end credits.I would highly recommend this movie to insomniacs, as it will bore you to sleep.Please save your time and money!
Not too many horror films manage to scare me, but this one taps into a modern horror that genuinely terrifies me...being trapped inside your own home while being given no information about the dangers of the outside world.You can really feel the hopelessness and frustration of the main character as he tries to determine the best plan of action with what little facts he has to go by.
You would like to think you know yourself and what type of people we share our lives, our homes, neighborhoods and beds with....when it all comes down to it I don't think any of us can tell 100% what we would actually do in this situation unless we were dealing with it head on ourselves....this movie also makes it extremely clear that we don't always need all of the big budget explosions to be able to have an amazing movie...If it were up to me this movie would find it's way into every English class available!.
Brad seals himself in his house for his own survival, however, he becomes torn between letting his wife back in to their home or leaving her outside to die.Chris Gorak direction and camera work gives a sense of realism and he gives the viewer a cleverly written ending.
However, Right at Your Door appears to run out of steam midway through, not knowing what to do with the characters.Carriers (2009) appears to have borrowed a lot from Gorak's offering, but like Carriers it's not a film you'd want to sit thought again.Overall, an emotional great idea that's well made but becomes monotonous..
Right at Your Door is an excellent movie for various reasons.First of all,its premise is fascinating and truly original.Also,that premise is perfectly developed.The characters are also a strong point from this movie because their behaviour is completely natural and credible and they act as normal people would on that situation.Chris Gorak made an excellent work as a director because he could extract perfect performances from the small cast and he could create a perfect atmosphere which automatically makes the spectator to "enter" in the movie.This film deserves admiration because,in spite of its minimum resources,it produces a big impact on the spectator; not to mention,this is a movie which was made with passion and with talent.The only complaint I have against Right at Your Door is that some elements from the screenplay feel a little bit forced.But that fail is not too important.Right at Your Door is an excellent movie which deserves a very enthusiastic recommendation..
The two have just moved into a modest bungalow in suburban Los Angeles, leaving Brad with the task of unpacking their things while Lexi is off at work.Thus begins the banality of everyday life that is the backdrop for director/screenwriter Chris Gorak's thriller "Right at Your Door".
His masterstroke comes from the decision to leave the audience as much in the dark as Brad, as he struggles to glean more info from his radio and whatever phone calls he can make as the networks become overloaded.His panic and subsequent survival decisions are motivated as much by self preservation as they are for concern about his wife, about whose welfare he knows nothing.As the city descends into the grip of martial law, Brad faces the task of sealing himself inside the house with duct tape and plastic, only to find himself confronted by the dilemma of what to do about his wife when she manages to make her way home, gravely ill, though the toxic wasteland that LA has become.The first half of Right at Your Door is as gripping as any movie you're likely to see, however Gorak's screenplay becomes bogged down in chatter between Brad and Lexi that allows the tension to evaporate and only serves to slow the film to a crawl.
By the time the story arrives at its climax, it's almost a relief from the stagnation and boredom that nearly kills this initially promising film.In the end, the movie relies on a twist to bring about its conclusion, and does manage to leave the viewer pondering several "what ifs", which, I suppose, was Gorak's intention.
Brad manages to seal up the house against the clouds of toxic dust: Lexi manages to struggle home through the chaos and Brad, following instructions, won't let her in.This small scale movie is quietly horrifying on both personal and impersonal levels as Brad and Lexi start to come to terms with what has happened and its likely consequences.
The basic plot line of this film is the main character (Brad), who sends his wife off to work as normal, but the whole situation is rocked by the fact that multiple Dirty Bombs were detonated in Los Angeles.
And then, we're back to the fact that his wife is STILL alive, coughing and stuff after being exposed to the clouds for 3 days.Then, the army guys come back at the end of the film, take the wife away, and seals the house down with Brad still inside it.
The men return and take Lexi away from the house...By this point i couldn't give a damn what happened to the characters, as the acting, story and general presentation of the film has failed to keep me interested or feel for the characters.The twist.
It also shows that you do not need big budget explosions and gore to make people want to leave a room or cry.They do not hit on religious or terrorist actions at all, they do not bore you with government speeches, terrorist group names, they literally stick to the main three characters and their drive for survival.This film has without the use of special CG effects and high budget car chases, given me drive again, to value my family and friends and also it has renewed my thinking, made me believe in what I stand for...I stand for the everyday person on the street, the innocent effected by terrorism, extremism and governmental decisions.
There was one moment throughout the whole movie when it evoked some emotion other then boredom and disgust, and that was when Lexi put her had through the back door and dropped the phone and contaminated ash in the house, i felt anger that she would do that to her husband who she supposedly loved (allthough i got no sense of any connection between her and her husband) i feel bad for the actors it was not there fault they got the parts, in fact i admire that they made the appalling script come to life, its not there fault it was badly written.
A film that probably could have been 15 minutes long.I was expecting an action/disaster movie, instead I got an overlong and often boring human drama played out between a husband and wife.
Right at Your Door has quite a neat central idea but is hampered by a storyline that is too thin for its running time, meaning that the tension created in the first third dissipates over the course of the second half-hour  although the ending is enlivened by an ironic twist out of nowhere.The film focuses mostly on Brad, an unemployed musician, and his response to the devastating news that dirty bombs have fallen on Los Angeles, the workplace of his wife.
When I finished watching this I was actually surprised on how good it was, although it's a movie not everyone would know about.Right At Your Door starts off with a man name Brad in a house, seeing his wife Lexi leave the house for work.