There's Somebody at the Door

Door (Banmei Takahashi, 1988)

Like politicians and Piers Morgan, you can add cold callers and door-to-door salesmen to the list of awful people who ought to be publicly flogged. Banmei Takahashi's 1988 psychological thriller, Door AKA Doa in Japan and Essex, does little to dissuade this personal opinion.

Yasuko Honda (Keiko Takahashi - Banmei's other half) is a young, yuppie housewife living in an apartment block, faced with daily harrassment by aggressive traders. Door is fundamentally a stalker thriller; a popular theme for its time. However, Door possesses idiosyncratic features which distinguishes it from its peers. As far as Japanese thrillers go, there's a distinct European aesthetic; Yasuko's appartment is decorated with western style art and sculptures such as Greek statues. Its cinematography, courtesy of Yasushi Sasakibara, lends a distinctive De Palma/Argento flavour to it, too.

Yasuko falls victim to the wrath of one particular pushy door-to-door salesman who crosses the line by trying to barge his way into her home. Instinctively, Yasuko slams the door and injures the hand of  Yamakawa (Daijirô Tsutsumi). Feeling insulted and sexually motivated, our antagonist launches an epic campaign of harrassment against Yasuko. These actions result with scrawling obscenities on her front door, singing to her on the phone and leaving cum soaked tissues in her mailbox. Absolutely no chill.

Sound also plays a major part in the film. Takahashi incorporates it to reflect Yusuko’s isolation from the outside world. When she reports her disturbing experiences to a police officer, he responds in this weirdly distant voice, like the bad reception on a telephone. A clever way of exemplifying Yasuko's isolation from the world beyond her front door, in my opinion. There's also the incredibly catchy theme which becomes torturous the more times it's played in the film. Not sure whether that's intentional or not, but it does lend to the insanity of the film as it progresses.

The film employs a slow burn style for its first two acts before switching into fifth gear with its blood splattered pay-off. Here's where my biggest grievance of the film lies; Yasuko's sudden about turn to slasher character imbecile. She doesn't immediately leave the apartment with her son when an all important chance arises, nor does she even bother checking the premises before putting her son to bed. I suppose this dumb oversight does lead to the ensuing carnage. However, as great that is, it does tarnish my overall opinion of the film somewhat, as Door plays out as a smart thriller with its previous acts. Still, you can almost forgive it as it does lead to the incredible overhead chase sequence in Yasuko's maze-like apartment.

Copped the Third Window Films blu-ray of Door which also contains the sequel as a bonus feature; apparently, there are three films altogether. The first film is the only one directed by Banmei Takahashi. Considering how much I enjoyed it, I'm keen to check out his other films, but judging by the titles on IMDb they read like they're part of Randall's video tape orders in Clerks which is somewhat offputting. He helmed a lot of pinku (softcore) films back in the day.