The Entrance (2006)

Detective Porhowski (Sarah-Jane Redmond) has dinner with her father and he invites her to administrate a clinic that he has just purchased since he is worried with the dangerousness of her profession. Porhowski returns to the police department and she is informed that a man called Ryan James (Michael Eklund) wants to talk to her. He tells an unbelievable story that he has been abducted and forced to play games against four other men, selected for their sins, in a parking garage. In the end of the game, the sin committed by the loser is projected and he is killed by a supernatural forces.Ryan has succeeded to flee with the support of the janitor Joe Balberith (Ron Sauvé). Porhowski does not give credit to his story and finds that Ryan is a drug dealer. When she returns to talk to him, she finds that he has escaped from the interrogation room. Detective Porhowski drives back home but she is kidnapped by Ryan that was hidden on the back seat of her car. He tells that made a deal with the supernatural force that agreed to trade him for Detective Porhowski. What is her dark secret from the past?"The Entrance" is an intriguing low-budget horror movie with an original story. Unfortunately the movie does not have end and wastes a great story. Was it lack of budget to complete the movie? Or does the director and writer Damon Vignale believe that he has made a movie with open end? My vote is five.Title (Brazil): 'Punidos pelo Demônio" ("Punished by the Devil")

OK... right off, there is no gore, no explosions, no nudity, very little action/violence... the 'demon' only shows it's ugly face in a couple of quick flashes. So, it's not for the short attention span crowd. Also, it's also not for the crowd who need everything explained in nice clear expositions with a pretty bow tying it all together at the end. For the rest of us... it's not a bad little thriller. 'Little' both in that the budget is obviously tiny (most of the cash probably went to hire Ms. Redmond) and there's no world-threatening conspiracy. Most of the movie takes place at night and it has the feeling of an intimate little tragedy. Only when the sun comes up does the mood come somewhat undone... I would have preferred the story keep to the cover of darkness. The only real disparaging thing I'd say about it is that the casting/characters/direction are as bland as a sack of oats. Not that the acting is bad... it isn't... but the folks they chose are so blandly 'thespian'. For a pack of evil sinners and demons they a pretty ordinary looking (for Hollywood) bunch... no one is too pretty or too ugly or too old or too young... none of the performances are noticeably weak or inspiring (though Ms. Redmond has the heaviest sack to carry so props to her). It's a decent/interesting story but it could have used some more imagination in the casting and character dialogue and direction and... well... it generally could have used more imagination... and I'm not equating 'imagination' with FX or action or gore... just some more flavor to the faces, words, performances. Still, I enjoyed it... and if it really is the first of a trilogy I'll be sure to be there for the next one.

Detective Porhowski (Sarah-Jane Redmond) is trying to find out what's happening in her town. Ryan James (Michael Eklund) says he was in a nightmarish place where some supernatural evil was killing people based on sins they've committed. As she delves deeper into this crazy story, the more she realizes that it might not be as crazy as she once thought it was.Supposedly this was based on a true story due to some priests' notes or something like that. Basically it's their way of saying, 'this could possibly happen, so we'll say it did happen and make people believe it happened, even though it never really did happen.' Yea, they tried to manipulate the general audience, to little avail.

The Entrance starts as Detective Porhowski (Sarah-Jane Redmood) is told that there is a man (Michael Eklund) waiting in an interview room to confess something, the man tells Porhowski that he was one of five men kidnapped the previous day & imprisoned in a room where they were made to play games with the losers being sacrificed. Detective Porhowski has a hard time believing him, she finds out that the man's name is Ryan & that he is a drug dealer but he disappears soon after. Then outside the police station he kidnaps Porhowski & says that it's all part of the game, a deadly game that Porhowski is now part of...This Canadian production was co-edited, written, co-produced & directed by Damon Vignale & at times The Entrance is an interesting little supernatural thriller while at other times it's an incoherent mess of a film. The script takes it's lead from Saw (2004) with it's idea of various sinners & criminals having to play games & if they lose they die, unlike Saw which was a horror thriller set in the real world with real people The Entrance puts a supernatural spin on things & introduces a 'fallen angel' called Baal-Berith who kills sinners for the Devil's pleasure or some such nonsense. The basic concept is really good & at times it's an intriguing & interesting take on the Saw premise but at other times it's a mess. It's far too ambiguous for my liking, as the end credits roll you will have many unanswered questions which I found very frustrating. The plot could have been great with Porhowski drawn into the deadly game, however it's a rather predictable plot twist that's easy to see coming & then there's a bizarre ending when Porhowski is attacked but she hadn't sinned so why did the Baal-Berith demon thing go after her? What happened to her dad? Ultimately The Entrance doesn't quite work, there's some nice ideas & an interesting basic concept but it looses it's way & ends up frustrating & when the end credits roll disappointing.Director Vignale does a decent job, sure he films everything in very muted blue grey colours like just about every other thriller ever made but at least he keeps the camera steady & the editing is as such so you can actually tell whats going on. It's also nice to see a horror thriller film where the entire cast of character's are adults rather than teenagers & there are some decent performances here. The gore is virtually zero, someone gets a cut on his head & trickle of blood but that's it. There's a werewolf type monster briefly seen at the start which then completely disappears, not sure why & what's up with that girl who throw's up at the start? The games the sinners are forced to play might have been a bit better & a little more dramatic too, I mean musical chairs & a game of bingo don't exactly set the pulses racing!Technically the film is good & well made with decent production values although the budget does show a little bit when some ancient powerful demon has to set his games & traps inside a multi storey Canadian parking garage! Apparently shot in Vancouver in British Columbia in Canada. The acting is good from a decent cast.The Entrance could have been a great little supernatural Saw style rip-off but it ends up missing the mark because of a slightly weak & underdeveloped script that leaves the viewer somewhat frustrated. I quite liked it for what it was but it could have been so much more.