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Genre: Horror, Thriller
Director: Andrew Paquin
Role: Lila
Cast: Brian Geraghty, Rachel Blanchard, Steven Moyer, Anna Paquin
Release Date: U.S., August 3 2010 (straight-to-DVD)
MPAA Motion Picture Rating: R

• Overview
• Memorable Lila Quotations
• Said of Open House
• Open House Movie Trivia
• Critical Reception
• Open House Online

More Open House images of Tricia in our Open House Photo Gallery

Still hurting after a tough break-up Alice (Blanchard) decides to put her house on the market in the hopes of moving on with her life. But the open house event she hosts draws unforeseen interest from a pair of psychopathic house hunters. After concealing himself in her basement, David (Geraghty) emerges in the night, kills Alice’s best friend, and inexplicably keeps Alice alive, hidden away in the crawl space of her own home. Alice listens through the floorboards as David and his sexually predatory partner Lila move in upstairs for a week of playing house.

From there, Alice becomes privy to the perverse relationship between her captors. She realizes David has kept her existence a secret, a small act of rebellion against the domineering Lila. As David’s relationship with his hidden prisoner grows stronger, his twisted partnership with Lila begins to crack. But any chance that Alice has of surviving her ordeal is threatened by a disturbing revelation about the true nature of the bond between David and Lila.

* * * *

Tricia Helfer portrays Lila, David’s psychopathic sister and partner in crime with perverse sexual tendencies both towards her brother and her arbitrary victims. Although seemingly charming to outsiders, Lila is ruthlessly domineering of her quiet brother despite a feeble desire to change, but is secretly painfully insecure about herself both emotionally and physically.

“I love it. It’s home.”

“Come on, have some wine. One glass won’t kill you.”

[Josh: "What about you, are you with anyone?"]
“There is someone.”
[Josh: "How do you make it work?"]
“We have an open relationship.”

“It’s a little frightening at first when you realize you have… other desires, you know? How do you admit something like that to the person that most completes you? But if you cross the line together, and you’re honest with each other, it can bring you closer.”
[Josh: "You tell him everything?"]
“That’s part of the deal.”
[Josh: "And what about him, do you believe he tells you everything?"]
“Of course.”

“It’s so quiet here. I can’t wait to meet the neighbors.”

“Sorry I yelled. I don’t wanna yell. You just… suffocate me.”

“I don’t think you really love me.”
[David: "Of course I do."]
“If you loved me you’d make me stop. You’re so fucking weak.”
[David: "I tried to make you stop. You left me."]

“I was wondering, do you ever get tempted?”

[David has just ruined the thrill of killing Carl for Lila]
“What the FUCK, David?!”
[Carl is on the floor, choking on his own blood]
[upset] “I can’t believe you!”
[David: "I'm sorry."]
[composing herself] “Will you move him to the bath? I don’t want the blood soaking through the ceiling downstairs.”

[Neighbor: "Oh, what kind of work do you do, David?"]
“He’s a writer.”
[Another Neighbor: "What kind of stuff do you write?"]
“Oh, come on, don’t be so shy.”
[David: "It's really just a hobby."]
“He’s writing a children’s book.”
[Female Neighbor: "Really? That's wonderful! What's it about?"]
“It’s about two little children living in the woods…”
[David: "Lila."]
“One day, a creature comes, tells them about this magical place just outside of the forest that has everything they could ever desire. He tells them that he’ll take them there on one condition — they can never go back to their home. The children follow the creature all the way deep into the woods, but he’s running so fast that they can’t keep up. He leaves them, lost and all alone.”
[David: "I asked you not to tell it."]
“But it’s so good. You shouldn’t be ashamed.”
[Lila's voice echoes in David's head and he gets a piercing headache, until he's roused again by Lila's voice]
“David? David. Is that how it ends? Baby? Is it? [continuing the story] And they can’t exactly fall in love because they’re brother and sister. Twins.”

“What did you think, David? That she really loved you? No one will ever love you except me.”

Select quotations regarding the film from Tricia Helfer and her co-workers:

On her character Lila:
“What I liked about Lila, what appealed to me in the script was there was more layer to the character than just being evil, seductive serial killer, kind of one note, icy so to speak. I saw when I read as just a real truth, psychosis, to the character and I wanted to try to portray that. You know you don’t expect her to have vulnerabilities but when she’s by herself you do see some glimpses of vulnerabilities in this narcissistic character.”
- Examiner.com interview, April 29 2010

On the filming experience and working with co-star Brian Geraghty (“David”):
“It was great working with Brian Geraghty, he is the playoff between the two of us. We’re playing siblings and his character kept his emotions in and was very reserved in many ways until he lashed out. And it was a very dominate sort of relationship. So I think one of the challenges was playing with him and finding the right balance of the Lila character, who’s very strong and out there and outspoken. Definitely the dominant. And just her having to react to her brother and how she shows love to him but controlling him. [...] On set just working with Brian was great. He’s great to work with. He’s very much an active actor. The whole environment on set was great. It was a nice environment to be able to talk about the scenes, talk about the motivations, and not just show up and say your lines. It was really a supportive environment. And you know when you’re dealing with tough material like that you do want to bring a truth to it and a realism to it. You need to discuss it and have a good communication with your other actors and director.”
- Examiner.com interview, April 29 2010

• Open House was filmed entirely in director Andrew Paquin’s own home.

• Although it is scarcely alluded to in the film, Lila and David are in fact siblings.

As Open House went straight to DVD in the U.S. and Canada in August 2010, reviews on the film are generally scarce and originate largely from the film’s April ’10 world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Nevertheless, unfortunately the available reviews on the film have been largely negative, even though Brian Geraghty and Tricia Helfer’s respective performances were commended about as often as the film was panned overall.

• Rating > Internet Movie Database: 4.5/10 (600 user votes counted)
• Rating > MetaCritic: No rating (professional)
• Rating > Rotten Tomatoes: No rating (professional)

Extracts from professional reviews:

“Where Open House‘s strengths lie are in its cinematography and direction. Paquin shows potential in this first outing for sure. The film looks crisp, moody, and Geraghty’s character is admittedly unsettling. Tricia Helfer also does a good job as the sexed up murderess. No doubt she’ll win over some portion of male viewers. [...] For a debut film, Open House shows promise from Andrew Paquin, but as a psychological thriller and/or slasher film, there are far better movies in these genres that one might want to view. With that said, Brian Geraghty and Tricia Helfer put on wonderful performances and the Blu-ray from Lionsgate will certainly give you an excellent home theatre experience.”
- Brandon DuHamel, Blu-RayDefinition.com

“While fans of the HBO vampire series may be disappointed to learn the two don’t have larger roles, Geraghty and Helfer both do an impressive job as the film’s resident psychopaths. Quick to slice and dice any unlucky schmuck who wonders in to investigate the missing Alice, David and Lila ooze with repressed danger like a coiled rattlesnake. At once both sexy and extremely creepy, the two are a loosely defined couple – their true relationship never established. The hints the film provides, though, are enough to unnerve. [...] The biggest problems with Open House have to do with the weak script. Instead of building strong characters to inflict fear and danger onto, Paquin throws one-note paper dolls against an intriguing scenario and hopes they stick. The script focuses too much on the sexual chemistry seeping from Battlestar Galactica star Tricia Helfer as she seduces and then promptly murders man after man. While Helfer is able to channel the right combinations of sexy and deadly, her role does not have much depth to it. The movie is filled with characters with as much dimension as M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender in 3D. We don’t need to see an elaborate backstory behind the characters but if Paquin had given the actors a little more meat to work with Open House could have been a real winner.”
- Robert Saucedo, Inside Pulse Movies

“A strange but not entirely unsatisfying mixture of sly social commentary and straight slasher flick, Andrew Paquin’s Open House is hardly the scariest or most original horror flick you’ll come across, but this indie feature (which premiered earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival) boasts a polished veneer, a tone that wavers between ferocious and slightly askew, and more than enough gory stuff to keep the splat fans happy. Toss in a few very strong performances, a few familiar faces you may enjoy (including the director’s sister, Anna Paquin), and a nice tightening of the tension once Act III kicks in, and you have a “straight to video” horror flick that actually has a little artistry to it. [...] It certainly helps that the three leads are so strong (particularly the domineering Helfer and the weak-willed Geraghty), that a few familiar faces pop up for a little carnage, and that Act III ramps up with some sincerely palpable tension.”
- Scott Weinberg, FearNET

Awards & Nominations

Open House has not received any awards or nominations.

Personal Thoughts

Sandra: Horror and horror-type thrillers are not really my kind of films, but having said that Open House turned out far more interesting than the genre allows, even if it maybe didn’t quite hold it together as a film, being rather slow-paced throughout. Except for the momentary bloody gore, though, the physical violence in the film is far less to be had than one might’ve expected, and anyway, even with the film’s couple of scenes of throat-slashing, it’s the emotional abuse taking place between Lila and David (an excellent Geraghty) that’s far more disturbing than any blood shed in the film. The minimalist score is great, too. An intriguing and ambitious directorial debut from Andrew Paquin.

As Lila, Tricia Helfer is simply outstanding, and really carries the film with co-star Geraghty. Although the vicious Lila naturally isn’t particularly likeable, her being apparently completely void of empathy at the same time as being strangely (and irritatingly) dependent of David, as a character she’s nevertheless an interesting departure for Tricia from her earlier roles, and she’s particularly great in the few private moments in which Lila’s real insecurity reveals itself. There are a couple of great moments in which Lila just observes herself in the mirror with a searching, critical look on her face, and another in which she momentarily completely loses it when she just can’t figure out the washing machine. An intriguing role which Tricia simply owns.

Below are some Open House-related links that may be of interest to you.

• Open House official site
• Open House TFL-approved fanlisting
• Open House TFL-approved Lila character fanlisting
• Open House on IMDb.com
• Open House on RottenTomatoes.com
• Open House on Wikipedia.org

• Andrew Paquin on IMDb.com
• Andrew Paquin on Wikipedia.org

• Anna Paquin on Anna Paquin Online
• Stephen Moyer on Stephen Moyer Source