Bobby (Lonnie Chavis) and Kevin (Ezra Dewey) are best friends. They spend a lot of time together and are practically inseparable, then one day while they are out playing, they get kidnapped. The boys find themselves in a house and somewhere they don’t recognise and the panic as anybody would, particularly when they are faced with their captors.

However, Bobby manages to escape and makes a run for it, although hearing Kevin’s screams, he realises that he cannot leave his best friend behind – so he goes back inside the house. What happens next is a cat and mouse game and a fight for survival that men twice their age may not be able to escape from.

The Boy Behind the Door is an intense psychological horror on Shudder about two young boys and the bond they share as they fight for their lives. Probably the last taboo of horror, putting children in danger is probably the last thing any horror director would think of doing, except perhaps for John Carpenter in the Seventies. Saying that though, the movie plays out just as any other horror movie would, except that the protagonists are children.

Both Chavis and Dewey do well in their roles, making the audience believe in their friendship and their willingness to do anything for each other. Although it’s Lonnie Chavis’ performance that shines through as he has to hold the weight of the movie as he tries to free his best friend.

The Boy Behind the Door is indeed tense, but unfortunately it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t fall into familiar cliches and once the cat and mouse game begins, then the cliches come thick and fast. As mentioned earlier, the lead characters could be anyone in this kind of situation and they’re usually lone women as is often the case. However, despite its unique set up it tends to rely too much on what the audience already knows about horror.

The ways that the boys get around and manage to overcome their assailants on multiple occasions are often down to luck rather than intelligence. The ways that the movie is stretched out so that the boys have time to think and consider their next move does mean a certain suspension of disbelief as well.

Even the way that the villain finally has their comeuppance is something that has been seen in horror movies many times before. The Boy Behind the Door is still a well-made horror, just don’t expect much innovation.

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