Open House is a new horror thriller hitting DVD and Blu-Ray courtesy of Lionsgate on August 3rd. The film is sure to garner quite a bit of attention thanks in no small part to the two most prominent faces featured on the cover art – Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer – stars of the hottest show on television, True Blood. Seeing the on and off-screen couple immediately caused hesitation on my part that this was just some sort of cash-in based on their current level of celebrity – that is, until I noticed the name of the writer and director: Andrew Paquin, i.e. Anna's older brother. Hey, we all do favors for family…

The plot concerns a man who enters the home of Josh (Moyer) and Alice (Rachel Blanchard) during the titular open house. The couple has split up and decided to put the dwelling on the market since Josh has moved out. The man who sneaks into the open house is David, played by Brian Geraghty of The Hurt Locker fame. Neither Alice nor the realtor notice that David has entered the home and he hides out until the open house has ended, taking Alice hostage shortly thereafter. David's accomplice Lila (Tricia Helfer) soon joins him and it quickly becomes apparent that she is the one wearing the pants in the relationship. The film plays out as expected from this point as the psychotic couple of David and Lila make Alice's home their own for the next several days while acting out their murderous impulses on both invited and uninvited guests. The only wrinkle in the storyline is that Alice is secretly kept alive by David even though Lila thinks he has disposed of her. Geraghty's performance is fairly impressive – he plays a blank, submissive psychopath with the best of them and at moments even goes so far as to remind the viewer of Anthony Perkins' brilliance as Norman Bates in Psycho. The major issue with his performance is that it falls smack dab in the middle of a hollow, paint-by-numbers film. I caught myself wanting to just turn it off at numerous times – not because it was bad, but rather because it was just so boring. No tension, no excitement, no heart. And for a film like this to be successful those ingredients aren't optional.

Additionally, my earlier fears upon viewing the cover art were fully realized – Anna Paquin has what is approximately one minute of screen time while Moyer times in at slightly more with around five minutes. Needless to say both are absent from the film before long and certainly aren't nearly as intricate to the picture as the artwork would lead you to believe. Fans of True Blood will certainly blind buy this one when they see it on shelves at their local retailer and will almost as certainly feel ripped off after watching it for wasting their money.

Obviously Open House is working with far more talent than your typical straight-to-video fare which is why this flick is so disappointing. The only thing worse than being subjected to bad acting is watching good actors just going through the motions. I've honestly been more entertained and creeped out by episodic dramas on network television than by this bland motion picture. The Blu-Ray disc itself looks good, but the picture quality isn't anything out of this world. Deleted scenes and a commentary with writer/director Paquin are included as supplemental content, although I can't imagine most viewers caring enough to turn them on. For those who are still curious to check this one out, don't say I didn't warn you.

Overall Rating: 1 out of 5 Paws