Do Not Enter? More like Do Not Watch.
The new Lionsgate movie from prolific music video director Marc Klasfeld is excruciatingly dull, unintentionally silly, and a viewing experience to avoid at all costs.
Based on the novel Creepers by David Morrell, Do Not Enter follows a group of thrill-seeking explorers and aspiring influencers known as The Creepers. Struggling to get views and garner a following, the group embark on a live stream from a supposedly haunted hotel that is rumored to have a hidden stash of $300 million. Of course, nothing goes to plan for the crew as they face off against rivals and a lurking creature hunting them from the shadows.
Within its first ten minutes, the film makes it clear that it has a loose and even comical understanding of social media and influencers. A collective of disinteresting young adults are introduced in comically cringe-worthy fashion, all of whom seem to have no clue how the internet works and what kind of content would engage audiences. An array of stilted performances from the young actors that comprise The Creepers fail to sell the authenticity of the group, both in their rapport with one another and the realism of their social media goals, and frequently feel like they’d better fit in a subpar series on The CW.
With a shaky foundation to build from, Do Not Enter only becomes more ridiculous as The Creepers journey to the Paragon Hotel and try to gain a following beyond their measly 81 views on their last video. A random and humorously suspicious man played by Irish actor Laurence O’Fuarain joins the team as they start filming or recording thoroughly inane content. The humor that comes from watching characters who are meant to be aspiring social media influencers exhibit not a semblance of social media literacy produces a few laughs here and there, but it largely serves to deprive the movie almost entirely of tension.
Although the Paragon Hotel is brought to life with admittedly creepy production design and lighting, the film takes a perplexingly long time to attempt to rattle its audience. A brief flash of the hand of a pale creature aside, Do Not Enter doesn’t even try to unsettle or build tension, instead merely unfolding as a bunch of dull characters aimlessly wandering around a dark hotel with no clear objective. It’s remarkable that a film billed as a horror movie does so little to elicit even the most tame of scares.
Things get only slightly more interesting when a rival group of similarly idiotic aspiring influencers come to the hotel, also in search of the hidden $300 million. Nicholas Hamilton, known for his role as Henry Bowers in Andy Muschietti’s It movies, plays one of these rivals and delivers the only solid performance in the film. His character Tod is a menace, recklessly waving a gun, screaming erratically, and demonstrating a callous disregard for others’ well-being. However, surrounded by lackluster performances, the effectiveness of Hamilton’s performance is limited and only slightly brings a much-needed layer of suspense to the film.
As for the supernatural inclinations of the film, Do Not Enter painstakingly weaves in a strange creature, a Satanic ritual, and prophecy into its narrative. The lore surrounding these elements goes woefully underexplained and borders on incoherent, thus squandering any attempts to salvage an already subpar horror movie. The creature itself has a creepy aesthetic and is somewhat reminiscent of the creatures from The Descent, but the filmmaker’s poor ability to elicit thrills means that the creature never remotely unsettles.
When the 90-minute film finally comes to an end, one is left feeling like they’ve wasted their time on a movie triple its length. Audiences seek horror movies for, at minimum, a viewing experience that unnerves or gets under your skin and lets you escape from the horrors of reality by immersing oneself in the horrors of fiction.
But Do Not Enter fails to meet this most foundational of thresholds. It’s a movie shockingly devoid of thrills and rendered unintentionally comedic through its unrealistic and misguided depictions of social media and aspiring influencers, the only element of the film that proves even remotely disconcerting.