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Cellar Door movie storyline. In this suspenseful thriller, a city-dwelling couple (Jordana Brewster, Scott Speedman) is looking to relocate to the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. While visiting the grandiose home of Emmett (Laurence Fishburne), a mysterious man with a talent for pairing the right property with the right people, the couple is suddenly gifted the house of their dreams with one nonnegotiable condition — they must never open the cellar door. As time passes, the couple realizes that old houses are indeed like people…they all have their deep, dark secrets.
Cellar Door is a film about modern Americana and our leads, playing Portland newlyweds looking to move their life and love along, fit right in as modern sociological subjects. Sera (Jordana Brewster) is a mathematics professor – logical, rational, thoughtful, but also a little artistic and down to earth.
John (Scott Speedman) is a thoughtful architect, loyal to his wife and eager to move onto the next stage of his life. Both are a little boring and, well, basic but in depicting these American archetypes with a relatable charm and chemistry, Scott and Jordan will lure the audience into sympathizing with their relationship and perspective.
Film Review for Cellar Door
Cellar Door Jordana Brewster Scott Speedman Film Review
Vaughn Stein’s “Cellar Door” is a domestic thriller that sets its sights on what sacrifices we’re willing to make for posterity. Sera (Jordana Brewster) and John (Scott Speedman) recently suffered a miscarriage, and their search for a fresh start begins with a new home.
Just as they start to lose hope in finding the perfect house within their budget, they’re offered a dream estate that comes with a single, suspicious condition. The home’s previous owner, Emmett (a cartoonishly dubious Laurence Fishburne), offers the couple the keys to the home so long as they agree to never, under any circumstances, open the cellar door. If they ever peek inside, they must immediately return the keys.
Sera, desperately idealistic, scoffs at what she perceives as a simple task. For John, balancing the scales is much more precarious, as the mystery of the cellar raises red flags that he’s not sure he’s willing to ignore. Regardless, with hopes trumping hesitation, they move in. But as the weight of whether they can live with the unknown weighs on their marriage and comfort, other demons in the relationship start to come to light.
“Cellar Door” concerns itself with where pride meets practicality in love and does so quite cynically. There are smarts in the base of Sam Scott and Lori Evans Taylor’s screenplay, but it’s overshadowed by vapid dialogue and ham-fisted symbolism that doesn’t give the audience enough credit. When the film’s final act comes to fruition, it smacks you in the face with melodrama that feels derivative of better relationship thrillers like “Fatal Attraction” or “Gone Girl,” but without the nuance of either.
The performances of the lead couple are sufficient but unremarkable. Their chemistry is what elevates the film’s pathos and is the most enjoyable aspect of the movie. While some color is provided to their lives outside of work, this skews heavily in John’s favor. His friendships and touchy workplace environment provide more context for who he is outside of his marriage. Sera’s extramarital life consists mostly of knowing that she’s a professor via some long-winded collegiate monologues. Aside from this, she is defined by her miscarriage, her desire to build a family, and her willful blinders in regard to the cellar door.
The primary locale of the film is limited to the home, and keeping this element of the film rigid enhances its thesis about domesticity. Stein’s efforts to treat the home with the iceberg effect – the top floor housing the potential nursery, the ideal, and the cellar containing mystery and repressions, the damning – is noted plainly but not explored with further engagement or creative liberty. The film as a whole tends to say things outright rather than taking the time to explore them with emotion. With less textbook dedication to its metaphors and more sleight of hand in its structure, “Cellar Door” would accomplish the tension it intends, but its bland approach fails to inspire investment.
Cellar Door (2024)
Directed by: Vaughn Stein
Starring: Scott Speedman, Jordana Brewster, Laurence Fishburne, Chris Conner, Katie O’Grady, Jenny Lam Tien, Randy Sean Schulman, Naiya Amilcar, Zach Feiner, Jesaar Landavaso
Screenplay by: Sam Scott, Lori Evans Taylor
Production Design by: Angela J. Smith
Cinematography by: Michael Merriman
Film Editing by: Kevin Gehring
Costume Design by: Erin Aldridge Orr
Set Decoration by: Angela J. Smith
Art Direction by: Greg Brown
Music by: Marlon Espino
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, language and some violence.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: November 1, 2024
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