Wolves at the Door (2016) Poster

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3/10
Taking a serious incident and exploiting it....
joebloggscity22 October 2018
As much as it doesn't reference it early on, it's quite obvious this is a retelling of the Sharon Tate murders from the 1960s by the Manson family. The fuller details can be left to somewhere else, and this story has been infamous but influential.

This film takes the story but sadly it's a torture porn lite retelling pandering to those who shouldn't be pandered to. It really only focuses on the murder and nothing else, which leaves it all to be vacuous. Bankrupt in a moral sense, and it's in poor tastes as it's based using real people.

I'm no prude but there is pure fiction and reality, and this abuses that line. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is just fiction and well made at that, with some nods to the Manson murders. Wolves at the Door is a gratuitous take on the whole thing but exploits for gain by focussing really on the deaths alone of real people without anything to add to it all.

In fairness, the acting is good, the settings are fine and I enjoyed the soundtrack. Maybe if they avoided the Sharon Tate element and pushed it to another period with other characters and fattened out the story a bit more, we'd have had a more acceptable film. Yet they didn't do that, so we have to take it as it is.

It's one I'd say avoid, despite admitting that it is well made. Just not for me, but more for those we should not be encouraging.
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3/10
Misguided handling of the subject matter
alantas16 July 2018
This movie is based on a horrific real life tragedy; the Tate murders. I think, one of the hardest things to do, is to make an adaptation of real life events. I don't know if this killing spree even needs a dramatization, but I'm sure it doesn't need one, that uses all the bad clichés and style elements of the tired genre of the slasher film. This movie tries to depict the horror of that night, but in a very irritating manner. I felt frustrated throughout by the very bad direction and the lack of respect for the subject. The bad rating is justified.
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3/10
Another missed opportunity
kjjames8127 April 2017
Here we go again, what is wrong with horror film makers these days? This time they had a good idea but done badly, I won't say very badly because the acting was pretty good. How can they make a film about a very famous murder and make it almost bloodless. Most of the killings are out of focus,I.e. you see one killing reflected off an off television set. Then others you don't see the impact of a killing. I was looking forward to this film as a few of the write ups have been good but alas more lies. If you want to watch a better film in a similar vein, then watch Your Next.
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2/10
Boring and Shallow Slasher with No Storyline or Character Development
claudio_carvalho6 May 2017
"Wolves at the Door" is a boring and shallow slasher with no storyline or character development. The screenplay instead of build tension, is boredom.

In 1969 in California, a family is disturbed by a group that breaks in their house. Later four friends celebrate the farewell of one of them to Boston. Out of the blue, two men and two women break in their compound and they are murdered, one by one. Who are they, killers and victims? The viewer will learn in the beginning of the credits only. Don't waste your time watching this flick is the best anyone can do. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): Not Available
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1/10
Nothing at the Door
dcarsonhagy27 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Let me say very few film make me angry, but this is possibly the angriest I've been in a long time.

"Wolves at the Door" gives the viewer enough "clues" to lure them into renting/buying/stealing this TURD. It is supposedly about the Charles Manson murders which took place way back in 1969 during this nation's "Summer of Love". Not only did the followers of Manson slaughter a pregnant Sharon Tate, they also wasted three more of her friends including coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and then continued their killing spree the next evening. If you are actually interested in these horrible crimes, the movie to rent is called "Helter Skelter" and Steve Railsback played the title character of Charles Manson.

I don't know why this movie was made. It was pointless and as useless as a screen door on a submarine. And it does NOTHING. If you're thinking you're going to get a different POV, think again. I don't why a single cent was wasted on a movie that has nothing original to say and never really delves deep enough into its characters or story.

Shame on ANYONE remotely connected to this POS. Rated R.
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2/10
Gutless Film Makers
RMS194925 April 2017
You could have 2 different directions if you were going to make a film about the Manson murders of 1969, documentary style or a straight drama. In either of those cases though, you should at the very least have the integrity to acknowledge and address the actual subject matter that you are filming. This was NOT a movie inspired by, it was a melodrama about the ACTUAL people who died in that horrible event. The makers of this film though refused to even acknowledge this fact while only inserting hints or references about it. But then they named all the characters the same as those killed that night. Even right down to a pregnant "Sharon"

I'm not sure all the reasons behind such a ridiculous decision, my guess it was fear of repercussions, whether legal or financially from actual family members and decedents of those who lost their lives. I gave it a 2 because I will not reward gutless film making with anything higher..

.
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1/10
Exploitative Mess
sbsieber2 January 2019
This movie exploits the horrors of the Manson murders without making any attempt to be historically correct. While the names and characters of the real-life victims are used, the action is not true to what actually happened and devolves into a common thrasher thriller. I don't know why the movie makers would do this because there is nothing more horrifying than what actually happened. These people actually lived and died brutal deaths and if their story must be told, it should be done with respect and veracity.
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1/10
Horrible
lizzybella9 December 2018
Don't waste your time. 70min of my life I'll never get back. Horrible "true story" adaption. Like others said, no plot or any build up. If it wasn't for the hints to it being about the manson family murders it's nothing more than people getting killed and a sad attempt at "jump scares"...Even with them tying it to the Manson family it gave nothing to this movie. If I could give 0 stars I would because it's not even worthy of the 1 it forces me to give.
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Amateurish crap
monsieurzy3 November 2017
One can only hope this was made by a first year film student, and not someone who's been in the business for a while. From the opening factual error , stating the events took place in "1969, the summer of love" (was this written by a millennial kid who had no idea of 1967?) I knew I was in for a stinker. I get the feeling the writer/director saw The Strangers with Liv Tyler and said "yeah, we're gonna make something like that, only BETTER!!"..with any luck, they've since left the film industry.
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7/10
Quite a gripping movie
julie-214124 November 2019
I quite enjoyed this movie. It is full of suspense even though some of it is not really believable. It you don't know the true story the scenes are not predictable. Definitely worth a watch.
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1/10
Plain and simple slasher flick with no story.
Horror_Flick_Fanatic29 April 2017
Wolves at the Door (2016) is a slasher film inspired by the Manson murders of 1969. But this particular film is just a plain slasher film with no real story in it. The slashers, a man and three women presumably Charles Manson and his groupies, their faces are never seen. You only see them in shadows. No depth into any of the characters.

On the plus side of things, it does have plenty of jump scares if that's all you are into. But this film has no insight into the real life murders of Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, or Wojciech Frykowski. The film is just a dumb slasher flick, nothing more.
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8/10
The Manson Family and the Tate-La Bianca Murders of 1969
OMTR22 October 2020
Of course, this is by no means a blockbuster, but it is a very interesting micro-budget film, loosely based on the horrifying Tate-La Bianca murders committed by the evil Manson sect in August 1969.

Personally, I am just surprised at the lack of resistance from the victims before being murdered - Does this reflect the reality of the time, or is it a weakness in the script (because of the lack of budget)?

Anyway, the cast and acting are good and John Leonetti achieves a remarkable performance with such a tiny budget.

In conclusion, I guess too many movie critics are nothing more than spoiled and frustrated kids who have never been 'amateur' filmmakers or who have never even really worked at all.

Remember the conclusion of "Ratatouille" (2007) and meditate on it: "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. [...]"
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7/10
"You don't have to do this."
classicsoncall3 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Though no one can know exactly what happened on the night of the Manson murders, the film does convey the horror the victims must have felt as they were being hunted down by the deranged sect of killers. The suspense in the story is balanced by what's already known of the actual outcome. There's nothing new offered here regarding the events that took place in the early morning hours of August 9th, 1969, and if your approach is to see a graphic horror film, don't bother, as the murders depicted are not heavy on the gore. This is a compact piece of film making at slightly over an hour, so it doesn't wear you down with needless back story or filler. As it's presented here, one might consider why the victims didn't do more to protect themselves by putting up more of a fight when faced with an existential threat.
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1/10
So bad I can't even
sanguinariel4 September 2018
Probably the worst movie I have ever seen. Not even bad in an original or amusing way, just boring and tastelessly bad. Don't bother. smh
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1/10
How could you do this?
zombiez-9345927 May 2017
How could you do this to the families and names of those who were killed? Making up your own story as it suited you, despite near 50 years of fact based evidence. Sure lets have him die being dragged out a window of a truck and get killed with a sledgehammer oh and make him look like a drug user pot head despite the fact of .. well who cares about what happened lets make it even worse if possible and more money!! over and over with. The film makers should be thrown in jail profiting of the deaths of those slaughtered in real life. Scum each and every one.
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1/10
lousy
jdisevil7 May 2018
Predictable nonsense. Save your time and watch a re-run of Dexter instead.
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73 minutes of my life wasted
luan-penna3 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This movie was not released in theaters and you know why? Because the studio saw the result and decided not to waste any money in the garbage that is Wolves at the Door. If it had a theatrical release, it would have fallen like a rock at the box office week after week because word of mouth would've been terrible. Let's analyze it:

PROS:

  • The performances are good.


  • There are some creepy shots here and there.


  • The dialogue is not the worst thing ever thankfully.


  • This movie is watchable, boring but watchable.


CONS:

  • Some of the attitudes of the characters are ridiculous (they see a stranger in the house and act like that's not a big deal; they know something is wrong but don't grab a knife or whatever, come on!).


  • This movie is boring, it takes forever for something remotely interesting to happen. Seriously, 90% of this movie is people walking and wondering if something is wrong.


  • There are countless shots of the killers walking behind the victims without them (victims) noticing it.


  • The attempts of suspense doesn't work.


  • The attempts of character development doesn't work, you don't care about any of these people.


  • The recreation of the real events is poor and unfaithful. If you're interested in this case (Charles Manson's murders) you're not going to learn nothing new, different or interesting here. I learned more by reading about this case on the internet than watching the movie.


  • The 73 minutes run time seems like 2 hours.


  • The movie has no climax or an ending, it just stops.


  • What happened to Sharon? I mean, I know what happened but why she just disappeared in the ending?


  • What was the purpose of the opening scene? It's too long and absolutely unnecessary.


  • Nothing feels organic: the period setting, the suspense, the characters, the villains, the deaths scenes, everything is completely soulless.


  • The score is generic.


  • The cinematography is really, really dark. Sometimes I couldn't see a damn thing.


Do not watch this movie! It's a waste of money and time. Wanna watch something similar but good? Try Don't Breathe, You're Next, Martyrs (2008), Inside, High Tension, The Strangers, anything but Wolves at the Door!
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2/10
Like the actual Manson Family murders, this film is cruel, meaningless and disgusting...
Coventry6 November 2019
In the Trivia-section for this film I read - and I quote - "Loosely based on the Manson family murders in the late 1960s". "Loosely", are they serious? That's like stating "Saving Private Ryan" is loosely based on World War II. "Wolves at the Door" EXACTLY attempts to re-enact the events of the fatal night of 9th of August 1969, including the usage of the victims' real names (Shannon Tate and the four others) and horrific but accurate little details (like the writing of the word "pig" in blood on the wall). Heck, the film even ends with actual footage of Charles Manson and a written description of the murderers' trials, so "loosely based" quite isn't an appropriate term to use here. Now, I certainly don't have anything against thriller/horror movies based on factual murder cases, but "Wolves at the Door" is really, really poor. John R. Leonetti, also the director of the mediocre-at-best "Annabelle", doesn't undertake the slightest effort to create atmosphere, generate tension or bring depth to the lead characters. Particularly this last default is horrendous, because it displays a serious lack of respect for the victims and the families they left behind. If you are going to use their real names, don't raise the impression they simply were whiny, spoiled and empty-headed slasher-movie stereotypes. Or at least have the decency to display the murders a bit more subtle instead of exploitative, for the relatives' sake.
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1/10
Don't bother using more than a bathroom break to write script
obelisk229021 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
First untruth is in the first frame 1969 was NOT the summer of love. Two, Steve Parent was shot in his car not killed outside a truck with a sledgehammer. Three Vojtek was sleeping on the couch under an American flag. I quit, movies don't have to be documentaries but don't need to lie like JFK once every minute. And since when is an hour enough time to flesh out characters. Obvious that the filmmakers desperately were stretching out the flimsy script. No option to give it zero or negative stars. I have been tirelessly working on my screenplay, while studios are churning out turgid duds like this and Human Centipede 3. UGH!!!!!
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2/10
John R. Leonetti's weakest effort so far.
falseprophet6165 April 2018
I only laughed a handful of times and then it was over. Is this what passes for unintentional comedy these days? Annabelle and Wish Upon are much funnier. Hell, you're better off watching Mortal Kombat: Annihilation!

Maybe I just need to be drunk with friends, and actually have slept in the past 24 hours... I don't know why I keep trying to watch comedies when I'm tired, it never works.

Leonetti already had a better Manson homage in Annabelle which he barely extends to feature length here. Including oddly clothed and unkempt members of the "family" again. They dawdle around like they're doing a school play of The Strangers.

The cast get spooked by some sprinklers & fireworks and I must admit it's fairly humorous how long it takes the protagonists to catch on to fishy business.

Spends too much of the runtime trying to be stylish.

Also, the relatively narrow & shallow focus on this grim night, would be quite offensive I imagine, to anyone who was damaged by the family.
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6/10
Fans of the genre will like it
Amiri1721 March 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I heard lots of aggressive criticism of this film from all critics I looked at, however being a big horror fan, and finding both the Manson family and the 60's in general interesting I decided to check this out.

The opening scene smashed the conventions of a standard horror immediately by not having someone killed. Instead we see a middle aged couple harassed by the Manson family, but despite some inappropriate messages being written on their house walls in a red substance, the couple are saved by the boys in blue, who respond to their call quickly.

We then are introduced to our main characters, who get together at a house in pursuit of not being brutally murdered, much to their disappointment.

The film is well produced and well shot. There is one very scary moment in the middle. No background is given to the Manson family during the film which I found annoying but the soundtrack is decent, with lots of 60's tunes, including 'Shes not there' by the Zombies.

Also, the film is very short, which I really liked.

If you want a nice short horror movie then this will just about do the job.
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3/10
boring
hjalsayegh10 December 2016
You know you are in a some cheese when the words "based on a true story" pop up on the screen and the entire theater laughs!!!

Movie is a simple..... I want to say thriller but it was too flat to even qualify as that.

Jump scare sound effects from a million years ago and the one time you see a wolf is when the sound track tries to get you into the mood about an hour in by howling and singing about red riding hood... this comes out of nowhere by the way and goes no where too.

I'm not sure if this was a problem with the movie itself or the theater because the lighting in the movie was so bad that we couldn't see half of what was going on.

over all the movie is a miss and way too flat to be interesting. save your money.
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8/10
Definitely Worth Watching
abbieinisrael15 July 2017
I liked the movie a lot. It is not about wolves, it is about Charles Manson and his cult of murderers. There are places in the film where I jumped, and the plot was very good, keeps you on the edge of your seat.

For any of the reviews that said the movie wasn't good, they are clearly kids who have no idea of who Charles Manson was or any of the crimes he and his followers did.

The acting is very good and the music is brilliant, lots of 60, 70, 80's psychedelic music.

I definitely think that you will like this film, if you are old or smart enough to know about Charles Manson. Great horror flick 7/10
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6/10
Decent if unimpressive home invasion effort
kannibalcorpsegrinder1 January 2018
Returning home from a night out, a group of friends at a remote house in the hillside find their festivities interrupted when a group of deranged psychopaths invade their home and begin killing them one-by-one, forcing them to try to fight back to save themselves.

For the most part, this one wasn't really all that bad. One of the more enjoyable elements present is the fact that there's quite a nice atmosphere present throughout here which is quite fun. From the opening which features the first failed ambushes on the first house that immediately sets this one in motion to the first few hints that something's wrong within the house, there's a rather nicely-accomplished sense throughout here that doesn't feel right and really generates a suspenseful atmosphere. This carries into the actual attacks on the house later on, where they ambush the lone victim outside the gates in his truck to the stalking by the front door and that leads into the group finally breaking into the house which has some dark and brutal efforts with the intensity of the attacks here. Given the true-life happenings of the situation, there's a fine series of intense brawls throughout here as they deal with the intruders which manage to hold this one up quite nicely. There are a few rather large flaws here, the biggest of which is the fact that there's just nothing told here about what the intruders are doing there. It's obvious based on the historical connection as well as the epilogue, yet in the film itself, the sheer randomness of the whole affair simply leaves this one confused more than anything. Likewise, the film seems to believe that being a recreation of the actual events means that plenty of utterly despicable decision-making occurs throughout here, from failing to understand the concept of strangers who aren't supposed to be there which doesn't set off any kind of alarms about the situation to completely letting themselves into the danger by not taking advantage of them having the upperhand the few times it happens as the group has the opportunity to beat back the intruders without it happening so that it can deal with the actual events of the real incident. The last big problem here is the overall length, where it's way too short to mean anything and then just ends on an abrupt sequence that just peters out without any kind of meaning. Lasting barely over an hour with all the interludes, an overlong and unneeded introduction that doesn't do anything for the film and then gets the tacked on ending which really has some pretty big problems. These few issues here lower this one significantly.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language and intense themes involving a pregnant woman.
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2/10
not great
georgio-2649021 July 2020
The scope to write a true horror/thriller about manson and his posse is endless. this was extremely droll and boring , and to be fair very very loosely based on true events. nothing more than an average tv movie, go elsewhere for more factual and scary manson movies, rubbish
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