Door (film)

Door (Japanese: ドア, Hepburn: Doa) is a 1988 Japanese horror thriller. Banmei Takahashi directed it and co-wrote the script with Ataru Oikawa. The cast includes Keiko Takahashi, Daijiro Tsutsumi, Shirō Shimomoto, and Takuto Yonezu. The story centers on a housewife and her young son, who are terrorized by a psychotic door-to-door salesman. The picture was first shown only in Japan; later, it found an audience through festival screenings and home video releases. A sequel came out in 1991, also directed by Banmei Takahashi but with a different set of characters. Another sequel, directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, followed in 1996.

The plot follows Yasuko Honda, a housewife living in a high-rise apartment with her husband Satoru and son Takuto. After seeing her son off at the bus stop and taking out the trash, she finds the garbage bag back on her doorstep. Two telemarketing calls follow. The next day, while her husband is at work, a salesman rings the bell, interrupting a phone call. When she slams the door on his fingers, he tries to persuade her to let him in, then attempts to kick the door down. A neighbor sees this but does nothing. Yasuko then receives abusive calls from the salesman, whose voice she recognizes. The message "I'm sexually frustrated, can someone please do it with me" appears on her door, and she finds a sperm-soaked tissue in the mail. The police dismiss her complaint because she cannot name or describe the man. That night, Satoru does not come home. The salesman threatens Takuto by name, sending Yasuko racing to the kindergarten, where her son is safe; the salesman watches unseen. Back home, Takuto vanishes from the apartment. While Yasuko searches the building, the salesman sneaks into the unlocked apartment and hides. A friend tells Yasuko that Takuto is with her. The salesman then appears, brandishing a knife. When Takuto returns, Yasuko asks the salesman to pretend to be a guest, and he agrees. He plays with the boy while Yasuko cooks. She warns him her husband might come back; he says he does not care. During dinner, she hits him with a bottle, and a struggle ensues. Yasuko and Takuto barricade themselves in the bathroom. The salesman cuts through the door with a chainsaw but is stabbed in the face and his hand is bludgeoned. Believing they are safe, Yasuko puts her son to bed. But the salesman was hiding in a closet.