Do Not Disturb was in the can for a couple of years prior to making its way to DVD and its easy to see why it didnt find distribution right away. The film was written and directed by B.C. Furtney. Unfortunately for the viewing audience, Furtneys film does not succeed on any level. Everything from the script to the performances falls completely flat.
The film has no redeeming entertainment value; it isnt enjoyable, it isnt enlightening, its just mind-numbingly dull. Watching it made me feel like an unwilling participant in someone elses extremely depressing crack-induced nightmare.
There is very little insight in to Dons mental state. He is basically killing for the sake of killing and we dont know much more than that. Its apparent that he wants revenge, but his motives are far from believable.
All of the performances are uninspired and unrealistic. The attempt at deadpanning the gruesome nature of the subject matter falls completely flat. None of the characters are likable or seem to serve any purpose or posses any redeeming qualities whatsoever.
Its usually nice to see casting directors and the like giving 80s horror icons work in contemporary genre films. Its fun to see familiar faces from years past turn up in modern horror cinema. But Im sad to say that Stephen Geoffreys is just not able to recapture the magic of Evil Ed. His performance in Do Not Disturb feels phoned in and like it is void of any passion for the film or the part. I cannot say as I blame him, seeing as I didnt feel any passion for the script either.
Tiffany Shepis is even worse. Im sure shes a nice person, but I hated her character almost instantly. She was overplaying the part and seemed to be trying to channel Deborah Morgan if Deb were a lo-rent Hollywood agent. Her mannerisms were incredibly forced her whole performance was so unnatural that I felt awkward watching her.
I love swearing; I love it more than most people. However, I think that swearing should serve a purpose; it should add passion to a sentence or serve as window dressing for a statement thats being made. It shouldnt be thrown around as totally unnecessary filler, but that is exactly how the characters in this film use their four letter words. They just spew them out like verbal vomit.
The pacing was awful. The film crawls along at a snails pace. Its not slow burn its just slow. Its so slow that its actually painful to watch.
The score is highly ineffective. All of the audio cues feel out of place and wrong for the situations they correspond with.
Do Not Disturb spotlights several instances of torture for the sake of torture. There are already plenty of movies that showcase plenty of ultra violence on the market and Do Not Disturb does nothing to make its case as a necessary entry in the torture porn sub-genre.
I got more and more mad as each frame of the film progressed. By the time it was over, I wanted to put my foot through the television. Do Not Disturb has no purpose and I would like the ninety minutes of my life that I wasted watching it to be returned to me. Its the kind of movie that I would see on Netflix instant and try to watch out of desperation for something to do, but even in that vulnerable state, I wouldnt be able to sit through this nonsense.
Do Not Disturb is now available on DVD. Check it out if you love low quality filmmaking.
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