By George & Josh Bate
In 1974, single mother Doris Bither of Culver City, California claimed that she was violently assaulted and raped by an invisible entity. Her case was investigated by parapsychologists at UCLA and became one of the most famous documented poltergeist claims in history. Bither’s experiences inspired Frank De Felitta’s 1978 book and the Barbara Hershey-led film The Entity in 1982, but now her story is dramatized once again, this time around in an underwhelming The Conjuring impersonation making its world premiere at this year’s Fantastic Fest.
What Happened to Doris? stars Heather Graham as Doris Bither. While parenting her three children and trying to make ends meet as a single mother, Doris begins to observe unusual occurrences around her home, culminating in a violent sexual assault from an unseen, malevolent ghost. Desperate for answers and to return to a quiet life, Doris recruits parapsychological researchers at UCLA to investigate, although her claims are doubted by some.
What Happened to Doris? very much exists in the same vein of The Conjuring films, family-focused period pieces horror films that dramatize cases of real-life paranormal investigations. However, unlike the successful franchise spearheaded by James Wan, director Nick Simon’s film lacks the craft of scares and family chemistry that make the first two Conjuring movies so effective.
The true story hook serves as an interesting point of entry for a supernatural horror film, and there is arguably no real-life case of paranormal activity as interesting, yet unexplored in media as Doris Bither. Unfortunately, the film does little to distinguish itself as a unique entry in the oversaturated ghost story horror movie space.
The scares and tension that Simon engineers fall short of what the average supernatural horror film has to offer, with only a handful of slightly unnerving visuals only remotely accelerating the heartrate. In not going for too many scares in his film, Simon places all the more emphasis on the thrills he attempts to cultivate, making their eventual insipidity all the more underwhelming.
The film also fails to capitalize on the potentially interesting subtext underlying Doris Bither’s true story. While her claims were believed by some, skeptics argued that the case was the result of confirmation bias on behalf of the scientists, poor research protocol, and Doris’ history of severe childhood abuse, personal trauma, and substance use. In a day and age in which women’s accounts of sexual assault continue to be doubted and invalidated, What Happened to Doris? could have used a more heightened supernatural horror film to comment on broader, more relevant issues. Disappointingly, Simon’s feel appears almost entirely uninteresting in adding a modicum of depth or substance to the story. That would be acceptable if the film itself was more entertaining and effective with its scares, although, as stated, that is not the case.
Although the screenplay doesn’t afford leading actress Heather Graham with particularly rich material to work with, Graham doesn’t exactly impress with the performance she delivers. In fleeting moments, especially in the early parts of the film, Graham effectively conveys the quiet distress of a parent with so much responsibility on her shoulders. But as the supernatural occurrences gain prominence, Graham’s performance strains. Most of her line delivery feels forced and unnatural, with acting that would be a better fit in a horror parody like Scary Movie than an actual horror film.
VERDICT: 4/10
Making its world premiere at this year’s Fantastic Fest, What Happened to Doris? fails to capitalize on the potential of a fascinating true story of a woman who claims she was violently assaulted and raped by an unseen, malevolent entity. Director Nick Simon’s film very much exists in the same vein as The Conjuring films, family-focused period pieces horror films that dramatize cases of real-life paranormal investigations, but lacks the craft of scares and charisma of family dynamics that make James Wan’s initial two films so effective. A bizarre decision to not even remotely touch on potentially interesting subtext about how people believe and doubt women’s accounts of sexual assault further ensures that Simon’s film underserves potentially rich and timely subject matter. What Happened to Doris? Well, at least according to the events of the film, not much of interest or substance.