Right at Your Door

Infobox Film
name = Right At Your Door

---

caption = Theatrical release poster
imdb_id = 0458367
director = Chris Gorak
writer = Chris Gorak
starring = Mary McCormack
Rory Cochrane
Scotty Noyd Jr.
Max Kasch
Will McCormack
producer = Palmer West
Jonah Smith
music = tomandandy
Editor = Jeffrey M. Werner
distributor = Lionsgate
released = flagicon|UK September 8, 2006
flagicon|USA August 24, 2007 | runtime = 96 min.
country = USA
language = English

"Right at Your Door" is a 2006 American thriller film about multiple dirty bombs detonated in Los Angeles, written and directed by Chris Gorak. It was received its first screening at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2006 where it was nominated for Cinematography Award and the Grand Jury Prize, but only won the former. The film was then acquired by Lions Gate for nearly $3 million for worldwide rights. In the UK it was marketed with the tagline "With a twist. You never See Coming". Right at Your Door was Chris Gorak's writing and directing debut.

Plot

The film opens with Brad (Rory Cochrane), an out of work musician, making a cup of latté for his wife Lexi (Mary McCormack) who is still in bed. She soon leaves for work and Brad is left at home alone. Over the radio he hears that several suspected dirty bombs have been detonated across Los Angeles. He exits his house and sees large amounts of smoke rising from the city center. His immediate thoughts are for his wife and her safety; so he gets into his car and drives towards the city center in order to find her. Brad tries to contact her through her cell phone, but only receives a busy signal. He soon finds that most roads now have police blockades and as he drives towards the ash cloud resulting from the what is believed to be chemical explosions he comes across one that prevents him from going any further into the city. Suddenly an ash covered car emerges from the cloud and is forcibly stopped by the police. Almost immediately the police pull out their weapons and aim them at the car. One policeman notices Brad watching from inside his car and goes over to him to tell him to go back home. Brad starts to argue as he doesn't want to leave his wife, but they are both interrupted by the driver of the ash covered car getting out of his vehicle. The police aim their weapons at the driver and demand that he gets back into his car. He ignores their warning and attempts to run away from the approaching ash cloud. However he takes no more than one or two steps before he is shot down by the police. Brad, witnessing this, immediately decides to leave and go back home. On his way home he encounters a small boy called Timmy (Scotty Noyd Jr.) who is watching the rising smoke from the city center. Brad gets out of his car and tells him to run home to his parents as fast as he can as it is not safe where he is.

On reaching home, he tries Lexi's cell again and manages to get through to her voice mail where he leaves a message imploring her to call him back and let him know if she's safe. At this moment the neighbor's handyman, Alvaro (Tony Perez), enters the house and asks Brad if he can stay with him as there is no one else at the neighbor's house. Still listening to the radio it says that survivors of the blasts are being quarantined and that the authorities advise people to seal up their homes before the contaminated dust cloud reaches them.

Brad and Alvaro then proceed to seal up the house with duct tape and plastic. However Brad insists on leaving the front door till last as he wants to give Lexi as much time as possible to get back home. However as it becomes increasingly more obvious that Lexi might not come home, he takes several of Lexi's clothes, as well as food and water, and leaves them outside the back door. Brad and Alvaro then proceed to seal off the front door. Radio newscasts claim that the bombs contained several toxins and an unknown viral strain.

Soon after Brad receives a call from Lexi's mother (Jenny O'Hara) who is relieved that Brad has picked up to phone as she has been trying for hours to get through the busy phone lines. She soon asks to speak to her daughter and Brad, not having the heart to tell her than Lexi is not there, then hangs up the phone.

The scene then cuts to Lexi who has been involved in a car crash, but is still alive. She walks home still covered in the dust and debris from the explosion. Brad, seeing her arrive, now realizes that he is in a dilemma as if he lets her into the house she could infect both himself and Alvaro. Knowing the risk she poses, Brad refuses to let her in. Lexi becomes desperate to get into the house. Furthermore on seeing the supplies that Brad has left for her (which suggests to her that Brad had planned to lock her out of the house, which obviously he did, but only due to good intentions); as well as seeing that the next door's handyman was in her house (rather than her), she loses her temper and throws her cell phone at one of the door panes and breaks it. Brad and Alvaro both rush to cover up the breakage and seal it off. Together they manage to calm down Lexi.

Brad then seals off the main bedroom from the rest of the house so that Lexi can get into it and access the water and food that he has left there for her. Lexi then soon receives a call from her mother who is delighted and relieved to hear her daughter's voice again. She however soon she realizes that her daughter was near the explosion and is most likely infected. Her pleas for Lexi to go to a hospital fall on deaf ears as Lexi tells her that the reality is much harder than what the rest of the country is simply seeing on the news and that she is unlikely to get help at the hospital.

Suddenly a car alarm goes off and we see Timmy standing next to the door of a car. Lexi spots him, ends the conversation with her mother and calls him over. Lexi and Timmy are both still covered with ash from the fallout and so Brad seals off another part of the house in order for Lexi and Timmy to get cleaned up in the bathroom.

Brad and Lexi are talking to each other while Alvaro is attempting to contact his wife over the phone, but all he receives are busy signals. Alvaro soon decides to leave the house as he "needs to be with his wife." Though initially Brad tries to convince him to stay, he soon agrees and seals off one room from the rest of the house so that Alvaro can leave the house through the window without infecting Brad. The last we see of Alvaro is him walking down the road slowly getting covered by the ash from the explosions.

Soon night falls, but Lexi hears a noise from the backyard and alerts Brad. Both of them are trying to find what made the noise and soon a masked man appears at the bedroom entrance. This man reveals himself to be Rick (Jon Huertas), who is a work colleague of Lexi's and has been trying to get in touch with her all day. He tells Lexi that there is a ship on the coast that has medical supplies and is helping people. Brad is very uneasy about this as he does not trust Rick and believes that it is dangerous trying to avoid the police and military (who most likely have declared martial law). He soon changes his mind and Lexi, Rick and Timmy leave for help. Newscasts on the radio announce that the toxin is actually a hybrid viral strain that attacks the respiratory system first, rather than chemicals as originally assumed.

That same night Brad is visited by a Corporal Marshall (Max Kasch) and his men. Marshall asks Brad several questions such as how well his house has been sealed, who else is there/had been there and if there had been any contact between him and anyone on the outside. Brad mentions the cell which Lexi had thrown through the window. Marshall then demands a sample of the air inside the house which Brad manages to get to him through a certain procedure. Marshall tells Brad that he will soon be back with the results and that if his wife is to return he should under no circumstances let her into the house.

Lexi does eventually return to the house the next day, but without Timmy or Rick accompanying her. She tells Brad that Timmy was treated there with all the other children. Rick, however, was taken away and she doesn't know what happened to him. She also mentions that she saw five men get shot. Lexi soon decides to dial her brother Jason (Will McCormack) so that she may have someone to talk to. An awkward conversation then ensues as Lexi wants to talk about simple things to pass the time, but Jason can't think of anything. Lexi soon bids goodbye to her brother and hangs up.

The next couple of hours are spent with Brad and Lexi on either side of their back door talking to each other about what they will do assuming that they survive this crisis. Brad imagines that after this they will both probably end up on one of those morning talk shows where everyone goes to reveal their woes.

Suddenly troops appear from the side of the house. One of them grabs Lexi and another holds the door knob of the back door to prevent Brad from coming outside to interfere with them taking Lexi away. The soldier manages to calm Brad down and explains to him the results of the lab tests from the sample of air taken inside his house. He explains that the air inside the house is now lethal. Brad doesn't understand (or just isn't plain listening to) what the soldier is saying and is still insisting that they bring his wife back.

A large heavy piece of plywood wood is put between the soldier and the back door which completely covers it. A pipe is drilled through the wood and gas is pumped through. At this point we realize that the air inside the house is deadly. When Lexi threw her cell phone through the glass pane, she inadvertently let some of the virus into the house. However because Brad did such a good job sealing up the house there was no new air to circulate through the house and therefore the virus multiplied into lethal levels. The military, realizing that he has no chance anyway, pump a chemical into the house to kill both Brad and the hybrid virus, telling him "Please don't struggle, sir."

Brad, however, attempts to go outside, shouting "I'm still alive!" He manages to break down the plywood now covering his front door only to discover that a fumigation tent has been erected over the whole house. He tries to tear through the tent but is knocked unconscious by the rifle butt of a soldier on the other side as Lexi screams Brad's name. The camera cuts to Brad as he takes his last few breaths.

Ironically, Lexi, because she was in an open air environment for the whole film, has survived. She is sitting on the edge of an ambulance being told she will be fine by a female nurse. The film closes with Lexi in too much shock to say anything, but with her cell phone ringing.

Cast

*Mary McCormack - Lexi
*Rory Cochrane - Brad
*Will McCormack - Jason
*Jon Huertas - Rick
*Jenny O'Hara - Lexi's Mother
*Scotty Noyd Jr. - Timmy
*Max Kasch - Corporal Marshall
*Tony Perez - Alvaro
*Hector Luis Bustamante - Shop Owner

Realism

Although a dramatic film, Right at Your Door demonstrates a number of genuine concerns Homeland Security planners face. They include:
*The disruption of the telecommunication network due to high call volumes
*The "Worried Well" who flock to hospitals and emergency shelters and overwhelm emergency services
*The risk of contaminated individuals entering hospitals and need for decontamination facilities
*Problems with risk communication to the general public
*Law enforcement of containment after a CBRNE attack
*Possible use of the United States Postal Service to distribute medications, such as antibiotics

The film also demonstrates the use of the Emergency Alert System, which can be heard by the unique tone preceding the first radio broadcast after the initial attack.

However, there are a number of inaccurate aspects of the film. These include:
*The term "Dirty Bomb" typically refers to an explosive with a radioactive additive, rather than a chemical or biological additive
*Biological agents are typically not used as additives in an bomb as the blast can destroy the biological agent [http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic853.htm]
*Antibiotics are not used to treat a viral infection, as was implied for the medications to be distributed
*The Department of Homeland Security recommends during a "Shelter in Place" order to seal a single room, rather than the entire home as was done in the film [http://www.ready.gov/america/makeaplan/stayingput.html]
*Although the film implies that a virus can evolve and become more lethal merely by being enclosed in a confined location, a virus requires the infection of a living organism to replicate and mutate.

ee also

*Twist ending
*Irony

External links

* [http://www.rightatyourdoormovie.co.uk/ Official site]
*imdb title|id=0458367|title=Right at Your Door
*rotten-tomatoes|id=right_at_your_door|title=Right at Your Door
* [http://postapocalypse.de/2008/08/06/half-of-the-earth-blew-up/ Academical Film Talk] at postapocalypse.de (German)