Micro-budget genre film Hostile Dimensions is Indie sci-fi cinema at its peak and should inspire so many aspiring filmmakers in the world who are looking to make a film but have budget constraints. Scottish Director Graham Hughes, who also made the fantastic found-footage horror “Death of a Vlogger” back in 2019, is experienced enough to pull off such things, and Hostile Dimensions is a profound example of that. It’s definitely the most ambitious thing Hughes has ever tried, and I guess we can all agree that he has succeeded. Hostile Dimensions’ ending is quite messy though, but it’s also unimaginably fascinating. We’re going to look into that and the whole thing here.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens in the Movie?
Scouring through an abandoned warehouse, graffiti artist Emily and her friend Brian stumble upon a strange white door that has no business being there. The door stands right in the middle of a room. Emily casually opens it and instantly vanishes. Initially thinking this is some sort of prank, Brian opens the door and sees pitch darkness and a very ghost-like creature with burning eyes, which is enough to scare the crap out of him and make him run for his life.
After a while, documentary filmmaker duo Sam and Ash come across Brian’s video recording of the whole thing on the internet, and Sam convinces Ash to pursue it. Emily is still missing, and nobody knows where she is. Sam and Ash interview Brian, who seems to be in a hurry and acts all jittery. He also mentions this theory that basically says these doors and the abandoned buildings, along with the graffiti and artworks, are warnings for mankind to stay away. To further confuse them, he also throws the term “nuclear waste” into the mix, which not only fails to solve anything but complicates things instead. You do find out eventually that this guy is both crazy and also a hack, and he’s not even the actual Brian (the guy who went with Emily to the warehouse; his face was not shown, intentionally). More on that later. Sam brings the door to her drawing room, and they can’t wait to check if this is really something or just a basic white door.
What Happens When Sam and Ash Open the Door?
We already know the door is the real deal! Sam and Ash realize that the moment they open the door for the first time. Unlike what Brian saw, there’s a normal-looking mirror. But when Ash skeptically touches it, she feels something weird. She describes it as feeling like touching a living thing, referring to her reflection in the mirror. But that’s not all. Out of nowhere, Sam’s mom appears in the mirror and then slams the door on her. When they open the door again, they find a talking Shih Tzu dog, which talks about a sudden change in order.
Deciding that’s enough crazy for now, Sam and Ash approach the situation rather methodically—much similar to the famous “Evil” trio of Kristen, David, and Ben (yes, I secretly want you to check out this show, as the sudden ending still hurts). After considering every single plausible explanation, like a gas leak, sudden hallucinations, etc., they come up with a pretty logical plan for their second tryst with the door. They attach a camera to a remote control toy car and send it inside. This time around, the other side of the door changes into some sort of arcade called “Pandemonium.” There’s nobody around it, though. While Sam confidently walks into it, Ash is skeptical and continues to warn Sam about not doing anything stupid. I didn’t expect the duo to encounter “free hug” signs written in Gujarati, but that’s exactly what they see. Not that Ash and Sam were actually looking for hugs, but curiosity is hard to contain, so they follow the arrow and find a giant toy panda at the end of it. Of course, they didn’t expect the panda to suddenly come alive and charge at them with tentacles. Thankfully, Ash and Sam manage to run to their side and close the door on the chasing tentacle-panda.
Who Is Innis, And What’s His Purpose?
It’s really praiseworthy how the movie makes it a point to keep the two protagonists level-headed when the entire situation is bonkers as hell. Concluding they can’t solve the door mystery on their own, Sam and Ash bring Innis into the fold. He’s a college professor who has expertise on alternate dimensions. Innis gleefully talks about this theory he has read on Reddit (which I’m sure many of you went to look for right after finishing the movie; I’m also guilty as charged) about ancient civilizations making attempts to open portals to other dimensions. Apparently, a door (that Innis has termed “wolf door”) has appeared in many paintings throughout the ages, which only confirms this theory. The other theory here is a cult trying to sacrifice human beings to other dimensions through these doors to save our world from something truly evil.
Innis accompanying Sam and Ash the third time around was always on the cards, but this outing proved to be much different (and better) for our filmmaker duo. Before opening the door, Innis asks Ash what her favorite animal is, to which she replies it’s the humpback whale. When they go to the other side, they see a stunning pyramid in the middle of the wilderness, with humpback whales flying in the sky. Innis concludes the door can actually take you wherever you want to go, if you can imagine it right.
What Happened in Mexico in 1997?
The strange incident of a man randomly disappearing from a warehouse, akin to how Emily went missing, adds flair to the narrative. Sam and Ash get to know about this film from Innis, of course, who even shows them the video. In the video, shot by the man himself, the warehouse can be seen as the man explores it. Then he suddenly ends up at a nearby forest and sees these strange yellow balloon-like creatures. He gets shot and then attacked by one of the balloonmen, and that’s where the visuals go hazy, although the camera keeps recording till the end of the tape.
Does Emily Come Back?
While the plot of Hostile Dimensions hinges upon the door(s), the narrative never forgets Emily and her disappearance. Naturally, Emily finding her way back to our world through the same door and ending up in Sam’s apartment is not at all surprising. She’s startled at first, but once she gathers herself, she says the experience was mostly fuzzy. With Emily returning, Ash calls Brian and asks him to come. Upon finding out Brian has posted the video of her disappearance on the internet (which led Sam and Ash to this story in the first place), she’s surprised. A bigger surprise awaits her when she finds out the guy Ash has called is not the Brian she knows, but some imposter. Before anyone is able to do anything, Brian (that’s what the movie calls this character, so I’m going to do the same) quickly zaps everyone with a taser and then takes Ash through the door.
Does Sam manage to rescue Ash?
I like how Sam’s character always focuses more on saving people than solving mysteries. Given she didn’t mind going through the door for a stranger she didn’t even know (Emily), it only makes sense that Sam would do anything to rescue Ash, who’s definitely the most important person in her life. The movie never confirms a romantic relationship between Sam and Ash, but an educated guess can be taken here. Romance or not, it’s pretty clear Sam deeply cares about Ash. Anyway, while Sam and Emily open the door and venture into the other side, Innis goes to uncover the mystery behind not-Brian.
Upon reaching Brian’s house, Innis manages to rescue the real Brian from the dingy basement underneath it. The house belongs to him, and the other guy was just an imposter who is pretty much a agent of that cult that demands human sacrifices (to the other dimensions). Innis finds out that the entire thing was actually set up by not-Brian, who was keeping an eye on both Emily and Brian. He knew they would go to the warehouse, so he placed the door inside and made sure to push Emily through it. And when a traumatized Brian ran after seeing the glowing eyes, not-Brian followed him his house and launched a sudden attack, and eventually kept him prisoner in the basement. The doors were also created by not-Brian, who has figured out the ways to do so (this part is very important, as from not-Brian’s laptop, Ash also acquires info on the procedure). Brian also lets Innis know that one can travel through another dimension by drawing the outline of a door with a magical chalk (that not-Brian has in his possession).
Sam and Emily find themselves in a fix upon reaching the other side. Sam does concentrate on reaching Ash before entering, but not-Brian has not made it easy for her by setting up so many doors on a beach. Not that this can discourage Sam, as she picks one of the doors based on a hunch and enters through it. This leads her to an abandoned warehouse where a giant mannequin appears out of thin air. Clearly, this was not the right door. But the second attempt turns out to be worse as it leads them to a church where they find a heavily bleeding Emily on the altar. Emily is understandably shocked, but there’s no time for that, and the other Emily is clearly not their problem, so Sam hurriedly pulls her out, and they get back to square one. Luck finally favors them when not-Brian suddenly comes out one of the doors, but upon seeing Emily and Sam, he quickly takes off. Asking Emily to look for Ash, Sam follows Brian through the door. She ends up on the busy streets of an Asian city, then in the Mexican forest, which we’ve previously seen in that video (Sam sees the balloonmen as well), followed by a war zone that looks very animated. After going through several dimensions of various kinds, Sam finally catches up to not-Brian and takes care of him in the coldest possible way. She manages to get a hold of the magical chalk and opens a portal to summon the tentacle-panda. Well, the panda doesn’t get out as the portal is pretty tiny, but the tentacles do their thing by giving not-Brian the treatment he deserves.
Sam quickly returns to the many-doors beach and then, through another door, ends up at a basement where she sees the glowing eye monster (that Brian saw in the very beginning). But she also finds Ash and Emily, and they quickly return to the beach. Sadly, they discover that not-Brian is still alive, although heavily injured.
Why Does Sam Choose To Stay On The Other Side?
Seeing the trio of Emily, Ash, and Sam, not-Brian gets mad and decides to summon some kind of “God” (I’m guessing to whom he was sacrificing the human) and takes care of the situation. But a bolt of lightning comes and annihilates him, and the other doors start disappearing. Clearly, evil has had enough of this mess. Meanwhile, Ash realizes that with the doors disappearing fast, they’ve got to get back to their world soon. But Sam voices her desire to stay back, surprising both Ash and Emily. She would rather stay on the other side and find out more about the whole thing than go back to a world where she has trouble fitting in. And it’s not particularly hard to believe considering how the movie has established her character. Ash tries to convince her, but after seeing Sam absolutely doesn’t want to return, she decides to give up and wishes her all the best.
In Hostile Dimensions’ epilogue, Ash looks into the camera and tells us (the audience) that she has managed to make a wolf door and is planning to look for Sam. Seven months have passed and the world is still looking for Sam, and everyone’s talking about the documentary film (which only means Ash went ahead with the footage and released it after all). We also see Brian, Emily, and Innis around her. When Ash opens the portal, she sees the talking Shih Tzu, who asks if she is ready to begin. If this is a call for a sequel, then I absolutely want to answer it. What about you?
