I suppose it isn’t a good thing when the films I feel have the closest connection to Do Not Enter are Truth Or Dare and Tarot, two of the worst horror films of the last ten years.Considering the film takes place inside a haunted hotel,The Shining would have been a better comparison, but it has the sensibilities of a skin deep teen horror. The really scary thing is, I kinda liked it.

I wasn’t just miserable like I was with Five Nights At Freddy’s 2, or bored like This Is Not A Test. I was engaged by what is ultimately not a smart film. Based on the book Creepers, and clearly looking for sequels, Do Not Enter follows a group of really inept influencers who are pretty decent urban explorers. We meet the five Creepers in their opening stunt, which includes them jumping from moving trains to appease their slightly over 100 viewers. They end up finding what they came for, a lost hidden Basquiat, and this is when the fifth member of the squad, JD, tries to steal some for himself. They have rules, JD. They have a code. It’s time for JD to kick some grass, leaving the group down a creeper.

The remaining four realize they suck at drawing in a social media presence, so they decide to target the Paragon hotel, where a bunch of people have tried to go in, but no one ever comes back. In her infinite wisdom, Diane decides to promote the event on social after she sees their former creeper bragging online with his new crew, Todd and Matt. This also gets the Creepers paired with Frank, who labels himself a reporter for Vice, but really offers no credentials other than his word. Frank joins the foursome as they break into to Paragon, needing to be the driver since someone forgot to gas up the Mystery Machine.

So our five protagonists break in, and immediately realize something is up. Diane goes missing early on, giving the remaking creepers someone to look for, finding some eerie things abound. Cora, who is the other female creeper, ends up paired with Frank, and for some reason decides now is the time to reinvent walking, so she does everything from walking on her hands in a handstand, to a crab walk. It isn’t necessary, it is a life choice.

They do find a really cool tree with lots of gear from past trespassers, but they also find the trio of idiots, featuring their old friend, in a group led by the psychopathic Todd, who loves playing Russian roulette on himself, for no reason at all. In a heated confrontation, he makes a life choice that makes it harder for them to find the treasure rumored to be hidden in the hotel, the reason Todd and his crew are there.

Look, I’m not saying the film is Shakespeare, but as I continue to sit through horror drivel every year, somehow, I was entertained by a film with low stakes, easily targeted villains, and only a bit of gore. The film is hilarious in what it chooses to do and not do, like how the power seems to work enough to power an elevator and closed circuit television system. There is also something that happens to one character early on, which is virtually repeated later to another character. when the first one seemingly bites the dust, they inexplicably did not. But later, the crew just assumes a different character met their end, despite the first one walking around like it ain’t no thing. People don’t sustain damage here unless it’s fatal, and a surprising amount of people survive, clearly because they want a creepers sequel.

The audio description by Zoo Digital and ingir Tudor is perfectly fine. It captures all the visual cues, the random brief blasts of gore, and does everything right except size relativity. I needed to know about a certain entity and whether or not they were a lot taller or the same height as everyone else.

There’s a lot to unpack in the mythology of the hotel, but very little of it matters. This is not a smart movie, nor is it a great one, but it seems to know it is in this weird teen horror genre that has been beaten to death, and just wants to have a little fun. If you don’t take it seriously, or expect a revelatory new voice in the horror scene, you should be OK. I’m floating this just above Fresh, because while I would tentatively recommend the film, I also would not tell you to stay away. I did enjoy the cast, the runtime was breezy, and I’d actually watch a sequel with the creepers.

we don’t always need to be a grinch. Do not Enter is a somewhat goofy teen horror entry, but I found myself oddly entertained and invested in a film with a lot of ideas, but few answers.

Fresh: 6.1/10