Fate Springs Various Traps

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Noir-ish misfortune finds folks in Argentina in 1952's Don't Ever Open That Door (No abras nunca esa puerta). It's really two short films with beautiful, expressionistic, black and white photography. The two stories, based on prose works by American author Cornell Woolrich, feel very much like Tales from the Crypt, both featuring characters in strange and desperate circumstances that end with a cruel twist.

In the first story, "Anguish", a wealthy man's sister is beset by gambling debts and becomes suicidal. The man decides to take vengeance on the people aggressively demanding restitution from her.

In the second story, "Pain", an elderly blind woman living with her niece receives a visit from her long lost son who's become a murderous bank robber.

The stories both revolve around the dichotomy of fate and free will that distinguishes film noir. Both stories feature characters who try to take control of a dangerous situation only for their efforts to have horrible, twisted results, leaving the viewer with the question of how much the capricious hand of fate is to blame or how much is due to the characters' audacity in trying to assert their own wills. It's good.