Michael D. Coffey’s supernatural suspense thriller One Eye Open kicks off when Samantha Rollins (Kushi Beauchamp) is home from college and comes to housesit a sprawling 3-story mansion for her grandfather. He is suffering from Alzheimer’s and is unable to look after it himself.
That night there is a home invasion, but the robbers are not counting on phantasmic assistance coming to Samantha’s aid. One of the thieves, Brad Everett (played by Breaking Bad’s R.J. Mitte), scouts out the house in a mask and hoodie, and soon encounters guardian spirits. Samantha finds him tied up in the basement and calls the police, but when they arrive, they find her tied up instead.
Brad’s sister, Amanda (Tori Kilkenny), is on the scene to help with the burglary, and to round out a nefarious antagonist trio, she’s working with a Safe Ride driver named Chris Shultz (Chris Bylsma) who uses drop-offs of inebriated passengers as an opportunity to case houses.
We learn that the house is protected by spirits of Samantha’s relatives who have passed and now guard the property and family. Woe be unto anyone seeking to harm them or damage the home. The action plays out like Home Alone, with a ghostly twist.
After the frightening burglary attempt, Samantha’s friend Jamie (Addison Landes) comes to stay with her, and the mood lightens as they relax in the pool. When Jamie crashes on the couch that night, the ghost of young Lucy Rollins (Hadley Norris) watches over her. However, the women are not clear of violent drama yet, as Shultz has broken in and is seeking to finish the job his partners in crime left hanging.
“… thieves breaking in are not counting on the family having phantasmic assistance. “
Filming took place in the beautiful 1860 Ludington-Thacher House in Lawrence, Kansas. Its eclectic architecture features a blend of Italianate style with layers of Victorian additions. The stunning property itself is the star of the film.
Suspenseful moments give the film a meaty experience with thrills and chills that start early, but it is not without flaws. The plot is thin and the dialogue is too sparse to make clear what is happening. There’s also no backstory as to why and how this home became haunted. Repeated reversals of fortune where one person, then another, is captured and tied up will have your head spinning. The second act devotes too much time to characters creeping down hallways, awaiting the next jump scare.
R.J. Mitte is underused, with only a few minutes of screen time. He was a bright light in Breaking Bad as Walt Jr. Note: At press time, it was reported that Mitte died today (Oct 12, 2026). He will be missed.
Beauchamp carries the film with solid energy as Samantha. Coffey’s camera stays intimately close to her, adding to a claustrophobic sense of confined space. Funky camera angles jangle the audience, but that gets old quickly and becomes distracting. There are jump scares in surprise moments that will keep viewers from checking their phones. The title is a lyric featured in Metallica’s song “Enter Sandman,” which would have been a good piece to use over the action sequences, but no doubt would have cost more to license than the entire budget.
One Eye Open has a plot full of bewildering non sequiturs, but is worth the watch nonetheless as Coffey keeps the suspense tight and offers supernatural cathartic vengeance to those deserving of it.
Learn more at the official One Eye Open website.
"…Home alone... with a twist..."
