I read a little about Right At Your Door when it came out several years ago, and it's been on my watchlist ever since, though I only just now got around to watching it. As the poster describes, it's an "apocalyptic thriller" that unfolds like a disaster movie, but narrowly focused on one man's experiences at his house on the outskirts of Los Angeles in the wake of a terrorist attack that unleashes clouds of toxic ash on the city and surrounding areas. "Harrowing" is a pretty good adjective for this movie. It definitely plays into fears of a post-9/11 America, and while adopting all the cues of an epidemic movie, it manages to distinguish itself and stay fresh in its approach and perspective.
It's a very tense movie that evolves naturally, and had my heart beating rapidly, especially at the start when the shit first hits the fan, and again at the shocking climax when things come to a head. It has a few slow moments in between, but there's nothing wrong with that, as the ordeal does involve sitting things out while the officials get their asses in gear and decide how to deal with the calamity. There are some human moments in there, too - as to be expected - some of which raise some difficult questions about what you would do in such a terrible situation. But it's the horror of the premise, effectively executed, that makes this ride more than worth its while. I count it one of the better horror movies of the 21st century.
What a coincidence, I just watched this last weekend. I was very pleased with it as well. One of the apocolypse movies that felt more real. And the effects were very effective, the white ash rain was great. I also like that they didn't ultimately go in the direction of man's inhumanity to man. Almost seemed like they were going to, in the scene with the gun-totting doctors invading the house, and that was a great scene. I kind of WANTED them to turn out to be vicious marauders for a moment but ultimately I'm glad they weren't, that's a theme that dominates just about every post-apocalyptic movie and TV show, I've seen it a billion times (roughly).
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