Horror Movie Review: Don’t Answer (2025)

Coming from director Mark S. Allen, who wrote the story with Howard Burd, Don’t Answer is a low-budget indie flick filled with fun, violence and gore, but one with messages about institutional failures and trust.

Jack Amsler plays Jack, who has just been released from the mental facility that he has been incarcerated in since he was a young boy. Why? It’s simple really. He’s a psychopath, devoid of compassion, and easy to anger. Which makes his release a questionable decision and one that his doctor disagrees with. Alas, her words fall on deaf ears as the state wants him out to make space, setting him up in his hometown with a delivery job and giving him a stress-relieving support toy.

If you’re thinking that a high pressure, unsupported, and ‘looked down upon’ job isn’t the best one for someone with psychotic tendencies, you’re not the only one. Especially when the person in question is quick to anger.

Credit to Jack though, he tries, but pretty much everyone he meets during his deliveries turns out to be a horrible person. All except Molly (Annabel Storm), who Jack takes an instant liking to. Alas, as much as he tries to deny his urges to kill and as often as he squeezes his support toy, it all becomes too much for Jack. It seems like the only way he’s going to get the peace and quiet he desires is to take it himself, even if that means spilling blood.

A simple idea playing out in predictable fashion doesn’t stop Don’t Answer being a thoroughly enjoyable film. One that focuses on the fun aspects of a slasher, doesn’t get overly preachy about systematic failures in the care/prison system, makes a point about how we really don’t know who were inviting into our homes when it comes to deliveries, and has two leads actors who nail their roles.

Jack Amsler is great. Not only with the kind of look that oozes threat, but playing the role with the kind of coldness that makes his psychotic tendencies feel very real. However, he’s also a bit of a sympathetic character too. He never asked to be released, and once he is, he does try to fit it. People being nasty to him is no excuse to go on a killing spree, but it makes it ever so understandable.

Annabel Storm is also great, not just because the bubbly and friendly nature of Molly is so likable, but because she really comes into her own as a ‘final girl’. She must grow as a character to deal with a person like Jack, and the actor delivers.

If that wasn’t enough to make Don’t Answer a worthwhile watch, it’s also quite a snappy film and doesn’t scrimp on the gore when it’s time for Jack to start killing. All of which comes with a certain amount of black humour too.