Open House 1987

In this tense real estate thriller, a teenage girl who was molested by her father reaches out to David Kelley, a radio psychologist working for KDRX, and tragically shoots herself on live air. Meanwhile, outside Grant Real Estate, which Lisa Grant runs, a real estate broker shows a house to prospective buyers and discovers the decomposing remains of another realtor in the washroom—the fourth victim of a psychopath who has earned the nickname the “Open House Killer.” A vagabond rummages through discarded Seller Listings, setting a grim tone for what follows.

The killer’s next move unfolds at a listed house, where someone inside is murdered with a razor-blade-equipped plunger. The Open House Killer, who gives his name as “Harry” [Harry], phones David at KDRX and argues that his victims deserved their fates, cultivating a chilling sense of grievance and a warped worldview.

After an open house visit, Harry breaks into another property and electrocuts the realtor using frayed wires. As the body count rises, Detective Arnold Shapiro becomes involved, working with the station to track the elusive killer while the case garners tense media attention. Real estate agencies respond by tightening safety protocols, but the measures prove insufficient against a perpetrator who seems to anticipate every precaution.

Barney Resnick, Lisa’s unscrupulous business rival, visits a prospective client—an encounter that introduces a disturbing subplot involving coercion and danger within the local market. Harry shadows Resnick, decapitates him with an axe, and also kills the homeowner, escalating the brutality and the sense that the killer targets those who profit from the industry.

The danger tightens when Harry abducts Lisa, who offers cryptic hints about her whereabouts during a taunting call to KDRX. David relentlessly pursues leads, tracing them to an empty house as authorities swarm the scene. Harry vents his fury about the absence of media coverage and rails against how corporations and the real estate system have driven him to violence, lamenting that he can never have a place he can truly call his own.

In a climactic confrontation, as Harry readies to strike at Lisa, Detective Shapiro fires, sending the killer crashing through a glass door. Though grievously injured, Harry staggers back into the fray, but Shapiro finishes the pursuit by knocking him off a balcony, ending the string of brutal open-house murders. The case leaves a lasting impression about the cost of pride, power, and a system that can push a troubled individual toward tragedy.