Don’t let things like A Nightmare on Elm Street, “The Walking Dead,” seven top 3 singles in Ireland and a flashy DVD cover fool you. Though the lead cast members of Home have distinguished and noteworthy career, this “horror” film is not what it appears to be. This tactic has been used since the dawn of time – propaganda, if you will – and it tricked me into buying this movie. Heather Langenkamp is one of the most respected and beloved scream queens of all time and I honestly haven’t seen any of her work pre or post Nightmare on Elm Street Saga. This was the main reason I bought a DVD copy of Home – to see if she still has “it” so many years after fighting Freddy Krueger. I can say, with 100% accuracy, that Langenkamp still has the it factor and is as charming and charismatic as ever. Unfortunately, the rest of Home is pretty lackluster.
The plot follows a small family who move into a new house, which is supposedly haunted. The house is owned by a couple – Heather (Langenkamp) and Samantha (Samantha Mumba) – and they’re joined by their children, Carrie (Kerry Knuppe) and Tia (Alessandra Shelby Farmer). We also meet their nosy next door neighbor Lew (Lew Temple), and Carrie’s boyfriend Aaron (Aaron Hill) and that’s all of the lead and supporting cast. As you can tell, not much originality was put into naming the characters. Not too long into moving in, they hear strange scratching at the walls, thumping on the floor boards and an omniscient force pets someone’s hair at night. When a light blows out and a glass breaks on its own, though, that’s way too much for anyone to deal with and Carrie immediately starts seeking out a means to banish the evil spirit of the deceased man who previously owned the house. It goes from “Goosebumps” to Poltergeist to something else with little to no destination or explanation.
And it does so without any horror, either. I would equate the level of terror in Home to that of watching paint dry. It’s literally non-existent, which is a huge let down. At first, I was kind of feeling the tone because it had the classic 80’s and 90’s vibe with proper scores and character building. It was a solid foundation for an excellent story, but the script ended up being so bland and boring it made way for Home to be broadcast on the Lifetime Movie Network. No scares at all, just family drama and a very mild level of mystery and suspense. So, don’t let the DVD cover or plot synopsis fool you. There is no zombie girl. There is no knife play. There isn’t much of anything, actually, save for an extremely annoying child, arguing family members and non-threatening supernatural occurrences happening every so often. Home is a dud. Plain and simple. It will succeed in sales through marketing deception and the previous merits of its cast members.
Picture quality was below the standard that I felt this movie should have and the actors were all talented individually, but had no chemistry on screen what-so-ever. Almost painful to watch. And the ending… My god… I cannot recommend this movie to anyone unless you’re a die-hard Heather Langenkamp fan who wants to see what she’s up to in 2016. Sorry, Frank Lin. Final Score: 3.5 out of 10.
