Home Movie

source: Home Movie

Starring Adrian Pasdar ('Heroes') and Cady McClain ('All My Children'), 'Home Movie' tells the tale of a young family who has recently moved to the isolated countryside of upstate New York. At first, all seems perfect. The couple, a pastor and a child psychologist, is happy and in love. The house is beautiful. And, they have two adorable children. Soon after, however, the happy couple's perfect life begins to spiral out of control as their ten-year-old son & daughter start to show signs of aggressive and psychotic behaviour. As time passes, the children become worse & worse, eventually becoming a fight for survival between the parents and the children, all alone in their picturesque country home. 'Home Movie' continues the recent trend of point-of-view horror/thriller flicks like 'Rec,' 'Paranormal Activity,' and 'Cloverfield,' which has been helping to deliver unto the horror genre some of the scariest films in a long time. 'The Blair Witch Project,' while not the first point-of-view horror film, set the bar for fear high and would be one of the major trendsetters for this style of film-making. It's cheap, it's effective, and (what I think makes it scariest) it's more personal than standard film-making. 'Home Movie' is one of the films that very much takes advantage of this more 'personal' film-making style. Technically speaking, the film is rather impressive. For what was clearly a very modest budget, they pulled a couple of marginally recognizable stars in Pasdar and McClain, thus guaranteeing at least adequate performances in what could have been a couple of difficult roles. The script is solid and keeps the pace going steady without jumping too fast into the kids going crazy, utilizing a nice, slow descent into madness. The shakicam, an element many people worry about with POV films, is not too bad and much of the film includes the camera just sitting on a table or desk instead of being hauled around by someone. It never gets bad enough to cause any kind of motion sickness like 'Cloverfield.' One issue I did have with the film is simple: These are two of the worst parents I've ever seen in a movie. No matter what the kids were doing for a huge portion of the movie, the children were never punished, never scolded, never lectured. One would think that a pastor and a child psychologist would be familiar with the necessity of discipline. It took one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen a kid do before the child psychologist could realize that maybe, just maybe, her kids were a little screwy in the head. Granted, no parent wants to believe their kid is bad. . . but, it's pretty textbook that violence, over-aggression, and abuse of small animals is a pretty serious indication of what's to come. However, this is forgivable for the sake of the story, even if it does cause a few head-shaking moments. Overall, 'Home Movie' is a expertly creepy & freaky horror/thriller with some of the best suspense & tension I've seen in a while and one hell of a wicked conclusion. It also continues to prove that point-of-view horror is a great tool that can be used in independent cinema to keep budgets low and keep scares high. Final Verdict: 8/10 - This is the kind of movie that will make you not want to have kids. -AP3-

I honestly didn't know what to expect--never heard of the film, nor the director. I saw it on IFC, and the commercial breaks, for the first time in my life, were appreciated by me. I don't know how to describe this movie, nor my opinion of it. I'm just going to say this much: Before the big finale, I had to go get my husband to come in the bedroom, as I could not finish this alone. I don't respond this way with any other dark films. Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" comes to mind as a psychological comparison to this movie, yet the third wall is never really broken. The inexplicable darkness will stay with you for a long, long time. I would venture to say the reviews that criticize its subtly were made by people expecting another "Blair Witch"...

Decided to give this one a go after reading a pretty positive review here on IMDb. My thoughts on the film is far more negative however. It is filmed in a Blair Witch style with shaky cameras filmed by the actors themselves in a documentary style fashion. Its not believable done however, These idiots seem to be thinking more about the camera than themselves in the most absurd situations. Storywise i has some interesting aspects going on but the en result is just horrible, the script would seriously have needed someone more talented to check it out and fix up the worse parts. The children are horrible actors and it just feels fake the entire movie through. The movie is a waste of time and i cant recommend it to anyone really, It is a shame because with "classic" camera-work and a bit of touching up on the script it could have been pretty decent. Shite movie.

Horror films are one of my favorite genres, unfortunately it is a rare case to find a decent one. I enjoy realistic and disturbing horror films. Not the ones that try to ride out on big breasted women running from demons that jump out on the screen every 15 minutes. This film is short, and to the point. From the very beginning there is a sense of tension that continuously builds until the brutal ending. I rarely leave a film of this type with a disturbed mind, but this movie certainly did the trick. The acting is perfect from some moderately unknown names. Adrian Pasdar was enjoyable to watch as he played a key role in the tension and the relief occasionally. The hand-held film effect may seem to be overdone, but this film utilizes it differently and even mentions at times how stupid it is to be filming their own horrors. I strongly recommend this film.

Some body needs a vicious spanking. This disturbing tale of a family gone horribly south laments that the end is not going to be pleasant, and it certainly does not disappoint. To eschew those moments of stupidity, where the characters behave with retarded capacity, is one necessity of the viewer, for these parents absolutely blow it at times. The acting was top rate for such an endeavor, with exceptional performances by the children, creepy little things that they were. Adrian Pasdar was a sheer treat to watch- what a ham. There are some fun connections between the lessons of the father and how the children take note and put words into discommoding action, all to wicked effect. For those not charmed by home movie style flicks, best to stay away. As well, this was a chilling affair turned dark as black towards its end- stay away happy happy joy joy fans. As to the rest, this short little psycho-thriller might just be reason enough to get those tubes tied. Mercie beaucoup. Genruk Evil Eye Reviews

This movie start of with Family recording special days of year like Thanksgiving and Christmas. There Are two really nasty kids in the movie, When the kids do something wrong, nothing is really done about it! I Did not find this movie entertaining at all , I Fast forward some scenes, cause it was getting really boring and people were just talking none stop, with nothing really happens at all. After the very long build, it over a Hour long Build for one scenes that really got interesting into the movie and then the Credits roll. First words that came out of my mouth was "Is that it?" The kids was really nasty in the movie but I did not find them scary at all. The acting was decent from the whole cast. 3 out of 10

This review will contain some spoilers but you will be warned in advance, in case you want to skip over them. Now, it seems that the jury is out on this film as people either seem to absolutely HATE it or absolutely LOVE it. Here's my take This film does hold much merit. It is a fresh concept and the story is creative. The presentation is unique (Holiday logging via video camera). There is quality acting (I enjoyed the playful father character). The horror does not rely on excessive gore or sudden 'jumps'. In other words, the foundation for a potentially great horror movie is present. There are also some very clever clues along the way that tie together nicely in the end. The types of clues that you would think about after and say "Oh yeaaa!" *Spoilers alert* For example: 1) the story about the dragon that appears to be a child, but ends up being something much worse. The dragon wears a paper bag on its head before it feast on humans. You'll see the children wearing paper bags in both the final scene and in the scene where they were about to 'feast' on their school buddy. 2) Another clever clue is when the son is raking leaves and the father tells him "today's lesson: dead things go in garbage bags" (referring to the dead bug). In the final scene we see the soon-to-be-dead parents in these same garbage bags, tied to a table. *End spoiler* These clever clues don't serve to necessary further the story, they are purely a nice touch…. like a fine wine that matches perfect with a wonderful steak dinner. Now, the problem with this movie is that the steak is BURNT. As mentioned, the foundation (steak) for a solid horror flick is present. But there are simply too many annoyances (BURNT!) with the story that you are successfully pulled from the experience. I can replay the final scene in my head, and IMAGINE myself being terrified by it. However, when I actually experienced this final scene, when I was watching it on screen, I didn't even flinch. I wasn't terrified, and this was because I wasn't engaged in the action. When watching one of this 'home video' type of films (Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity), it is crucial that you buy into the experience, you have to put yourself in their shoes; you have to relate…or it doesn't work. Home Movie fails at this. Mainly because characters choices don't make sense or things that happen aren't possible, and you're sitting there wondering "wtf?" *Spoiler alert* Here are some of the annoyances: 1) Your kids tie you up, beat you, drag you downstairs, tie you to a chair, force-feed you but you manage to untie yourself. Are you going to untie your husband next? Or are you going to wander through the house alone to get the baseball bat. No one on this planet is NOT going to untie their husband first and venture off alone. Are you kidding me? 2) How are two nine year olds able to bond two sleeping parents with tension-straps without waking them up? I can forgive everything after this point, like the force-feeding, or the fact that the kids had the strength to drag them downstairs. But seriously? How could they tie them without waking them, and with TENSION STRAPS. They would have to be epically tight so stop them from wiggling free. They WOULD have woken up, it's not possible. 3) So the mom has wandered a mile from the house in the middle of the night. A nine year old plans to drag her home…in a WAGON. Have you tried pulling a WAGON in a FOREST? You're better off just dragging her. But somehow a nine year old kid is able to drag a waggon with an adult in it, through a forest, WITH ONE ARM, because he is holding a camera with the other. No effing way. *Spoiler end* The potential is there, but they fail in the details. By the time the movie ends, you don't buy it, so you can't relate. They've lost you… so there is no shock, and effectively, no terror. Had they not failed in the details, we would have had a very good horror movie, with clever clues that would entice us to watch it again and again.

The Poes seem the picture perfect American family. Dad David, (Adrian Pasdar) is a Lutheran minister and devoted husband to Doctor/Mom Clare (Cady McLain). They have two 10 year old children Jack and Emily (real life siblings Austin & Amber Joy Williams), and life is good. Events such as Halloween, New Year's eve and Easter are celebrated family affairs, captured for posterity on home video. Then things start getting kinda weird. Jack and Emily are starting to act rather oddly. Not quite their usual selves. Then weird stuff starts to happen. Clare is concerned and wonders whether their children need medical treatment. David isn't so sure, and wonders if there's something evil at play in their home. Especially when the kids complain about the man in their closet. Or are the kids lying? And it's all captured via camcorder as events then take a turn for the darker side still... I'm not going to give a review of plot developments or give any spoilers regarding this film. What I will say is that Home Movie is a pleasantly surprising little pov low budget indy horror that while having a rather slow start, then takes a turn down a dark avenue and becomes a pretty creepy and disconcerting little film indeed. My advice is not to read of any reviews regarding the actual plot and watch it blind, and buy into the captured on camcorder premise at face value. Then turn out the lights, have patience with a rather plodding build up-it's a home movie after all, the essence of banality- and prepare to be creeped out. For a POV horror it thankfully doesn't go nuts with the shaky cam, with much of the film comprising of steady shots, and for a low fi film, manages to get under your skin in parts. Overall, a solid and effective little horror film, that's worth a look. At 77 minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome either. There tends to be opinions on online forums that lament American horror. My answer to that is take a look through their indy scene. There's quite a few little gems to find, and Home Movie is one of them. 7/10, a very pleasant little surprise.

Don't believe any of the good reviews on here. They obviously are involved in the movie somehow. I have seen a lot of stupid, boring movies and this is one of the worst I have ever seen. This movie starts off slow and never picks up. I kept watching thinking "it's got to get better right". Never happened. You don't care about anyone it the movie. There is no tension. There is no action. Not at any time do you think to yourself "this could be someone's home movie". It is just bad. I buy dvds then watch them. I've been doing it for at least 10+ years now and have a couple thousand dvds and blurays. In all that time and with as many bad movies I have kept there are about 3 or 4 movies that, after watching them, I hate so much that I just throw away. This is one of those movies.