Hard Home

It is hard to believe they could make a movie as stupid as this. Any rating above 4 is an obvious fake.

The signs are there in every scene of this movie that it is complete nonsense. More flaws than the empire state building. Cringeworthy in every aspect. There are so many instances where you say - "as if you would do that". The whole mess is such a struggle to keep watching that eventually you begin the barrack for the bad guy. There are dumb characters the whole way through this - none more than the cops and the woman in the main role. Nothing gels in this movie, the characters are wrong and the script is embarrassing.

A grieving mother who is quite adept at making high tech smart home systems, lures the serial killer who brutally murdered her only daughter into a smart home labyrinth of various tortures and tests to torment and anger the killer as he tries to escape and survive at the same time. It does not seem to be the good idea to capture a serial killer of this magnitude and play games with him, but given the system tends to not give real justice in these kind of cases, you tend to agree with the mothers choice to take things into her own hands. She is totally obsessed and focuses her whole life into this one goal of punishing the killer. She's si obsessed that she does make a few terrible mistakes. Lots of cool tech, suspense, a bit of terror and tongue cutting, not for the squeamish or kiddos. No questionable content, nudity or foul language, entertaining suspenseful movie. Enjoy.

Mary (Simone Kessell) is running in the woods when she is attacked by a hooded man. He is the serial killer, Diablo Killer (Andrew Howard), but she is no damsel in distress. She turns the table on him and takes him captive in her high tech home. Three years earlier, she is moving into her self-designed home with her husband and physically handicapped daughter.

This is a less competent Saw. The first half is rather boring. There isn't enough tension. The audience can assume what happened and it becomes a slow roll with the reveal. The movie needs to up the ante. Instead of a silly elaborate maze, the story can raise the stakes by the daughter being possibly alive and held captive. The only interesting part is the slow chase. A lot of this is a little dumb. Mary should have a gun at least.

Where to start?

Hard Home (2024) is an incoherent mess of an attempt at making a genre horror/thriller for the American market on a budget.

Firstly, let's put that to bed straight away; despite the terrible accents, the non-specific locations, the 'casual' dropping of state names and occasional costumes, this is not an American film. It just wants to be. And to anyone but the most casual viewer it is fooling no one.

Secondly, this is film-making by Xerox; from the writing to the editing and the direction, Hard Home just apes the movies it so desperately wants to be. There is no substance here; it is like a rough cocktail made from inferior, store brand alcohol.

Thirdly, flashbacks are no substitute for a good narrative structure; by constantly framing the story using flashbacks the effect is one that resembles the 'story-so-far' montage intros from a TV series.

Fourthly... oh why should I bother? Hard Home isn't worth the effort.

Please avoid this plastic turkey of a film.

As I watched it, I kept thinking about this review and how I would compare it to one of Saw's sick games and home-alone.. after finishing, I won't even bother.

While the production, location, camera-work gives it a decent look and making it visually interesting in parts (specially the "last confrontation"), it ultimately feels cheap and hollow. Delivering some rather repetitive scenes (as if to fill space), cheap newscaster edits that are always a turnoff, and a simple premise that was overwritten.. while also not leaving the viewer with anything memorable or a message to ponder about. There's no intrigue, just a cause and execution. Still, I was impressed at Simone Kessell's physicality, it anything at all.

This premise could work well in the hands of a more restrained and capable storyteller, or simply by delivering a more a creative encounter. It is not punishing enough to enjoy, nor is it gory or satisfying for lovers of the genre.. It is lacking a few elements to feel complete.