La resurrección del mal

Havenhurst is a sprawling Gothic building that has been turned into a halfway house for recovering addicts. Its latest tenant is Jackie (Julie Benz), an ex-alcoholic who discovers that her new abode harbours a horrifying secret: it was once home to one of America's first serial killers, H.H. Holmes, and someone seems to be following in his bloody footsteps.

To be honest, there's not a whole lot of originality going on in Havenhurst, the plot taking the well worn 'creepy old house with a secret' format (complete with hidden passageways and trapdoors) and adding a little Saw-style punishment for good measure, as meted out by cold-hearted landlady Eleanor (Fionnula Flanagan) and her sons whenever their tenants fall off the wagon.

Despite a strong central performance and just a smidge of gruesome gore, the film never really delivers the chills, failing to get the pulse pounding with its hackneyed attempts at eerie atmospherics (the whole building could do with better lighting) and predictable jump scares (I lost count of how many times a creepy figure would suddenly rush past the camera in the foreground or behind a character).

In short, Havenhurst is by no means a terrible film, just not all that inspired.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for bumping off Danielle Harris, horror's most over-rated scream queen, as soon as possible.

A woman is in a sobriety program after her drunk driving ended up killing her daughter. She moves into a huge Gothic style apartment where other addicts reside trying to better themselves. If anyone has a slip and falls off the wagon the house removes them fast. She tries to find out where the house takes these people who are never seen again.

This is loosely based on a late 1800's serial killer H.H. Holmes who built a murder house and claimed to kill over 200 people but was closer to 10 in reality. The house in the flick does have some cool trap doors and hidden rooms where some sick surgeries take place. There are some good gore effects but they are only utilized a couple of times. Not much time is spent giving any background to the story or even the characters really, which makes you kind of step back a bit, instead of immersing yourself into the story. I didn't like the ending but a sequel could fix everything.

5 twitching torsos out of 10.

This could have been a Gothic horror but sadly it fails. It all starts promising with the dissapearance of a tenant. But once her best friend starts to investigate this flick has nothing really to offer.

It never becomes scary or bloody or at such a house even creepy. I admit, the beginning do shows some red stuff and in the basement there's a gory shot but overall something is missing to make it worth searching out. And the acting was okay but being low profile on the horror it makes it after a while hard to sit through. All characters and cliches are in this flick but it doesn't work out, it's all predictable.

Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2,5/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

Julie Benz & Danielle Harris in the same film? Yes please, I thought when the credits began but alas it wasn't meant to be. Harris may possibly have been there as a favour to someone as her total screen time is barely 60 seconds.

Havenhurst is a gigantic apartment building for people to put their lives back together. It's full of former alcoholics, drug addicts and various criminal types and that's where our heroine moves in seeking her missing best friend.

If you play nice it's a great place to live but should you return to your old ways you'll find yourself in a world of trouble.

Julie Benz is an incredible actress, a tour de force and is always fantastic to watch. It's rare to see her as the leading lady so it was nice to see her get her chance here. She does a brilliant job and the movies concept is actually quite intriguing especially near the end where a big twist occurs.

I walked away from this feeling that something was missing, maybe the delivery wasn't on point, maybe it was too short or maybe the finale didn't appease me. Regardless Havenhurst is a decent enough watch and could potentially see a sequel or even a franchise.

The Good:

Julie Benz

Great twist

Very original

The Bad:

Awful cover

Feels incomplete somehow

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Julie Benz doesn't age, seriously it's getting ridiculous

Danielle Harris may well have been in the movie more than I realised, she's just so tiny maybe I missed her

The only reason you may want to watch the incessantly sullen horror flick "Havenhurst" is if you happen to be a fan of Julie Benz from the long-running Showtime series "Dexter". That is the only reason.

And even then...