Movie Review: "Home" (2020)

Home Movie Review

Written by Stuart D. Monroe

Released by Rising Again Films

Written and Directed by Adriel Roman

2020, 66 minutes, Not Rated

Released on October 31st, 2020

Starring:

Shirley Van Patten as Sydney Wells

Ivy Cerelle Floirendo as Maya Wells

Abby Rey as Katherine Wells

Mike Bisceglia as Robert Wells

Review:

I don’t know about you, but there hasn’t been a conscious time in my life that I haven’t devoured horror movies (starting with A Nightmare on Elm Street when I was six years old). It’s what people like us do. One of the coolest aspects of this still relatively new Renaissance of Horror that we’re enjoying now is the exponential growth in the number of diverse voices bringing you the horror. The time we’re living in feels less like an “era” in horror and more like a true change. With so many different perspectives showing you what scares them, there are a wide variety of styles to give you your fix.

With Home, writer/director Adriel Roman is putting the horror in the scariest place of all- right in the middle of the family where secrets are the deepest and the emotional investment is highest. Famous author and beloved small-town icon Katherine Wells (Abby Rey) lost her husband, then her sanity, then her life. She was dead and on the other side of the veil for ten minutes before being brought back, but she didn’t come back alone. Her two daughters, Sydney (Shirley Van Patten) and Maya (Ivy Cerelle Floirendo), doubted her sanity before her brush with death, but now they believe she is loony with a capital L…until they begin to see for themselves, that is. Soon everyone is a little mad and the real story behind the facade of Katherine’s literary account will finally be told.

With a heavily female and Asian-American cast and a creative team of Hispanic descent, Home immediately has a starker and more straightforward approach to the horror on display. Though the run time is only 66 minutes, the spaces between every breath feel longer as the tension is allowed to build naturally. Sydney and Maya have a solid but not flashy chemistry together that feels like a real sister relationship, warts and all, and that’s important- their interaction is a large chunk of the film and the emotional connection is vital to the ending’s punch.

Absent is any campiness. You’re barking up the wrong tree for T&A or even incidental nudity. Hell, there aren’t even any friggin’ stereotypical horror characters! That’s always a dicey proposition in the world of horror, as broad public expectation says that’s how horror should be. Home isn’t for the gore or excessive violence crowd, and it’s not looking to exploitative. While it’s frankly refreshing, it’s also important to note because there are times when you want exactly that.

Home is horror of the heart. It’s a film that’s all about family and how extreme it can be at both ends of the spectrum, light and dark. When the movie goes for scare value, there are moments of jarring shocks, like the first night home from the hospital when everything goes dark, that are a joy to behold for both the effectiveness and the style of presentation. It plays with the idea of dream sequences and hallucinations quite deftly. The possession aspect leaves a little to be desired, but you’re not left with the impression that they were trying to use it as anything more than an expositional tool.

Much like 2019’s The Evil Down the Street, the idea of playing it straight (so to speak) is approached with admirable brevity in order to let the scares work on their own merit. Some work wonderfully and some not so much, but Home is a horror film that proves that while family looks a little different to each of us, it’s also the place where we’re at our most vulnerable.

Horror is supposed to go for the soft spots. I mean, isn’t that the idea?

Grade:

3.5 out of 5.0 stars