Even less successful horror films, those that rely on worn out clichés seen hundreds of times on screen, almost always manage to be entertaining to some degree, simply because of the specific atmosphere of the genre.
“The Home,” which premiered this month, is an extreme cliché in the least flattering sense of the word.
Max (Pete Davidson), a young man raised in a foster family, comes to serve his sentence doing community service at the Green Meadow retirement home due to repeated offenses.
When he arrives at the place, he discovers that it is not a normal retirement home and that the residents and staff are hiding a dark secret related to the residents of the fourth floor, which he is forbidden to enter. During his stay, Max tries to solve the mystery surrounding the dubious institution while dealing with traumatic memories and mourning the death of his brother, with whom he grew up in the foster family.
“The Home” had real potential to be at least a mediocre film to fill a Friday the 13th evening, but the wrong decisions made throughout its production and writing process make it an almost unbearable experience lasting one hour and forty minutes.
Casting Pete Davidson is perhaps the most puzzling decision.
Davidson (“Saturday Night Live,” “The Suicide Squad”) is not a bad actor, but throughout the film his presence simply feels out of place he does not fit the genre, the script or the atmosphere in any way.
His interactions with the other actors are not organic and it seems as if he wandered onto the set by mistake and was cast in the role due to the absence of another actor.
It is not only Davidson’s casting that causes the lack of organic flow but also the script, written in an almost robotic way reminiscent of artificial intelligence writing.
The lack of effort is evident in the low quality, flimsy writing, which makes the film boring and internally illogical.
In terms of cinematography and directing, there is an endless mix of familiar horror formulas: an old figure standing at a window, stormy weather, an old and scary brick building, long hallways, human experiments, conspiracies and the list goes on.
The problem with this list is that none of these formulas connect to one another or to the plot.
The film is very incoherent in fact, it simply does not progress anywhere. Even when the plot turns, there is no sense of catharsis due to the complete chaos.
The excessive clichéd elements completely remove any element of surprise from the story: one can almost immediately understand who is behind the malicious conspiracy and the nature of the central mystery.
The worst part of “The Home” is the excessive and compulsive use of physical horror.
The cinematography and effects do succeed in creating a repulsive feeling and make the viewer fidget uncomfortably in their seat, but because their connection to the film’s plot is loose to non existent, the horror effect here provokes disgust without enjoyment.
In terms of the target audience, the film falls in between: horror fans will not enjoy the lazy production, and the general audience will not watch it because it is too niche and graphic. “The Home” can be summarized in one sentence: “Gas on neutral.”
