Hard Home

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.

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.

This is the worst film I've seen in a long, long time. Both the acting and the story are horrendous. Many things are implausible and there are large sections of the story seemingly missing. It's like the film lost its budget and they had to produce the final film with what they had at the time. If you go into the film expecting it to be terrible, you may actually have fun.

The house in this film is beautiful and this is the only part you'll enjoy as you cringe your way through the movie. The home designer in the story is also the main actor in the film, and the film passes her off as a genius engineer and designer. The problem is, it's plain to see this woman is not that type and clearly doesn't possess the whits or personality for such a role. She's also never ran a day in her life, as she looks like a young child when she runs, yet the film has her as a distance runner.

FYI - the 10/10 review is obviously fake and was written by the cast, crew or a friend of some sort. No able minded reasonable person would rank this movie above 2/10.

I went into this movie with modest expectations, hoping for a decent experience. At first, the film seemed to have potential. The premise was intriguing, and the initial setup was engaging enough to keep me invested. But then things took a turn for the worse.

The plot quickly descended into a tangled mess of clichés and implausible twists that felt more like a checklist of tropes than a coherent story. Character development was virtually nonexistent; the characters seemed to exist merely to advance the plot rather than to be relatable or engaging. Dialogue that started off reasonably natural soon became stilted and repetitive, with awkward attempts at humor that fell flat.

As the movie progressed, it felt like the filmmakers were scrambling to salvage the narrative, resulting in an even more convoluted and confusing experience. By the time the credits rolled, I was left with a sense of frustration and disappointment. What had started as a potentially interesting film ended up as a disjointed and tedious experience. It's a shame, really, because with a more focused vision and better execution, it could have been something worthwhile. Instead, it just kept getting worse.

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.