MovieChat Forums > Home Movie (2009) Discussion > Underwhelmed, frustrated and sort of con...

Underwhelmed, frustrated and sort of confused (spoilers)

posted 14 years ago by lithium_xy
10 replies | jump to latest

I didn't hate Home Movie, but I wasn't impressed either. Honestly, I watch a lot of B horror movies and I often enjoy them, but I really felt this one fell flat. There were some good ideas. I definetly like that it wasn't what I expected and that it wasn't exactly a horror movie, although there was an exsorcism at one point.

First, the kids weren't very menacing. They just looked bored all the time and a little angry. Their actions, of course, were disturbing, but I didn't think their performance really allowed them to be terrifying. I think a big part of this was that the kids almost never speak and every time they're on camera they're usually just looking down. I found that I was taken out of the movie a bit, wondering why the kids were barely given lines, and why I, as a viewer, was supposed to buy into their creepiness based on silence. Although, I am just now recalling the part where they're in the backseat of the car talking in their made up twin language. That part was good, but as far as I can remember, we only get that one glimpse of it.

Second, I felt that the parents reactions to the terrible things that their children were doing wasn't believable for their professions--priest and physchiatrist. I figured the mother would have gotten both her kids on medications long before the narrative in this film even started. And along those same lines, I'm pretty sure that the father would have figured that his kids were possessed long ago as well. Either way, it feels like it takes them a really long time for them to start to do anything, and both the parents seem to be in a profession where they genuinely care and would have done something far sooner.

Third, after the twins try to kill that neighbour kid, I was wondering why the cops were too busy with Jesus' death and rebirth to care. Sure, they live in a small town. But that kid's parents would have been up in arms. The ending seemed really sloppy to me. Not only do the parents not tie their kids up, but they just go to sleep and let the kids get the jump on them. I really figured that they were more disturbed by their childrens actions than to just leave themselves wide open like that. And as others have mentioned, there are a lot of other loose ends with ending as well (nails in the grass? the soup?). I just felt like the film maker had some really great ideas for scenes that he wanted to film (like when the mother is out in the woods reaching for the van that passes her by, or when kids are setting up traps like home alone). Those scenes were good, but felt like they were from other movies.

Anyway, I don't feel like the movie was a waste of time, because I was very intrigued by it. However, I can't help but feel that it really didn't come together like it should have.

Thoughts?

[–] gsd-stellar 14 years ago

A lot of people don't understand the kids because they didn't act in a way that you'd expect. And the parents didn't act in a way that you'd expect.

Firstly to aid you look up a bit more in depth on sociopaths, psychopaths, serial killers, and how families don't know or react to them.

Secondly once again. The parents loved their children, didn't want to think there was anything that seriously wrong with them. The fact is that parents who love their children don't suddenly, under pretty much any circumstances without becoming Andrea Yates, tie up their kids cause they think they might kill them. The thought obviously never crossed their mind.

Also the beeping, was in part the carbon monoxide detector if I'm not mistaken. In addition to that the nails in the grass where in my opinion just being thorough or to stop cars.

And to repeat, once again, if your parents love you and are sane. If you start beating them with a baseball bat they do not hit you back. They tell you to stop or run away. I know this is a concept many people somehow have a hard time grasping. And as far as the childrens emotionlessness, yes once again sociopathy/psychopathy. Enjoy.

As far as why the kids weren't arrested for that, it's hard to know what goes on during the parts of the movie that weren't caught on film. Obviously the kids were good actors (in movie) as they convinced everyone they were sane several times. I also think they convey being crazy quite well. Cause that's what they were, Crazy, not some malignant supernatural evil.

[–] GohiLabrie 14 years ago

Totally agree. It doesn't take much for me to enjoy a handheld cam movie but this one was just boring. Worst recommendation I've had in a long while.

[–] magicpink 14 years ago

It WAS some supernatural evil. There were too many things happening that children could not have physically done: the sudden appearing and disappearing and the window shade going up on its own for starters. Plus jack talks to it at the end; the thing was actually inside the video camera.

[–] Onyx_Hades 14 years ago

Didn't the mom say something about having just moved to that house?

[–] Nova_UB313 14 years ago

When I think about it, Reagan's mom in the film 'The Exorcist' didn't get it right for some time, before finally finding someone to 'exorcise' her daughter.

There was even a murder, and some very nasty things that took place before hand, so I suppose this type of neglect 'can' theoretically happen.

Parents can be some very strange individuals, and many simply don't want to believe what's staring back at them, even when it's obvious. This is the only excuse I can think of to explain how these two handled these extremely bizarre, and abusive twins. Something went terribly, terribly wrong, and they were out in bumble-f nowhere, and both thinking they could probably 'cure' the children on their own.

More science, less fiction.

I'm guilty of 'Z.' http://tinyurl.com/38ljacy

[–] jeffrey-nimmo-1 14 years ago

This movie is a mess. I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on to be scared. First, they didn't even make it clear whether the problem with the kids started when they moved to the country. The father at one point exclaims that nothing changed with the move, and of course in other parts he claims the problem is with the house. Secondly, we never get any clues as to what's wrong with the children. I can understand leaving something to the imagination, but to provide absolutely NO explanation is preposterous. The parents come to their own conclusions but that seems to be based more on their own prejudices than on evidence. The ending is just silly. The parents just give up and reject the kids, who for no particular reason torture and kill them.

They missed a lot of golden oppurtunities too, particularly the conflict between science and religion, explored so well in The Exorcist (especially the novel). Also, they took such trouble to point out that they were isolated deep in the woods, but didn't let us see the dark, brooding, menacing side that the deep forest can have (like The Blair Witch Project), especially in winter. I could go on...

[–] luxmissus 14 years ago

I can't even believe I actually watched it to the end. It was boring and hokey. That was the problem with it.

with only minutes to react we've somehow been killed by a stick insect -- Londinieres

[–] stargazer1701-1 11 years ago

The last shot was almost worth the whole movie.

Smoke me a kipper. I’ll be back for breakfast

[–] gothic_a666 11 years ago

Personally, I thought that the children's silence and overall apathy made them a lot more menacing. I actually knew a kid who was that was back in 1st grade and let's just say that one fine day he tried to strangle me- and that was the last anyone ever heard of him as he was taken away god knows where. I suspect the director did some research on how disturbed children actually behave in real life and not how they do in Hollywood movies.

The reason why the mother did not give them proper therapy as she should is because she was very ashamed. Especially being a doctor, having your own children turn out that messed up makes it very difficult to even show them to outsiders. She says as much in the bathroom scene.

As for the father, his religion was Lutheran, way more relaxed than Evangelican Christianity. Thoughts of possession would not naturally occur to a Lutheran priest as they might, say, to a Pentacostal minister.

[–] checkerouterofthings 11 years ago

I thought the kids played into the creepy vibe quite nicely. No complaints there. My biggest problem was the whole thing was all atmosphere and nothing else. Lots of style, virtually no content. I don't expect much of a plot with a found footage affair, but give me something. Tell me a little more about what's causing all the ruckus.