Thanks for the memories!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

HOME MOVIE is, as the title would suggest, a found footage horror film although the horror elements are rather slight and this feels more like a drama about a dysfunctional family. There are elements of other horror films like PARANORMAL ACTIVITY here although it's worth noting that HOME MOVIE is a relatively early entry in the genre before its popularity really took off.The storyline is straightforward, about your typical American nuclear family (husband, wife, son, and daughter) recording family events on their new video camera. Unfortunately for them it soon transpires that their children are rather malevolent, and when you see that the family owns numerous pets you get an idea of where this is going. Sadly, the execution is very poor, amateurish in fact, and the British horror film THE CHILDREN tackled the same subject matter in a much more involving and traditional way.The main problem I had with HOME MOVIE is that the characters are so annoying. It seems that some or all of the dialogue was ad-libbed because characters just ramble on forever about irrelevant stuff. The husband is particularly irritating and most viewers will want to knock his block off after about five minutes. In addition, the camera editing and stylistics are too distracting, with random shaking and loud noises obscuring what would be clear-cut incidents. I didn't care for this film at all.

The summary above says it all. I really cannot think of any improvements for this movie. It had all the great elements of a horror; suspense, miss-direction, character build-up. To me this was a straight 10/10, I wish there was a home movie 2. Personally I'm not a big fan of the whole video camera way of filming, but this was definitely an exception. The only time that I found the camera a bit hard to believe was when (spoiler) David was tied up and instead of running upstairs in a panic, the first thing she thinks to do is pick up the camera... But apart from that it was quite realistic, for example (spoiler) with the cat on the cross, David turned the camera off straight away (as everyone else would do).At some points in this movie I was seriously creeped out, even at small things, like when they're at the dinner table and the camera skips/flashed. Okay I'm going into way too much details, but this movie is outstanding for a movie I had never heard of until a day ago, it is even short so if it isn't for you, not much time was wasted. But in any case, give it a shot!

The Poes seem the picture perfect American family.Dad David, (Adrian Pasdar) is a Lutheran minister and devoted husband to Doctor/Mom Clare (Cady McLain). They have two 10 year old children Jack and Emily (real life siblings Austin & Amber Joy Williams), and life is good. Events such as Halloween, New Year's eve and Easter are celebrated family affairs, captured for posterity on home video. Then things start getting kinda weird. Jack and Emily are starting to act rather oddly. Not quite their usual selves. Then weird stuff starts to happen. Clare is concerned and wonders whether their children need medical treatment. David isn't so sure, and wonders if there's something evil at play in their home. Especially when the kids complain about the man in their closet. Or are the kids lying? And it's all captured via camcorder as events then take a turn for the darker side still...I'm not going to give a review of plot developments or give any spoilers regarding this film. What I will say is that Home Movie is a pleasantly surprising little pov low budget indy horror that while having a rather slow start, then takes a turn down a dark avenue and becomes a pretty creepy and disconcerting little film indeed. My advice is not to read of any reviews regarding the actual plot and watch it blind, and buy into the captured on camcorder premise at face value. Then turn out the lights, have patience with a rather plodding build up-it's a home movie after all, the essence of banality- and prepare to be creeped out.For a POV horror it thankfully doesn't go nuts with the shaky cam, with much of the film comprising of steady shots, and for a low fi film, manages to get under your skin in parts.Overall, a solid and effective little horror film, that's worth a look. At 77 minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome either.There tends to be opinions on online forums that lament American horror. My answer to that is take a look through their indy scene. There's quite a few little gems to find, and Home Movie is one of them. 7/10, a very pleasant little surprise.

Filmed in the cinema verite style becoming so popular lately, "Home Movie" affords its viewers an interesting perspective. In some ways, while watching the siblings, I recalled the brothers of "Funny Games"--psychopathic game-players out only to fulfill their own sadistic desires.In a sense, that's very much what this film is about.For those versed in some psychology, it quickly becomes apparent (within the first ten minutes of the film, I might argue) that the movie's twins are displaying classic, if incredibly overplayed, symptoms of APD--antisocial personality disorder, or, if you will, sociopathy/psychopathy. (The two differ in minute ways but the difference is rather negligible when reviewing a film.) In a very telling throwaway line, the mother can be heard shouting to her husband, "They're not psychotic"--which, indeed, they aren't. Psychopathy vs. psychosis is the difference between Ted Bundy and Ed Gein--or, for the horror movie buffs, it's the difference between Hannibal and Leatherface. Psychotics cannot tell reality and are often unaware of rules--psychopaths know the rules. They simply do not care.And that is what we are presented with, here--two children who simply do not care about the established rules, who display a distinct lack of empathy, conduct disorder, manipulation, and, later in the film, the ability to flip the 'charm' switch on-and-off at a whim. I would like to point out, though, that the symptoms are over-dramatized--no child with APD tendencies is going to crucify a cat, place a frog in a vice, make a goldfish sandwich AND impale the head of the family dog. They'll probably stick to one of those things, if any.Which is why I find it better to view this movie not as a character study of two future psychopaths, but a character study of two future horror movie villains--a look at the "Funny Games" brothers when they were children, all the symptoms present but exaggerated to make for an entertaining film.And entertain it does--the acting is exceptional as the parents try desperately to hold onto a fraying thread of hope that their family may yet be saved, until a heart-wrenching scene roughly ten minutes from the film's end when we see the father finally and definitely fall to pieces. Take that, add intriguing and twisted foreshadowing throughout the first half of the film, and you have what I would consider a rather brilliant piece.I see some people complaining about the plot, and some of the holes and errors made throughout--but I would argue that this is less a film that requires a definite plot with a neat wrap-up, and more a character study of an unwinding family and the two future horror film slashers they're raising.