Havenhurst (2017)
Written By: FR
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Andrew C. Erin
Writers: Andrew C. Erin, Daniel Farrands
Producer: Protocol Entertainment, Twisted Pictures, Parismony Pictures
Release Date: February 10, 2017
Cast:
Julie Benz as Jackie
Belle Shouse as Sarah
Fionnula Flanagan as Eleanor Mudgett
Danielle Harris as Danielle Hampton
Josh Stamberg as Tim
Toby Huss as Wayne
Douglas Tait as Jed
Jennifer Blanc-Biehn as Paula
Rating = 2.5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
Jackie, a recovering alcoholic who lost her daughter has just been released from rehab and her counselor has gotten her a place to stay in Havenhurst, a beautiful old apartment building. The rules are simple, you pay what you can afford and are welcome to stay if you lead a decent, clean life. Relapse and you get evicted. While trying to get her life together Jackie is also trying to track down a friend from rehab, Danielle, who disappeared shortly after moving into Havenhurst. After another friend vanishes she becomes convinced that something evil is going on in the building and finds more than she bargained for.
Gore Factor
Several characters are killed off-screen, with only blood spraying being shown. However, when the killings are shown they are usually graphic and sadistic in tone, including a man having three of his right hand fingers chopped off by a blade; a man’s body is seen cut open in half in an operating table, with his intestines and rib cage graphically exposed as he is still alive; and a woman’s face getting burnt with hot acid and is seen crying in pain as her face starts decaying with blood, bones and tissue being exposed.
The Grave Review
Filmmakers of Havenhurst tried to invoke an interesting concept of mixing horror and mystery together that brings the real serial killer H.H. Holmes back to life, well in the style of his relatives using his trick to kill the unworthy. The main character is Jackie, is staying in an apartment building, in New City for those morally challenged individuals each trying to cope to maintain a healthy and positive life from addictions to drugs or alcohol or risk a judgement of the watchers.
The whole movie explored the dark atmosphere of the building which not only houses the addicts, killers, and cockroaches but other sinister issues hide in the walls, floors and ceiling all waiting for the ones that slip and can’t maintain their morality.
The premise of the movie is based on the serial killer Holmes who lives on through some of the film’s main characters, using his blueprint of his building with trap doors, secret panels and rooms all giving access to the rooms of the people living in them. His story gives the example of how killers become monsters inflicted and unleashed onto society, beaten by his father and tormented by his peers. In fact, his picture hangs in the lobby, only something the astute fans of true crime and horror discover the first time watching it. One the tenants passes out from drunken reckless rage, only to slip beneath the floorboards into a torture room, dissected while alive and enjoys an acid face bath, ideally a minor gory trip.
As for the production, nothing exactly bad, rather more of status quo, it moves along at fair pace, but at times feels borderline tiresome, the interactions and the police play a second fiddle which often happens in the horror pictures.
While Havenhurst (2017) contains many horror elements and tries for some early moments of torture fest, it switches gears quickly and reverts to a mystery story, with thrilling chase sequences. Many audiences experienced in these whodunits will likely recognize other similar films and the missed opportunities, which occur clearly, entertaining, but a basic movie, with human monsters in all sizes and not just paranormal apparitions. They’ve crafted an effectively tense and creepy version of a familiar plot. They do manage to work a few good twists in especially concerning the origins of the killings. But a lot will be familiar to genre fans.
Havenhurst (2017) also deserves praise for not holding back on the gore. There are several scenes that deliver in that department. And with more and more films cutting on the effects, this was a welcome change. That may sound like a subtle endorsement, but it will certainly satisfy fans.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews give Havenhurst (2017) two and one-half graves out of five graves.
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