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| Havenhurst (Andrew C. Erin, 2016) expertly wastes excellent horror film talent, like poor Danielle Harris |
Ugh,
Havenhurst. Just to be clear, there's absolutely nothing supernatural going on in Andrew C. Erin's apartment horror film, which is the first way that this film so-o-o disappoints. Ominous shots of a stately, grandiose apartment building in NYC suggest that we are strictly in haunted house territory. The grisly opening murders (bye, bye Danielle Harris) appear to support this premise, as forces suddenly appear and throw bodies around with supernatural strength. All I could think is "please, please let this be a malevolent apartment building!" Meh. Spoiler--but only for the first half hour. Only the landlords are malevolent.
After what seems like a fairly promising start, the film shifts its focus to Jackie (played by the always fabulous Julie Benz), a recovering alcoholic sent to Havenhurst after rehab, as it seems to be some kind of commonly used halfway house. Seriously? This kind of real estate in NYC, I would pretend to be a recovering addict just to live there. Not so ironically, Jackie ends up in the exact same building from which her former addict pal Danielle has recently disappeared. Coincidence? No such thing in horror films.
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| The equally wonderful Fionnula Flanagan is also wasted here as Eleanor, Jackie's smarmy new landlord |
On her first night at Havenhurst, strange things start to happen in Jackie's apartment. She hears strange noises--of course. She lays out a couple of dresses for her "lease signing" with Eleanor (Fionnula Flanagan), her new landlord, and when she comes back from the shower, only one is on the bed--the other dress has clearly been "rejected" and is hanging back in her closet. I would have been out of there right then, but Jackie also sees the realities of this real estate coup, and signs the lease without reading it. She just must understand the rules--as long as she's "good," she can live there until she dies. Breaking the rules earns you an eviction, and eviction = death in this film. Horrible, gruesome deaths--disembowelment, acid bath, non-consensual cremation, what have you.
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| Jackie (Julie Benz) and her young, "innocent" neighbor Sarah (Bella Shouse) flee from Eleanor's murderous kids |
Meanwhile, Jackie has befriended an innocent girl next door, Sarah, who seems to know what's going on in the building, but as a tween, is pretty helpless to do anything about it. She just warns Jackie not to break the rules, which is exactly what Jackie does, because she's an intrepid rule breaking heroine who gets herself into all kinds of trouble. Even Josh Stamberg, as her police detective pal, Tim, cannot seem to save her from her own destructive curiosity. Jackie deliberately falls off the wagon in order to find out what happened to Danielle, and some of the other "missing" denizens of Havenhurst.
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| Jackie discovers what's going on in the basement of Havenhurst |
So, Ugh, Havenhurst. Supposedly the film is linked to an actual serial killer case involving H.H. Holmes, a guy in Chicago who killed all these people in the hotel he owned (Ryan Murphy totally ripped this story off for
American Horror Story: Hotel). The film claims that he got his
start at Havenhurst, and Eleanor and her horrible children are keeping the tradition alive, killing off anyone who isn't a good person (according to their morals, which are questionable). Fionnula Flanagan really chews the scenery in this film, but her malevolence is telegraphed from early on. I was hoping she was part of a
Rosemary's Baby type satanic cult, but no such luck. Instead, viewers find out a half hour in that the entire building is under surveillance, and booby-trapped, and that Eleanor's lovely boys are living in the walls, preying on the "weak." The one thing I can say for the film is that the ending surprised me; it does not make the film worth seeing, but I didn't see the ending coming, and that's always a plus in my estimation. Still, Ugh, Havenhurst. Just don't.
