Verdict
Summary
A striking and rather downbeat and melancholy slasher film with a very unusual twist, Homebodies doesn’t really resemble any other horror film that I can think of. It feels realistic and chilling, and even though it has a somewhat comical side to it, I found it to be a very stark and cold film about how elderly people must fight for their right to live and be happy even as the younger, more aggressive world pushes them out.
Plot:
Elderly tenants are threatened with eviction to make way for a real estate developer’s multi-million dollar project … and they get their revenge.
Review:
A whole block of decrepit housing project buildings full of elderly tenants are strong armed into vacating their homes over the course of a month to make way for the demolition of their buildings where a massive upscale block of apartments will be built. The real estate developer is a callous, heartless man whose push to get things done as quickly as possible leaves room for a number of very costly mistakes, including the deaths of four (and counting) construction workers who are killed while on the job. The spectators include a little old lady named Mattie (Paula Trueman) who lives in one of the buildings scheduled to be vacated and evicted, and it’s almost as though she is the direct cause of the accidents, although we never see her meddling with the work going on. She goes home to a humble apartment complex completely inhabited by a bunch of old folks who have grown accustomed to their simple, rather lonely and depressing lives, but when a relentless lady agent comes knocking on their doors to inform them they only have a day to vacate the premises, Mattie and her fellow tenants fight back in a shocking and unexpected way. First, they murder the lady agent and dispose of her car and her body, and next they target the millionaire real estate developer and do away with him too, but that doesn’t stop the progress of the work going on, but merely delays it. With a limited amount of time to sort out their futures, the murderous elderly tenants begin to turn against themselves, which proves to be their ultimate undoing.
A striking and rather downbeat and melancholy slasher film with a very unusual twist, Homebodies doesn’t really resemble any other horror film that I can think of. It feels realistic and chilling, and even though it has a somewhat comical side to it, I found it to be a very stark and cold film about how elderly people must fight for their right to live and be happy even as the younger, more aggressive world pushes them out. Director and co-writer Larry Yust gives the film a really natural urban atmosphere, and it almost feels like a Death Wish movie but without guns. I’d recommend this to devoted fans of cult films and slashers for something a little different.
Kino Lorber recently released a Blu-ray of Homebodies, and it comes with an audio commentary by director Yust, plus an interview with the producer, a TV spot, and the trailer. The high definition transfer brings the washed out colors of the urban landscape to your high tech TVs.
