Havenhurst

Plot synopsis:
Jackie is a recovering alcoholic that is moving into Havenhurst, an apartment complex in New York City run by Eleanor Mudgett and her son Ezra, who also serves as the building's maintenance man. She is given the warning that she must remain sober while living in Havenhurst or she will be swiftly evicted. While living there, Jackie begins looking for evidence about her friend Danielle, who previously lived in Havenhurst, unaware that the latter was brutally murdered along with her addict boyfriend shortly after receiving an eviction notice. She also meets some of the building's residents, notably a young teen named Sarah, who lives with her foster parents Tammy and Wayne, the latter of whom is an abusive alcoholic. Some time after moving in Jackie hears one of her neighbors, Paula, getting murdered because she returned to prostitution and reports it to a detective friend of hers, Tim. She also discovers an incomplete map that Danielle had created before her death and Sarah gives Jackie Danielle's camera, which contains film that Jackie has developed. The map shows that the building is far larger than it appears, as it has several secret rooms.
Later Sarah is attacked by Wayne, who is abducted by Eleanor's other son Jed, a serial killer that has been using the secret rooms to hide himself and his crimes, as he has been murdering people who have been served eviction notices. Tammy also becomes one of Jed's victims, as she and Wayne had been sent an eviction notice due to Wayne's alcoholism and abuse. After discovering their apartment covered in blood, Jackie tries to show Tim the apartment in order to prove that something bad is happening, only for it to have been cleaned prior to his arrival. After Tim leaves Jackie decides to start drinking in order to receive an eviction notice and discover the building's secrets.
She and Sarah, who is now staying with her, go down to the laundry room and discover a secret passage that leads to a room containing records showing that Eleanor and her children are descendants of serial killer H. H. Holmes and have inherited his murderous disposition. They soon find, however, that they have been discovered by the murderous family and are chased throughout the building, unable to leave. Jackie manages to call Tim in the hopes of summoning help, only for Sarah to get captured. She manages to rescue Sarah and help her escape the building, but is captured and presumably murdered. Shortly thereafter Tim arrives with several police officers but is unable to do anything as there is no evidence that the disappearances are sinister in nature and ends up leaving unsatisfied. Once he and the others are gone Eleanor speaks to Sarah and convinces her to join her family and assist in the future murders.

Tags: murder

Review:
The ending was so botched, I can't help thinking the crew itself got "evicted" half way through the filming (read, ran out of money or fell apart).
Despite the weird behavior of several characters, the story had a good potential till it suddenly, stupidly, untimely took a twist that is so used and abused, it doesn't even elicit a chuckle anymore.
Movies like this make me wonder how someone gets so much money, convinces a bunch of talented people to participate (most of the actors, the operator was pretty good), and is not held accountable for making bad script decisions that inevitably cut any hope for a good payout.
You won't fall of the wagon ever again.The person who moves to "Havenhurst" is Jackie (Julie Benz), a recovering alcoholic who's responsible for the death of her lovable daughter because of her addiction.
What could potentially have been a very interesting and unique horror movie, ended up being a generic storyline suffering at the hands of the writers.The story did have potential, but writers Andrew C.
Furthermore, it didn't help one bit that the storyline was completely devoid of anything even remotely scary.What did work out quite well in favor of the movie was the house and the design idea behind it.
But again, it just lacked that element of horror."Havenhurst" also had some adequate acting performances to boast it, although they were struggling with a very inadequate script, and it was weighing the actors and actresses down visibly on the screen.For a horror movie, I will say that "Havenhurst" belongs more in the mystery genre with just a hint of thriller to it.
Which are the tags of the genre here on IMDb. I just sat down to watch it because I thought it was going to be a horror movie.
So I was naturally very disappointed with the end result."Havenhurst" is a mediocre movie that came and went without any fanfare and without leaving any impressions in the horror genre, because it just wasn't equipped with fangs or nails..
Seemingly inspired by the true story of H.H. Holmes, the Torture Doctor of Chicago, who murdered anything up to 200 people, most of them in his mansion/castle full of blind corridors, rooms that could only be opened from the outside, equipped with secret gas lines, and a basement used for dissection, Havenhurst bears many similarities.
With so many low budget horror movies being released, there are far better choices than this flick to spend one's money on..
Harris may possibly have been there as a favour to someone as her total screen time is barely 60 seconds.Havenhurst is a gigantic apartment building for people to put their lives back together.
It's full of former alcoholics, drug addicts and various criminal types and that's where our heroine moves in seeking her missing best friend.If you play nice it's a great place to live but should you return to your old ways you'll find yourself in a world of trouble.Julie Benz is an incredible actress, a tour de force and is always fantastic to watch.
She does a brilliant job and the movies concept is actually quite intriguing especially near the end where a big twist occurs.I walked away from this feeling that something was missing, maybe the delivery wasn't on point, maybe it was too short or maybe the finale didn't appease me.
Regardless Havenhurst is a decent enough watch and could potentially see a sequel or even a franchise.The Good:Julie BenzGreat twistVery originalThe Bad:Awful coverFeels incomplete somehowThings I Learnt From This Movie:Julie Benz doesn't age, seriously it's getting ridiculousDanielle Harris may well have been in the movie more than I realised, she's just so tiny maybe I missed her.
In films like Havenhurst, the most convenient thing to do is to focus on the pros, and hoping them to partially compensate the usual problems of a horror B-Movie, made with a certain visual style and adequate handling of the suspense, but pre-fabricated characters and little imagination.
In conclusion, Havenhurst is a mediocre film, but it didn't bore me, and I can give it a slight recommendation, specially to other fans of Benz's.
Let me start off by saying that the only reason I gave this film a go was because I like Julie Benz from the Dexter series.
Number one, Benz plays a recovering alcoholic who moves into the building (the title of the movie) only to learn that that whoever breaks the rules while living there of their past lifestyles, (hence drinking again) will pay a severe penalty for it.
The film is just plain awful, Benz has no range of character the story makes absolutely, no sense, and the whole time I just ended up screaming at my 70in TV, from scenes where she clearly had the upper hand and because of a very poor script, she winds up doing something stupid to get caught.
Although ostensibly a haunted house story, this is really a slasher at heart.The film opens with a pulse-pounding score, superior gore effects and a dazzling cameo from horror goddess Danielle Harris.
We have powerful acting from Julie Benz (Dexter, Buffy, Two Evil Eyes), and an evil maternal instinct from Fionnula Flanagan (The Others, Trash Fire).What sells the film more than anything is the cinematography, as the colorization is rich, and provides a nice palette against which to tell a moving story.
The exterior aerial shots look great, and it left me wondering if this is a real building or if some crafty CGI is used.In recent years, public discourse was concerned about the so-called surveillance state, and those fears come to life here.
Although this story of murder and disappearance could be in any era, this surveillance aspect makes it especially timely, even if not intended by the writers.I highly recommend "Havenhurst".
Havenhurst is a sprawling Gothic building that has been turned into a halfway house for recovering addicts.
Its latest tenant is Jackie (Julie Benz), an ex-alcoholic who discovers that her new abode harbours a horrifying secret: it was once home to one of America's first serial killers, H.H. Holmes, and someone seems to be following in his bloody footsteps.To be honest, there's not a whole lot of originality going on in Havenhurst, the plot taking the well worn 'creepy old house with a secret' format (complete with hidden passageways and trapdoors) and adding a little Saw-style punishment for good measure, as meted out by cold-hearted landlady Eleanor (Fionnula Flanagan) and her sons whenever their tenants fall off the wagon.Despite a strong central performance and just a smidge of gruesome gore, the film never really delivers the chills, failing to get the pulse pounding with its hackneyed attempts at eerie atmospherics (the whole building could do with better lighting) and predictable jump scares (I lost count of how many times a creepy figure would suddenly rush past the camera in the foreground or behind a character).In short, Havenhurst is by no means a terrible film, just not all that inspired.5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for bumping off Danielle Harris, horror's most over-rated scream queen, as soon as possible..
I love Juli Benz but this movie was not good enough for someone with her talent.
The scream queens are in this (actresses who often do B horror movies) but they have gotten a lot older and yet were still playing younger parts and dying in horrific, ridiculous ways.
This movie was just hard to watch, easy to predict and what a waste of such a great cast and potential!
Julie Benz does her best, although her terrible material defeats her and would be beneath even the worst actresses.However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained.
Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it.Acting is not good aside from Benz.Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace is uneven, dragging in a lot of the second half and never is it exciting.
The acting in this movie was great, the atmosphere and the creepiness of this Gothic building set the mood,.
The mystery, and wondering what's going on, the supernatural aspect, keep me in suspense, and made this " a sitting at the edge of my seat" type horror film.
But then we come to the very end of the movie, i so very very disappointing.
I hate when you watch a movie, and really really like it, and then it has a stupid ending...
The only reason you may want to watch the incessantly sullen horror flick "Havenhurst" is if you happen to be a fan of Julie Benz from the long-running Showtime series "Dexter".
The start is really powerful as with most Horror movies.
Then again, some Horror fans do like these sort of "haunted places" (in movies that is, I reckon), so there is something here for you guys.
None of the characters are even vaguely believable or interesting - the script is utterly terrible and full of clichés to the degree where your completing sentences in your head half the time - the "scary" characters are at best kinda funny and the low budget is embarrassingly evident, in everything from the obviously fake hand being stabbed to the meaningless repetitive aerial shots of the so called havenhurst building...You can watch it for free on Netflix right now, but it only really works as background noise while doing something fore fulfilling with your life simultaneously.
I loved the fact that the writers were able to work H.H. Holmes into the plot , but his real story would make a better movie than this story!
It's an infuriating ideology which is even more infuriating in that they get away with it at the end because the movie just abruptly ends with them murdering the main character and the little girl she was protecting inexplicably wanting to join the murderers.
Weird things begin to happen and she desperately tries to piece together the mystery of Havenhurst.The few things I liked about this film were the style, the look, the story, and the pacing.
I know this is a horror film but it happens a couple times so it really ruins any realistic momentum.Finally, that ENDING!
HAVENHURST takes not only its inspiration but it's foundation from the real life historical details surrounding Herman Webster Mudgett, a.k.a. H.
H. Holmes, "one of the first documented serial killers in the modern sense of the term".Taken as a whole, what is so incredible about the original, real, Mudgett story is that, if you were to read it as a novel rather than as an account of recorded historical facts, you simply wouldn't believe it.
Reads like a Stan Lee origin story, doesn't it?Within the walls of The Castle, in the middle of Chicago no less, "somewhere between 9 and 200" people were killed as part of a variety of for-profit schemes involving life insurance scams, skeletal models for medical schools, and model organs.
To help with operations, he invented his own alarm systems to monitor people moving about within his building.The Mudgett story goes on and on in this same vein.
For the purposes of the movie, it's a different family running it and their motivations are different from what Mudgett would understand, but it's pretty much "second verse, same as the first".The connection to the original Mudgett story serves to highlight two points.
The writer of HAVENHURST basically goes head-to-head on the story and simply can't create a fictional story that can stand on the same playing field with the historical one.And secondly, a basic movie through-line composed primarily of slicing and dicing people, for whatever reason, is just not enough to carry a movie.
It's all been said and done far better by Mudgett himself in the real world before the movie even begins.
The movie literally depends on its audience being completely ignorant of the historical facts surrounding the Mudgett story in order to have anything to serve up to the audience; if you know the Mudgett background, HAVENHURST is simply a tiresome exercise in tiptoeing through the intestines.
Having to depend upon audience ignorance in order to have something to give is a bad plot strategy.While they can't save the movie from its own intrinsically limited playbook, Julie Benz and Fionnula Flanagan, who were also together in the TV series DEFIANCE, do provide some quality acting to help relieve the boredom.
You should at least do 10 minutes of research if you're going to make a movie based upon historical facts, people, and events.
I watched this one despite its weak rating because I really liked Julie Benz and Fionnula Flanagan in "Defiance".
Even the detective that spent most of the film investigating the place (off the books, but on the clock of course) phones it in when he arrives on scene for the second time with a whole precinct in tow, takes a quick tour, doesn't even bother questioning the suspect and then leaves quietly despite being told not half an hour before that "there's a secret room in the basement with all the evidence you need".
However, something between brainstorming and filming must have gone awry.The opening scene I missed the fact that I was seeing a cameo because I was instead infuriated that the junkies looked like they had just put on freshly purchased clothes and pulled the sleeves down 'sloppily'(as junkies do).
By start, I mean that basically all they know is that they are being watched while they're in the halfway-house and that it is somehow related to tenants disappearing.So, the only logical thing to do is to gather all of the evidence you can and openly discuss it in the room, right?
At one point a character gets film developed at an offsite store and takes them all of the way back to Havenhurst before looking at them...
after which she makes a call on the phone inside the room to tell a detective to come look at them.Once what is actually going on is known, it is confirmed that there was no logical reason for characters(some weighing near 170lbs) to be flying across the room.
That's not the type of tool someone would have in a custom built area with frames/supports sourced in-house, it's a 30-75lb(this one is admittedly a smaller version) specialty item for moving pressing equipment to where they can be bolted(to assemble something like what you saw crush the Terminator in the first movie).Here's a hint in case you ever find yourself running from a murderer and you come across naught but a die-bar hanging from a ply-board wall, to open or finagle something with it, pry with the pointy end.
Once in awhile, one must ask oneself if these revenants to-be residents are deserving - and actually in the majority of cases, they certainly are, case in point a rotten couple of lushes mentally and emotionally abusing their daughter Sarah, whereupon it becomes physical, her friend Ezra steps in to terminate the problem, then eventually turns on Jackie when she violates the rules with her compulsive embibement.Overall, with shades of Nightmare on The The 13th Floor and tie-ins with the true crime case history of Holmes, even including influences of The Cecil, Havenhurst is sure to chill for claustrophobic, voyeuristic, sanguinous thrills.
I normally don't watch Netflix horror movies, but I started to watch them to see how they are.
This movie started out good.
Resurrection of Evil (AKA Havenhurst): Jackie (Julie Benz) a recovering addict has just completed rehab and moves into a strange old apartment building run by the sinister Elanor (Fionnula Flanagan) and her creepy sons.
I expected a lot better as the movie started off pretty good but went a little too downhill so my overall rating is 3 0ut if 10 Aye (Geordie Accent).
It started out with a very generic opening scene that we've all seen a thousand times before, and I thought to myself "here we go again." But then as things began to move along I found myself more focused than I usually am while watching a horror movie.
Then the final third commenced and I was absolutely hooked.Coincedentally, this is the second film in a row I've watched (I won't say the name of the other film so as not to spoil that one) where the theme has been someone working within the walls of a house/building with the intention of killing people.
And even when I was watching the first of those two films I was thinking that this is becoming quite a common trend in horror movies lately.
Afterwards you can't help but look at your own walls, or attic, or basement in a different and uncomfortable way.The ending to 'Havenhurst' is what absolutely sold it for me.
Happy endings are the death of horror films in my opinion, they simply should not exist.
In a world that is severely lacking in good modern horror films, 'Havenhurst' is a breathe of fresh air.
It's creepy, will keep your attention, has some genuinely tense and uneasy horror scenes, a well written story and a brilliant ending to top it all off.
Julie Benz is great - Movie has promise but not quite there.
I would have enjoyed a bit more back story about the relationship with her character and her daughter, as I felt that could have been explored more.The film itself has the promise of a great horror but is lacking in areas and the ending felt too quick..
The film opens with Danielle (Danielle Harris) and her boyfriend doing lines in a half-way house that looks like a Stephen King hotel.
Her alcoholic friend Jackie (Julie Benz) occupies the same room after rehab.
If you are a stuffy psycho building movie fan totally worth some time.
I have seen a lot of movies lately with actors literally looking like Facebook videos on the screen..
but this still managed to have some atmospheric thing going on even for a 2016 movie..