Hard Home – Movie Review (2/5)

HARD HOME is a new revenge thriller that features a serial killer and the woman who has been planning his capture and revenge. The two key characters are better than the movie. Read our full Hard Home movie review here!

HARD HOME is a new thriller about a woman plotting and getting revenge. I love a story with sweet revenge, so it was off to a great start for me. Unfortunately, the flashbacks on a near-constant repeat nearly made me lose my mind.

I was recalling the old DMX hit song with the lyric “Y’all gonna make me lose my mind” as the flashback loop was invoked yet again. Having said that, as a revenge thriller, it has strong moments. And some weak ones… too weak as well.

Continue reading our Hard Home movie review below. Find it on Digital from June 25, 2024.

Simone Kessell is awesome

While there are moments in Hard Home that feel forced, I loved the way Simone Kessell (Yellowjackets) portrayed the lead character. A tough and intelligent woman on a mission.

What I didn’t like was when she did things that I didn’t find believable. You know, the kind of thing that happens just to keep the story going a bit longer. If this woman had been allowed to be her best self, the movie would’ve been a short film.

Simone Kessell stars in Hard Home as Mary. She’s a mother who turns her house into a high-tech trap. All to catch a serial killer that has ruined her life. The smart house (that she has designed and built) makes for an elaborate trap and revenge.

The film also stars Andrew Howard (Songbird), Joseph Milson (Moon Knight), Rosie Day (Howl), Rachel Adedeji (R.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Demand), Daphne Cheung (Red Eye), and Teresa Cendon-Garcia (Jurassic World Dominion).

Enough with the flashbacks, please!

To my recollection, I don’t believe I have ever seen a flashback repeated quite as much as in Hard Home. Good Lord, the same few clips of a mother calling her son the devil or “Diablo” (she speaks both Spanish and English to him) are on a loop.

Now, I can understand that we’re meant to understand that the adult man keeps remembering what we see in this flashback. But enough is enough.

When it happened for the third time (each flashback is also repeated whenever it’s shown), I’d had more than enough. Unfortunately, it would continue for the rest of the movie and it nearly drove me mad.

The movie isn’t long, but it could’ve been at least five minutes shorter if we weren’t being force-fed this same damn scene over and over and over again.

Watch Hard Home on Digital

Hard Home is directed by James Bamford, who has been working on more than 150 movies with stunts. This movie also has a great action style, so his stuntwork makes for excellent fight sequences. And brutal moments that are perfect for a revenge story.

Also, this is about getting revenge on a serial killer, so we see flashbacks to other murders as well. James Bamford has directed movies and series before. With the latter, he has directed episodes of Supergirl, Arrow, and Batwoman.

The screenplay comes from Mark Shea Price, and I can’t help but think that a female writer would’ve killed a few of the darlings left in. Or rather, she wouldn’t have written them in the first place, as we’ve seen in the awesome Revenge (2018).

If you enjoy a good revenge story, then Simone Kessell delivers. She portrays Mary perfectly as someone fed up with the justice system, who has the knowledge and ability to take matters into her own hands.

Hard Home is out digitally on June 25, 2024.

Details

Director: James Bamford
Writer: Mark Shea Price
Cast: Simone Kessell, Andrew Howard, Joseph Milson, Rosie Day, Rachel Adedeji, Daphne Cheung