Shadows on the Wall

The Home

dir James DeMonaco
scr James DeMonaco, Adam Cantor
prd Sebastien K Lemercier, Bill Block
with Pete Davidson, John Glover, Mary Beth Peil, Jessica Hecht, Victor Williams, Bruce Altman, Mugga, Adam Cantor, Stuart Rudin, Marilee Talkington, Jagger Nelson, Matthew Miniero
release US 25.Jul.25,
UK 22.Aug.25
25/US Miramax 1h34

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In a rare serious role for comic Pete Davidson, he plays an aimless slacker caught up in a mind-spinningly nasty situation. Director-cowriter James DeMonaco (The Purge) tightly maintains his perspective, which pulls the audience into the nutty story before things cut loose into Get Out-style horror. Indeed, the imagery, sound mix and narrative include so many elements from genre classics that nothing feels original. Or particularly scary.

A gifted street artist with a troubled past, Max (Davidson) is court-ordered to work as a cleaner in a retirement home to avoid jail. Welcomed by residents, Max immediately begins witnessing strange goings-on and hearing odd noises. And his curiosity leads him to the strictly forbidden fourth floor, where he discovers what looks like some sort of sinister experiment. His boss Dr Sabian (Altman) warns him to obey the rules. But after his favourite resident dies violently, Max needs to know what's happening here, so he launches a secret investigation. And they're on to him.

Flashbacks, visions and dreams offer glimpses into Max's increasingly frazzled mind. And the camera sticks closely to his face as he quietly watches and listens, focussing most pointedly on whatever crazy stuff might be happening on the fourth floor. There's also creepy statuary, big-eyed masks, badly underlit corridors and screams echoing through the ductwork. As he works overtime to make us squirm, DeMonaco also gleefully deploys yucky makeup, hyper-grisly cutaways, loud strains of music and unsettling sound effects.

Mainly just required to react to things, Davidson's openly expressive performance sits in contrast to the high-camp turns from the veteran actors playing the residents, most notably Glover as the theatrical Lou and Peil as the friendly Norma, both of whom issue ominous warnings. Altman, Mugga and cowriter Cantor are solid as smiley-menacing members of the staff. Everyone is encouraged to go wildly over-the-top in the blood-soaked final act, during which nature itself gets in on the carnage.

Despite a set-up that's ripe for intriguing nuance, there isn't much to this film beyond its bonkers quest-for-eternal-youth story elements, which include dodgy government-funded medical research, a freaky dark-web chatroom and hints of religious rituals. All while television newscasters seems to only report about climate change. But clearly, DeMonaco's key purpose here is to make us feel queasy, which he does very well, even if he's not as adept at generating suspense.

themes, language, violence 24.Aug.25

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