The Home (2025) review – Pete Davidson’s retirement home bloodbath

Welcome to Knockout Horror. We are reviewing another fairly new release today with James DeMonaco’s senior splatter horror The Home (2025).

From the streets of The Purge into The Home

You may know DeMonaco as the director and writer of anarchic horror film The Purge and a couple of its sequels. Those movies were wildly successful, despite the rather shallow theme, so he definitely has a ready-made audience for The Home. With that in mind, you should probably know what to expect here. This is a movie that is, at least eventually, going to get messy and pretty gory.

The story follows Max (Pete Davidson), a graffiti artist who is sent to work in an retirement home as a form of punishment for his latest tagging spree. Max’s brother died while he was still young and his grief has lead him to a life of delinquency. As an adopted child, his brother was his only blood relative so the loss hit Max incredibly hard.

When he arrives, he notices something strange about the facility. Some of the residents are acting extremely bizarrely and there is a forbidden fourth floor that seems to be hiding secrets. Little does Max realise that his curiosity will soon lead him to discover something horrifying about his own past.

Okay, so… Pete Davidson, let’s talk about it!

I should probably confess, I quite like Pete Davidson. Sure, he’s divisive and his humour isn’t for everyone but there is something about his style of humour that I enjoy. The fact that so many people seem to hate him kind of adds to my enjoyment when he is randomly cast in movies. I thought he did a great job in Bodies, Bodies, Bodies and, to be perfectly honest, he was a selling point for me when it came to The Home.

“There really aren’t too many moments of Pete Davidson acting like Pete Davidson and that might surprise a few people.”

He’s playing things really straight for the most part, here. Investing your time into watching this because of his casting would probably be a bit pointless. Unless you want to see him exercising his dramatic acting chops, that is. While his performance is definitely effective, it’s probably not what you came here for.

The foundation of the story is built on his persistent grief over the loss of his older brother. The two were in foster care together before eventually being placed with a loving family. His brother died mysteriously and this has left Max a bit of a mess.

He has frequently encountered troubled with the law and working at the retirement centre is a bit of a last ditch effort to avoid prison. There really aren’t too many moments of Pete Davidson acting like Pete Davidson and that might surprise a few people.

It’s much more mystery than mayhem

In fact, the general tone of the movie, as a whole, might surprise people. I was expecting something a bit whacky but I couldn’t have been more wrong. This isn’t a comedy horror, it’s deadly serious for almost its entire length. In fact, for the first hour or so, even calling it a horror at all is a bit of a reach. It’s far more of a mystery thriller.

“This isn’t a comedy horror, it’s deadly serious for almost its entire length. In fact, for the first hour or so, even calling it a horror at all is a bit of a reach.”

It’s pretty clear that something strange is going on at the facility and Max is determined to get to the bottom of it. This means there is a lot of venturing into dark corners of the retirement home, searching for clues, meeting with people who claim to have information, and minor plot developments.

It’s quite slow, extremely formulaic, and only really propped up by a great performance from the fantastic John Glover as the charismatic care home resident Lou. Sure, there is plenty of atmosphere building and a lot of slow-burn tension but it’s at a pace that is more akin to a resident of said care home walking upstairs than nail-biting horror. The only element of intrigue is that mysterious “fourth floor”.

A much needed film-saving bloodbath!

As Max uncovers more about the mystery, the strange events at the home start to escalate. This is where things get a bit more interesting and the story opens up a bit. We even have some legitimately nasty body horror moments here and there that are pretty wince inducing and hint at the bloodletting that is about to come.

A large dose of narrative misdirection leads you to suddenly feeling a bit turned around as the plot comes to a head. This is all countered by The Home suddenly turning into something completely unexpected – an ultra violent splatter horror.

I really didn’t see the final stanza coming. It’s all out carnage with some seriously nasty kills, a ton of gore, and Pete Davidson absolutely indulging in playing a complete psychopath. It’s honestly a film saving turn because, up to this point, it was all a bit dull and predictable.

“It’s honestly a film saving turn… It’s all out carnage with some seriously nasty kills, a ton of gore, and Pete Davidson absolutely indulging in playing a complete psychopath.”

Would I suggest that you watch The Home purely for the final 15 minutes? Not really! Like I said, it can’t change the fairly milquetoast mystery thriller elements but man, did I ever enjoy it? It’s a hell of a lot of fun, unashamedly over the top, and extremely proud of how much of the red stuff it manages to spill in a short space of time. After all that investigating and boring thriller stuff, it’s a cathartic way to wrap things up.

There are some lingering issues

As far as direction goes, again The Home is bound by its mystery thriller trappings. Pacing is okay. There are probably a few too many down moments with little happening or the movie simply repeating itself, though. There are a few scenes that try to push a little emotion into the story. These really don’t work all that well and feel both cheesy and weirdly out of place.

I’m not sure if having Davidson portraying such a restrained character was the best use of his talent. Max is fairly reserved, for the most part, and not really all that interesting. It does add to the enjoyment of the final scenes, though. It’s good to see him breaking out of his shell.

The Home can feel very tonally confused, at times. It leans quite heavily into the camp and really goes for b-movie silliness every now and then. Only to flip things up and pivot back to the deadly serious only moments later. I think embracing the ridiculousness of the concept would have been a much better idea. It can feel oddly severe, at times.

You could probably argue that the themes of old people being sinister and, often, a bit yucky is offensive and overdone. This is gerontophobia horror, though, and that’s always been the theme with these types of movies. DeMonaco has leaned into it incredibly heavily, in parts, and it provides the bulk of the scares and gross out moments. If you didn’t enjoy this type of thing before, this won’t change your mind.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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