Sentenced to community service at a retirement home, a young man is told that residents on the fourth floor are strictly off-limits as they require special care. Suspicious and curious, he soon uncovers a chilling secret that puts everyone’s lives in danger. A film by James DeMonaco, starring Pete Davidson, John Glover, Bruce Altman, Mary Beth Peil, Jessica Hecht, Victor Williams, Mugga, and Adam Cantor.
The HOME
James DeMonaco
(2025)
Young Max (Jagger Nelson) is a foster child living with his foster brother Luke (Matthew Miniero) and their foster parents Sylvia (Jessica Hecht) and Couper (Victor Williams). Although there are other foster children in the home, Max and Luke form a special bond that goes deeper than the rest, and they’re as close as if they were biological brothers.
When Luke finally leaves for college, Max becomes sad, feeling like Luke is abandoning him despite Luke’s promises to return for holidays and summers and to write regularly. Shortly after, Max learns from his foster parents that Luke is gone. He had committed suicide after struggling with problems at college, leaving behind only a note. Max is devastated by the news. His life is turned upside down and forever changed by Luke’s death.
Years later, Max (Pete Davidson) has grown up to become a graffiti artist. He constantly gets into trouble, breaking into buildings, vandalizing property, and getting arrested multiple times. When Max is arrested yet again, Couper bails him out of jail. But this time, Couper went to see Judge Beric and asked him to help Max.
Judge Beric agreed to offer Max a deal: complete community service at Green Meadows Retirement Home working as the new onsite superintendent. Max isn’t interested at first, but when Couper tells him it’s either the retirement home or jail, Max reluctantly agrees.
On his first day at Green Meadows, Max meets staff members Les (Adam Cantor) and Juno (Mugga). Les goes over Max’s daily responsibilities, which include emptying trash twice a day and vacuuming the carpets. Juno gives Max a master key that opens most rooms, though a few hallways and the basement remain restricted. She warns him that the fourth floor is completely off-limits.
Max befriends an elderly woman named Norma (Mary Beth Peil) who tells him his face reminds her of someone she once knew. That night, Max has nightmares of Luke calling his name, waking him up in the middle of the night. Still half-asleep, Max is startled to hear what sounds like a distant scream coming through the ceiling vent. When he looks around, he notices his bedroom door is slightly ajar, as if someone had just left.
The next night, Max wakes up again from a twisted nightmare. Unable to fall back asleep, Max decides to leave his room and wander the hallways. He’s spooked by another distant scream coming through a ceiling vent in the hallway. He then stumbles upon Norma, who invites him to talk in her room. There, Max discovers a trinket cup that he admits looks familiar, though he can’t recall exactly where he’s seen it before.
When Max notices a half painting on the wall, Norma reveals that her son Jacob painted it for her one Mother’s Day. She explains that the missing half used to show a flock of birds with a sun rising, but after she had a fight with her son, he ripped the painting in half.
The next day, while mopping the floor, Max hears another distant scream. He can’t shake the feeling that something is seriously wrong on the fourth floor, so he decides to investigate. He takes the elevator, but it refuses to go up despite repeatedly pressing the fourth floor button. Max then takes the stairs to the fourth floor and finds the door is locked. Using his lock-picking skills, Max breaks in. Inside, he discovers a large room filled with elderly patients, each sitting silently in a wheelchair with televisions positioned around them.
When an old man notices Max, he points at him and begins screaming while crawling in his direction. Max freezes as the old man lunges forward. During the scuffle, Les and Juno rush in and pull them apart. Les angrily tells Max to leave immediately.
Les reports the incident to Dr. D.W. Sabian (Bruce Altman), the retirement home’s doctor. Dr. Sabian calls Max into his office and tells him that Les is very dedicated to his job and is upset about Max’s unauthorized entry to the fourth floor. When Max tries to explain that he heard screaming and was just checking on it, Dr. Sabian acknowledges his concern but also hints that he knows that Max lied to Les about finding the door unlocked. Max assures him it won’t happen again.
When Max expresses his concerns about the group of people he discovered on the fourth floor, Norma tells him he needs to let it go, saying there’s nothing he or anyone can do for them. The next day, Max sees Norma arguing with Les and Dr. Sabian in the hallway. Later that evening, Max visits Norma in her room to make sure she’s okay. When Norma insists everything is fine, Max opens up about his brother Luke, who died when Max was 11 years old. He explains that his parents wouldn’t let him attend the funeral because they thought he was too young, so he never got to say goodbye. Max tells her that Luke is his unresolved grief, just like Norma’s relationship with her deceased son.
Max then hands Norma the other half of the torn painting that he recreated, hoping to restore what her original painting once looked like. Overwhelmed by the gesture, Norma decides to warn Max that something is terribly wrong with this place and he needs to leave. But before she can finish, she’s startled by a loud thud and footsteps in the hallway. Norma abruptly ends their conversation, claiming she’s late for a party and promising to talk with him tomorrow.
Directed by American filmmaker James DeMonaco from a screenplay he co-wrote with Adam Cantor, The HOME is a psychological horror film about a troubled young man sentenced to community service who becomes entangled in the dark secrets hidden within a seemingly peaceful retirement home.
The premise of the movie is intriguing, but the script struggles to make a memorable impact. It’s caught between nasty jump scares and irrelevant nightmare sequences that feel like cheap tricks meant to distract viewers from the shallow plot. The unimaginative twist relies too heavily on violence in the final act, requiring viewers to suspend disbelief that one man could possibly overpower an entire retirement home staff.
The film lacks any meaningful character development, as the protagonist remains recklessly impulsive throughout, consistently making questionable choices. Although he senses something is wrong, he remains completely unaware of the mounting danger around him and can’t piece anything together without someone explicitly spelling it out for him or directly guiding his next move.
The HOME was theatrically released on 25 July 2025.
