Home Sweet Home (1981)

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Fresh and Exciting

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Home Sweet Home has its moments, but ultimately suffers from an awful story. It has some nice death scenes, but little else. Only watch if your in the mood not for a good movie but some fun scenes of death and blood. It's pretty awesome, but fails in the end. Watch only if in the mood. Most of the soundtrack s lifted from Mad Max. The plot is about a killer who escapes from the asylum and kills a bunch of people. Not much else. Very good if in the mood. A lot of good effects. Very bad acting. The killer is very buff. He is very creepy. Has a maniacal laugh. Shoots PCP in his tongue. Very bad movie, but good deaths. Fun for horror fans. I watched it on thanksgiving, where it takes place, and had a blast. No DVD available, but VHS is good.

Man o Man, if you want a turkey for Thanksgiving get a load of this joker! Just don't expect a quality, prize turkey because Home Sweet Home is as stale and bland as they come. Psycho bodybuilder Jake, after injecting PCP in his tongue(yikes!), runs over a little old lady who dropped a bag of groceries in the middle of the street, stealing a station wagon from a guy downing a beer. This loony, who escaped from an asylum(yawn), will be rudely interrupting the Thanksgiving dinner of a group gathered together for the holiday, and for the most part they're an insufferable brood you'll care little about once they are dispatched. Just get a load of the kid in white face, always fingering his guitar, annoying those he's around for kicks(..often interrupting couples while they're making out)..oh, and the dweeb performs magic tricks, too, sheesh. I gotta hand it to Jake, the dude is ripped, but, despite his impressive physique, the guy just isn't menacing..sad to say, he's right the opposite, a veritable laughing stock for a lurking madman. Despite an agreeable amount of victims to kill, Jake spends a hell of a lot of time as a voyeur looking at folks from behind the bushes or leaves from a tree. He lets out a continuous cackle when attacking or chasing victims, Jake certainly revels in ending lives. Oh, and Jake makes sure to breath really loud, I guess because his psychopath covers a wide area rather effectively while those he kills have a hard time ever reaching home, getting lost in a territory they should be rather familiar with. Amazing how practically all the cars in the movie either run out of gas or don't start. The violence is mostly off-screen, even though the nature of the attacks is sadistic. A major problem is the amount of time between each kill, and even at 80 minutes it seems to mercilessly drag.Bradley's(Don Edmonds) ranch is the location where most of the action is supposed to take place, but Jake isn't particular in where he assaults his victims. Scott and Jennifer(David Mielke and Colette Trygg)are a kind yuppie couple who arrive at Bradley's ranch to rent an apartment, finding themselves in a fight for their lives as Jake has massacred everyone else who was to partake in the Thanksgiving festivities. They have to assume responsibility for little girl Angel(Vinessa Shaw)once her adult guardians are removed from her life thanks to Jake.

Just what the world needs: a hilariously horrendous early 80's seasonal slasher fright flick about a brawny, berserk, bug-eyed chortling homicidal lunatic who escapes from an asylum and heads for the hills to bump off an extremely obnoxious dysfunctional family celebrating Thanksgiving in some remote woodland cabin (said family members include a loutish drunken uncle with a severe gambling habit, one hot tamale of a sexy Mexican maid, and an especially irritating KISS-loving wannabe rock musician teenage spazz sporting pasty white mime make-up and a portable electric guitar). Wow, what a shockingly novel and original premise for a slice'n'dice film! Can you say blatant "Halloween" rip-off? Yeah, so can I. Anyway, what makes this terrifically tacky'n'terrible turkey (a bad pun I know, but I just couldn't resist) such a gut-busting unintentional laugh riot is the fact that the crazed killer is wildly overplayed with considerable unrestrained scenery-scarfing hambone relish by famous musclehead Jake "Bodybuilder to the Stars" Steinfeld. Yep, you got it: Dead bodies by Jake! Big Brother Jake goes bonkers and gets bloodthirsty! Jake's introduction scene alone is an absolute hoot: Jake strangles some guy drinking beer in his car, shoots PCP into the underside of his tongue with a needle (gross!), and gleefully mows down a little old lady crossing the street while cutting loose with this unbearably annoying and high-pitched teeth-rattling demented cackle the whole time. Best-ever murder set piece: Jake fries the KISS kid with his own electric guitar. If only Anchor Bay would release a gorgeous widescreen digitally remastered Special Edition DVD -- preferably with an interview with and/or commentary by Big Jake -- then my life would be complete.

A really dumb film about an escaped homicidal maniac (Steinfeld, better known for his infomercial 'Body by Jake') who randomly picks a house and kills the occupants who are having thanksgiving dinner. Yuck!