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83 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishHome Sweet Home is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Nettie Peña, and written by Thomas Bush. It stars Jake Steinfeld, Peter De Paula, and Vinessa Shaw in her film debut, and the plot focuses on a PCP-addicted killer who terrorizes a family in their remote home on Thanksgiving. Along with Blood Rage and the faux Thanksgiving trailer from Grindhouse, it is one of the few slasher films centered on the Thanksgiving holiday, and one of the few to be directed by a woman.
Review: Home Sweet Home (
A parked motorist is strangled by escaped mental patient Jay Jones, a PCP addict who was institutionalized after bludgeoning his parents. Jay carjacks his victim, and runs down an old woman while driving through Los Angeles. The only one really worth going into more detail about is Jake Steinfeld as the killer PCP addict. He is the cheesiest thing of all, the insane laugh and over the top facial grimaces are just too funny. Easily one of the most regrettable pieces of shit I ever forked over the cash for on ebay.
One of the few slasher films centered on the Thanksgiving holiday, and one of the few to be directed by a woman. The premise for this has the potential to be quite scary. A jacked, escaped mental patient off his head on PCP goes on a killing spree. Not a million miles from something you might see in the headlines. This was soooo dumb and ridiculous that there was no way I wasn’t going to have fun with it.
Critic Reviews for Home Sweet Home
It’s another one of those themed slasher films, this time is set at Thanksgiving. Delivery times may vary, especially during peak periods. As for it being a slasher, it's fairly tame and predictably mundane. While the kills were rather daft, then actually brutal. But with such poor lighting and shooting it mostly in the dark, just made it hard to make out at times what was happening. The overwrought music on the other-hand wanted to telegraph everything.
The seller has specified an extended handling time for this item. Out of a possible 5 was awarded by Hysteria Lives! Critical Condition found that Home Sweet Home was "one cop-out after another" marred by poor lighting and an antagonist who "hams it up so badly, you half expect bacon to fly off the screen".
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Sometimes it just takes that little extra edge to make a movie work. Ah whatever, Home Sweet Home is also downright hilarious for all the wrong reasons and I’ll totally admit it… I liked this movie! Sure, they're still horny as hell, but there's something palpable about the characters. Sure, it's a kind of mindless and confused heart, but the acting is decent and there's a real feeling that the filmmakers were shooting for something. Ah whatever, Home Sweet Home is also downright hilarious for all the wrong reasons and I'll totally admit it...
A homicidal Lou Ferringo lookalike shoots pcp into his tongue and proceeds to go on a Thanksgiving killing spree. The cast of canon fodder are all rather generic aside from the most annoying of the bunch. A young fella that walks around in mime face paint playing an electric guitar. The Ferringo lookalike laughs maniacally throughout the film.
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It only has an 80 minute runtime but still meanders a bit at times. The movie kicks off with a bang; Jake goes on a quick killing spree involving some guy with a beer and then an old lady. Then we cut to what I thought was a talking mime with an electric guitar - complete with a speaker strapped to his back! After careful consideration, I came to realize this mime was indeed a member of the Kiss Army! If you do, you're about as old as me, and that's awesome. Anyway, aside from the annoying rock fan, there are some silly and sexy hijinks a bit of fluff and then finally Jake swoops in on his party hungry victims and puts some foot to ass.
The rest of the cast give nothing more than disposable performances working with an inane script. There are some names like a very young Vinessa Shaw, Sallee Young (known for 1980 "Demented") and then you got all-rounder Don Edmonds (who's acting/producing on this one). As far as I'm aware, this is the only turkey day slasher . I got a kick out of Eli Roth's fake trailer in Grindhouse, simply titled Thanksgiving. One has to wonder if maybe a little bit of Jake rubbed off on Eli (Wow, that put an interesting picture in my head!). Just like that yearly celebration of indulgence, the world can certainly make room for one more helping of holiday sleaze.
While no-one is going to be remembered for this movie, those involved at least try and that’s always a positive. Cue ‘slasher’ tropes, behaviours and clichés. This is an early 80’s movie after all and ticks every slasher box possible. This would have made it rough watching back in the 80s but by today’s standards it’s so contrived and forced, most will just give up. Jay severs the telephone line, and when Wayne goes out to look for Harold, he is garroted by Jay, who was hiding in the backseat of Wayne's car.
Jake made his ominous debut here as The Killer, a Deranged PCP-Shootin'-Mother-Hater who stumbles upon some kind of recording bigwig and his Thanksgiving gathering. Jake laughs a lot, especially when he kills and to his credit, I laughed a lot too, so he must have been onto something... The plot surrounds an escaped mental patient who also happens to be addicted to PCP.
Scott discovers Maria's body while collecting firewood, runs back to the ranch, and secures the building with Jennifer, and Harold's young daughter, Angel. Jay manages to break inside, and as he tries strangling Scott, Jennifer wounds him with a knife. On the outskirts of the city, nine people have gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving at the ranch of Harold Bradley. Among the revelers are Harold's tenant Scott, and his girlfriend Jennifer. As there is no wine in the house, Harold's girlfriend Linda and her friend Gail borrow Scott's car to go and get some, while Jay cuts off the house's power.
Linda and Gail, who had become lost, run out of gas, and as they try to find their way back to the ranch, they run into Jay. Jay slams Gail's head into a rock, and stabs Linda to death with a broken bottle. Afterward, Jay returns to the house, where the remaining guests and members of the Bradley family have sat down to a turkey dinner. About Thanksgiving slashers, I believe there is a short line in Madman that says something about “heading home this weekend to be with family at Thanksgiving,” or something to that effect. Stretching it, for sure, but it’s something.
Before the Film
There's not really too much else to it. Luckily, the Kiss Army freak dies - he SO deserves it - and most of the cast goes along with him. Things move rapidly towards total chaos and then BAM, the obligatory shock ending. "Mistake" Bradley - Electrocuted by Jay via attaching a car battery to his electric guitar.
Harold turns on the emergency generator, leaves to get more gasoline for it, and happens upon Jay's abandoned station wagon. As Harold tries to take the battery out of the car, Jay slams the hood down on him, crushing his skull. An escaped mental patient steals a station wagon and makes his way to the Bradleys' Thanksgiving celebration, where he plans to make them a little less thankful…. There's absolutely no motive or plot for any of it. Just one badly staged kill after another. There’s not really too much else to it.