The Hamiltons (USA, 2006)

(Spoilers — but then, it is impossible to write about this movie without giving away a key revelation.)

Now this movie was a surprise... one can only wonder what has to later go wrong for two people to produce something as good as this movie and then, two years later, go on to make something as crappy as the 2008 remake of April Fool's Day (trailer)...

The Butcher Brothers, the catchy moniker of Mitchell Altieri and Phil Flores, may not have made their feature-length directorial debut with The Hamiltons — they did that with the 2002 indi comedy Long Cut — but with this genre-bending film they finally made some waves. And justifiably so, for The Hamiltons is an adeptly modernized take on an extremely popular horror genre that tweaks classic rules as supplied in a defining and eternally inspiring book first published in 1897 and as usually followed to the T in most films and popular television programs... in The Hamiltons, however, everything is made a lot more human, if definitely not at all humane. As the asshole sibling Wendell Hamilton (Joseph McKelheer of The Violent Kind [2010 / trailer]) teasingly tells one of his future victims, the piteous Kitty (Jena Hunt), at one point: "Kitty, if monsters were real they'd be a lot different than they are on TV." He should know.

The basic situation is of a group of four siblings trying to survive as a family after the unexplained sudden death of their loving parents — a situation effectively presented by the opening montage of old family films and the voiceover of the young teenage son Francis (Cory Knauf of Pocahauntus [2006 / trailer]). But the unexplained sudden death of the parents has seemingly left a group of alienated and extremely psycho siblings in its wake — not to mention an unseen creature locked in the basement — and why they should in any way want to stick together is unexplainable for much of the movie, as aside for the incestuous twins, the redneck Wendell and the Goth Darlene (Mackenzie Firgens of Sweet Insanity [2006 / trailer]), they don't seem to really get along at all. Of them all, only Francis appears to have any feelings of disgust for the bloody and violent deeds of his brothers and sister, and the guilt for being the silent witness weighs heavy upon his shoulders — all the more so when he begins to feel attached to Samantha (Rebekah Hoyle), they latest bound nubile hanging from a hook down in the basement...

One might complain that the movie does suffer from a slight case of sexism, for though both girls and (mostly gay) men are killed, only the girls seem to be tormented and terrorized while, with but for one overweight exception, the men are mostly killed off-screen. Still, it must be said that the movie really isn't half as bloody and gory as it seems to be: what is present far more than any gore, and what also gets so under the viewer's skin, is the creepy sense of dread that infuses so much of the movie. This dread is equaled by an ever-present aura of repugnance and distastefulness — caused by the brutality shown the victims, the normalcy with which the family goes about their bloody activities,* the queasy incestuous sexuality, and the sense of hopelessness that threads through most of the movie — that continually leaves one feeling uneasy but never fully tips to instigating a total feeling disgust. (The filmmakers often tread a fine line in this respect, but somehow they never take it all too far.) As a result, the movie not only retains one's interest despite its oddly grimy feel — and, equally important, despite its often somewhat leisurely pacing, the movie also manages to maintain a level of tense suspense that is nicely complemented by a sense of gloomy inevitably.

On one level, The Hamiltons is very much a coming-of-age story: a tale of a troubled teen unable to deal with the actions of the family, and who is not only struggling to balance guilt and shame with family responsibility but is also having major problems coming to terms with what or who he is. Luckily, however, while it would seem that the Butcher Brothers do believe in strong family ties — this thematic aspect does indeed play a major part in the events of the movie — the Butcher Brothers are no John Hughes and definitely are not at all interested in corn or tugging at our tear ducts. The latter is almost mischievously and ironically underscored by the film's last ten minutes in which, in regards to the whole coming-of-age and/or family-bonds aspect, the filmmakers unfurl a truly crowning achievement: the odd feeling of hope that the family-reaffirming ending gives you also leaves you feeling slightly ill.

As mentioned earlier, The Hamiltons is an low-budget indi horror, and as such it also suffers both some of the normal flaws as well as enjoys some of the hoped-for advantages such a production can have. The strong (and tight) story is a definite plus, as is the solid direction and the occasional and brief (and thus enjoyable) slightly arty cinematographic interludes. The acting is often variable, the weakest possibly being that of the uptight, quasi-homo David (Samuel Child, who supposedly appears un-credited somewhere in Piranha 3D [2010]), but even he gets stronger towards the end and reveals greater depth to his character. Still, across the board the victims tend to be both the best actors and the most likeable characters; as a result (and to the advantage of the movie), they also gain the most sympathy from the viewer — something the Hamiltons, bound by their "family sickness", only gain towards the last ten minutes of the depressing and futile story when, for them at least (including the one locked away in the cellar always unseen but heard, hungry and ready to feed until almost the end), all's well that ends well... 

* That they are so brutal and "heartless" is easy to understand, however, when one takes into account the statement made somewhere along the way in the film about how the rest of the world is basically their mast, their fodder, and thus a lower animal. Mankind is hardly the most gentle of creatures when it comes to how they treat their own livestock or living food, be it hens or pigs or milk cows or any animal hunted, so why should it be otherwise when man is viewed as the food source?

The sequel six years later; watch with trepidation, for the trailer below reveals everything we tried not to reveal in our review...

The Thompsons (2012):