The Hamiltons seem to be an ordinary family but underneath the surface there's something very disturbing going on. Having recently lost both their parents, oldest son David Hamilton tries to take care of the rest and is the one in charge, and while the twins Wendell and Darlene are leaning towards the darker side, Francis who's the youngest one documents the family with a video camera while trying to keep it together.
The Hamiltons is a strange but very unique horror film indeed as it has some of those ingredients that horror fans crave, be it incest, kidnapped tortured girls or violence, it's there, but if you would take that out it would leave you with a good and interesting family drama. At first I was hoping for more creepiness and definitely more shock value and while I didn't really get as much as I wanted of that, I got something else that in the end proved to be much better and that is a very solid story with fantastic character development. During the course of the film you get to know The Hamiltons and you get to know them really, and I mean really well.
Be it that the family is deeply disturbed or whatever, I still ended up rooting for them and even though they did despicable things it never really mattered because they had this kinda charm to them which made them very likable, no matter what they did. It's hard to explain and in the end you just gotta see it for yourself, but trust me on this, The Butcher Brothers really did things right this time around. The Hamiltons is not a flick that relies on heavy gore or extreme violence a la Hostel or whatever and I was really thankful for that, because while that may be great indeed, a good story that really makes you feel something is always worth more in the end and that exactly what you get here.
 
With both parents dead, three brothers and one sister are trying to move on with their lives with David, the oldest one, somewhat being in charge. Then there's Wendell and Darlene who are twins and pretty much show their dark sides at all times, and last but not least there's the youngest one, Francis, whos eyes we're seeing the family through. The film starts out in a basement with hotty Brittany Daniel waking up and is trying to make her way out but obviously that won't happen. When we're introduced to the family members they seem pretty much like your normal kinda family but we're soon to realise that they're so not. Only one who seems to be "normal" is Francis who's not too happy with what the rest of his family is up to and suffers pretty much throughout the whole film. Well I belive it's better to just leave it right there and let you find out the rest on your own.
The best thing about The Hamiltons is that the movie plays out like a drama with strong character development and a story that makes you care about what happens. At the same time there's suspense and truly horrific things to find within and it's this whole combination of it all that makes it play out so darn well. Another thing I really liked is that the family pretty much always seems nice and is not your typical wicked TCM kinda family that just do crazy shit for no good reason (except entertain the hell outta the audience of course). No, it's like I said before, whenever these people do nasty things, you still kinda forgive them because they just don't seem like a bunch of crazed killer but more like an "ordinary" family.
The Hamiltons is a very rewarding film to watch, not for the actual horror it has to it but for the fact that it makes one think and makes one feel satisfied with the very outcome itself. Dealing with a crazed family of killers, don't expect this to be a TCM kinda film but instead a very solid drama that can be horrific as well.
By
Back to Horror Review Archive
|
ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: The Butcher Brothers
WRITING CREDITS: The Butcher Brothers, Adam Weis
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Cory Knauf, Samuel Child, Joseph McKelheer
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 86 min
RATING: 8/10
Hamiltons, The Website/IMDB Click here
Hamiltons, The Trailer Click here
|
