Home (2016)- my take on the movie with spoilers!

PLOT SUMMARY: When Carrie forgets to pick up her stepsister Tia from school, she soon finds her little sister exhibiting bizarre behaviour. Is the house haunted or is something else more sinister is going on?

The word ‘Home’ itself has such a placating effect on our minds. We think of homes as a place where we are comfortable and safe. Home is where we repose, eat our meals and spend time with our families. In fact, home is pretty much synonymous with family.

There are instances where some people don’t get along with their families and to them, home means just a rest stop before they move away.

HOME Movie Plot 

For Carrie, the protagonist of the movie, home means visiting her mother who has just come out of the closet and married a woman who has a young daughter. Suddenly, Carrie has a sister and she must now get accustomed to the new habits of the family which includes quite a lot of non-religious beliefs. It is not to say that they are atheists, just that their thoughts on religion isn’t completely explored in the movie.

I must say I was surprised when I started to watch the movie. Yes, the poster is dark and creepy, but the twist, in the end, is something I couldn’t presuppose.

When the movie begins, it actually strays more towards drama than horror. Carrie comes to visit her newly married mother who is already comfortably adjusting to her new life. She is stunned to find that her mother has given up all her traditions, yet she agonizingly stays true to her beliefs.

We are shown that the reason her mother’s wife disapproves of any religious talks or rituals in the house is that their lifestyle isn’t exactly supported by the devout, though they show exhibit tolerance to Carrie’s inclination towards her beliefs.

Over here, I have to say that the controversial topics regarding religion and sexuality are handled in a neutral tone so that no one opinion fares over the other.

Anyway, now here comes the horror part.

Turns out, Carrie has a boyfriend her mother disapproves of and whom she goes to meet in secret when she’s supposed to be picking up her little stepsister from school.

When Carrie goes to the school, it has closed for the day and Tia, her stepsister is nowhere to be found. She panics and straight away admits her fault to her mother who berates her. Luckily for her, the neighbor drops Tia home though stating that legally he wasn’t allowed to do so.

The mothers are relieved and go off on their trip. Carrie is apologetic but Tia barely speaks to her. In fact, as time passes, Tia seems to be behaving more and more bizarre.

Carrie thinks the house is haunted by the former owners and her fears are confirmed by her equally pious boyfriend who suggests they perform an exorcism.

They do that and inadvertently anger the spirit who throws chaos around the house. It is up to Carrie to save herself and her sister. Can she?

HOME Ending Explained with Spoilers! 

Okay, spoilers time!! Here’s the remarkable twist: somewhere in the middle of the movie, Carrie’s boyfriend tells her about how sometimes spirits don’t know that they are dead and therefore cause havoc around the houses they live in.

Turns out, Tia is dead. When Carrie forgot to pick her up at school, Tia was playing near the air conditioning units and fell down, breaking her skull. The girl who enters the house is a spirit who is confused and evil for some reason.

The neighbour never actually brought her home, as she states again that he could only inform the parents to pick up their child. He's the neighbor, not a guardian and so couldn't bring Tia with him.  

The last scene ends with the mother finding the body of her daughter in her bed who suddenly wakes up. Sequel? Perhaps….

Anyway, the movie is pretty decent. The sensitive topics are handled well without giving sides, religious opinions are kept to one side as well and though the movie centres mainly on the drama, the twist at the end wraps it all into a nice horror film.

Was it scary? Nope, but it did have a decent story.  

Scare Scale: 3/5