Watching this movie, I was reminded of why I love these kinds of movies. They are simple, effective, and most of all, good. And that is what this movie is: Good. Comparisons to Fatal Attraction and Misery can be drawn, but this is its own movie, and that is its brilliance.First off, the story isn't anything new, but it works in the films favor. Basically, guy meets girl, guy dates girl, guy brings girl home to his town for his football jersey retirement, guys psycho ex kidnaps girl, and that's about it. It's simple and dated, but still fun to watch. The reason why I like this film so much, however, is because often times, it feels real. I don't mind violence and gore in movies. I can watch the goriest films ever made and still sleep like a baby. Where Homecoming is different is that its gore and violence is spaced out and simple: rather than excessive blood shed, it tones it down, and when it does occur, it is some of the few moments committed to celluloid that can make me cringe, and that is saying something.the other aspect of the film that makes it work so well is the acting. I'm not Mischa Barton's biggest fan, but she was genuinely creepy and quite gives an unnerving performance. Matt Long makes for a great oblivious boyfriend, and he plays the character well, occasionally adding a light attitude to otherwise quiet scenes of dialog. However, the best performance in the film is Jessica Stroup. Her character is well played, sympathetic, and, most importantly, believable. It also helps that she is quite beautiful, adding a sense of innocence to the character that would have otherwise been absent.The film is not without flaws, but then again, so is every other movie. Despite comparisons that can be made between Homecoming and others, it is well crafted, the performances are well played and the violence is spaced out enough and realistic enough to make even the most conditioned of gore hounds cringe. It is a fine example of a modern thriller, and deserves more praise than it gets.

When they arrive at his home town for a big celebration, a man's girlfriend is captured by his psychotic ex and tortured for stealing him away from her while he and his friends race to save her before it's too late.This one here is a rather curious thriller rather than an out-and-out horror effort. One of the main issues with this one is the really bland pacing, which has the abduction placed oddly later in the film than it should because it deals with the useless extraneous moments in the film where she's dealing with outside issues that have nothing to do with the main torture scenes. The majority of the scenes consist of either her attempting to get away only to be stopped without any kind of true punishment offered only to repeat the process again or his friends telling him to get on with his life, and it manages to plod along lifelessly instead of generating any interest. Rather than doing any kind of physical, damaging torture, it features only knock-outs or drugging and carries on in a series of lame parts that give off a thriller feel more than a true horror film, and the painful, agonizing moments of her trying to win him back or pining over a rejection don't help this one much. The finale does have some pretty decent moments, including the clever discovery of the kidnapping, some brutal confrontations down in the basement and a rousing conclusion, but it's all too claustrophobic and confining to really get where it could've gone. This is just too flawed and has too little right about it to really be of any importance.Rated R: Language and Violence.

***SPOILERS*** Things aren't all that blissful in the little working and blue collar town of Mt. Bliss when the high school star football running back Matt Long, Mike Donaldson, came back for his long awaited homecoming to have his football jersey #7 permanently retired. Expecting to renew her relationship with the handsome & hulking Matt is his old high school flame Shelby Mercer, Micha Barton, who's in for the surprise of her life in finding that Matt is in love and planning to marry Elizabeth,or Liz, Mitchum, Jessica Stroup! Gtting good and drunk at the homecoming festivities Liz decides to chill out at a local motel before she meets Matt's parents. This decision on her part was to change both her and Shelby's lives forever!On the highway looking for a place to stay for the night Liz is run down by a very disturbed and not watching the road Shelby who realizing her good fortune takes the very banged up Liz home to recuperate! What Shelby really has in mind is to somehow make Liz disappear, by poisoning her, and thus end up having Matt all to herself! The only problem is that Liz is not all that accommodating to Shelby's plans and does everything to escape! Which ends up with Shelby doing her best to off Liz even before the poison,that she's spiking her her medication with, kicks in!With Selby now in control of the situation she plans to trick Matt into thinking that Liz walked out on him but he doesn't fall for her act until he gets positive proof that Liz in fact two timed him. From that point on Shalby starts to lose it in overplaying her hand like getting Matt drunk and try to have it on with him, in a bar ladies room no less, that has him suspect that she in fact had something to do with Liz's sudden disappearance!***SPOILERS*** The film comes down to the big homecoming party where Matt finally realized in a present that Liz gave him, that he thought was Shelby's, that has him bolting in sub-zero weather with nothing but his shirt & tie on to Shelby's place and find out what in fact she did to Liz and if Liz is being kept there against her will. Shelby by now has completely gone off her rocker murdering Matt and her friend Sheriff Billy Fletcher, Michael Landes, for asking too many embarrassing questions and trying to fix the light in her basement where a tied up Liz is being held.Tremendous end of movie cat fight between the badly injured Liz and the crazed and homicidal Shelby as a kneecapped Matt, whom Shelby shot, is helpless to stop and is just a bystander in the whole spectacular event!***MAJOR SPOILER*** typical psycho movie ending that you saw coming from as far as 10 miles away that doesn't surprise you but at the same time take anything away about the what you've seen in the film up until then!

Credit. IMDb Mike was the star quarterback in a blue-collar small town where football is everything. After receiving a scholarship to Northwestern University, he returns home over Christmas break and everyone is surprised to see him with a new girlfriend, Elizabeth, a pretty rich girl from Chicago. No one is more shocked than Mike's homecoming queen ex-girlfriend, Shelby, who desperately wants Elizabeth out of the picture. After a freak car accident leaves an injured Elizabeth at the mercy of Shelby, all hell breaks loose as Shelby does everything it takes to get Mike back.While watching Homecoming, I could not cope with the overwhelming sense of similarity. And then it completely hit me, Misery!. It so desperately wants to emulate that movie, but it doesn't have the talent, or the script to pull it off. Mischa Barton is often excellent as the overly obsessed, vengeance filled woman. But I felt no sympathy for the characters. Mike|Long| himself, in my opinion, is a bit of a jerk. Elizabeth|Stroup| Doesn't have that much character to speak of. The characters were just poorly developed. As the movie was becoming close to ending, I was just dying for it to end. If it wasn't for Mischa Barton, I would have been truly tortured.Performances. Mischa Barton is gorgeous to look at, and a very credible actress to boot, at least here she is. She's not only a convincing psychopath, but her pain is also felt. That's one of the few smart moves this movie made, making you emphasize and fear her. Jessica Stroup is bland to say the least, and I didn't really care what happened to her. Matt Long is nothing more than a charismatic less Jock, who I wanted to slap silly on more than one occasion. Michael Landes plays a decent supporting character, much like he did in Final Destination 2.Bottom line. This is a boring remake of Misery for P.G lovers. I didn't feel any tension, I wasn't thrilled. In fact I was bored 50% of the time. Worth a look I guess, but even that is pushing it.4/10 |Bordering on a 3|