''Home Sweet Hell'' (originally known as ''North of Hell'') is a 2015 American
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by Anthony Burns and written by Carlo Allen, Ted Elrick and Tom Lavagnino. The film stars
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Marie Heigl ( ; born November 24, 1978) is an American actress and former fashion model. She played Dr. Izzie Stevens on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2010, a role tha ...
,
Patrick Wilson
Patrick Joseph Wilson (born July 3, 1973) is an American actor and director. He began his career in 1995, starring in Broadway musicals. He received nominations for two Tony Awards for his roles in ''The Full Monty'' (2000–2001) and ''Oklahoma ...
,
Jordana Brewster
Jordana Brewster (born April 26, 1980) is a Panamanian-American actress. Best known for her role as Mia Toretto in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise, she made her acting debut in an episode of ''All My Children'' in 1995 and next took on the recu ...
,
Kevin McKidd
Kevin McKidd (born 9 August 1973) is a Scottish actor and television director. Before playing the role of Dr. Owen Hunt in ''Grey's Anatomy'', for which he is widely known, McKidd appeared as Tommy Mackenzie in Danny Boyle's '' Trainspotting'' ...
,
A.J. Buckley,
Chi McBride
Kenneth "Chi" McBride ( ; born September 23, 1961) is an American actor. He has appeared in films, where he is known primarily as a character actor, and in television, where he has had numerous starring roles.
In film, he has played prominent ro ...
, and
Jim Belushi
James Adam Belushi (; born June 15, 1954) is an American actor. He is best known for the role of Jim on the sitcom ''According to Jim'' (2001–2009). His other television roles include ''Saturday Night Live'' (1983–1985), '' Total Security'' ...
.
On February 3, 2015, the film was released on
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
before being theatrically released on March 13, 2015.
Plot
Don Champagne runs a successful furniture business. His detail-oriented wife Mona has everything planned according to the book of her goals. One day an attractive young woman named Dusty applies for a sales job at Don's store. After consulting with his partner Les, Don hires Dusty.
Don is desperate because of his poor sex life with his wife. Shortly, Dusty seduces him and they start having an affair. Later, Dusty shows up at the birthday party of Don and Mona's son Andrew, telling Don that she is pregnant and wants to keep the baby. Don is desperate, and Les advises him to pay Dusty money.
It is then revealed that Dusty is the abused girlfriend of a criminal motorcycle gang leader named Murphy, and is lying to Don about her pregnancy. Don offers Dusty $13,000 for her silence, which she refuses, telling Don it will not be enough. Don is unsure whether Dusty will keep her mouth shut, and Les advises Don to tell Mona the truth before hearing it from Dusty. Don confesses to Mona, and she demands that Don kill Dusty.
Murphy is not satisfied with the $13,000, so Dusty calls Don and demands $25,000. Don agrees, but he and Mona prepare to poison Dusty instead. Dusty shows up for the money and swallows the poisoned drink. Don and Mona put an unconscious Dusty in the car and take her home. Once home, Dusty wakes up, so Mona kills her with a hammer. Mona hacks Dusty's body into pieces, buries it in the garden, and reveals to Don that Dusty wasn't even pregnant.
With friends Freeman and Benji, Murphy discovers Dusty is missing, suspect something went wrong, so they attack Les. Murphy also threatens Don by leaving his son a letter, in which he demands a meeting at a strip club. Don meets Murphy and his gang and convinces them that Dusty went to Dallas. Murphy tells Don that she had his money and threatens to rape his family if he does not pay him $20,000 the next day.
Don and Mona dig up Dusty's corpse and go to the place where the gang lives. While Mona is trying to hide body parts in the freezer, Freeman comes home with his girlfriend. Mona mortally wounds Freeman, stabs and kills his girlfriend, and shortly calls the police to report a disturbance at the house. Before dying, Freeman calls Murphy and tells him what happened. Murphy and Benji arrive and find Freeman and his girlfriend dead. Murphy also discovers parts of Dusty in the freezer and realizes he was set up. Soon the police arrive and find Murphy and Benji at the crime scene. The police shoot Benji while Murphy escapes. The police decided that Murphy and Benji were responsible for the murders.
While alone, Don asks Mona why she is so cold-blooded and if it was due to her upbringing. Mona threatens to kill him if he ever asks her that question again. The next day, Don finds the neighbor's dog dead in his freezer at a house party, and Mona displays very antisocial behavior with their guests. Terrified, Don stages an accident to kill Mona. After her death, Don and his children move to a new house and are seen in the driveway getting into a new car and driving away. The movie ends with Murphy going after their car. The screen turns black, and the
end credits
Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of a ...
roll. Two shots are heard, followed by a prolonged honk and children's screams, indicating that Murphy had killed Don.
Cast
Production
Casting
On March 26, 2013, it was reported that
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Marie Heigl ( ; born November 24, 1978) is an American actress and former fashion model. She played Dr. Izzie Stevens on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2010, a role tha ...
and
Patrick Wilson
Patrick Joseph Wilson (born July 3, 1973) is an American actor and director. He began his career in 1995, starring in Broadway musicals. He received nominations for two Tony Awards for his roles in ''The Full Monty'' (2000–2001) and ''Oklahoma ...
had signed on for
Darko Entertainment
Darko Entertainment is a production company that was launched in late 2007 by writer/director Richard Kelly, who is best known for directing the 2001 cult classic ''Donnie Darko''. Based in Los Angeles, it creates, produces and finances director ...
's dark comedy ''North of Hell''. The storyline revolves around a well-to-do businessman (played by Wilson), who is used to having things his own way, but appears to be helpless at the hands of his domineering wife (played by Heigl). "I play a very dark person, which is out of my wheelhouse," says Heigl. On May 3, 2013, ''
Deadline
Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to:
* Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished
Arts, entertainment, and media Comics
* Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain
* ''Deadline'' (magazine), a British ...
'' announced that
Jordana Brewster
Jordana Brewster (born April 26, 1980) is a Panamanian-American actress. Best known for her role as Mia Toretto in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise, she made her acting debut in an episode of ''All My Children'' in 1995 and next took on the recu ...
had been cast as a sexy hire at Wilson's character's work who seduces and blackmails him, threatening to go to his wife with their affair.
The film also stars
Kevin McKidd
Kevin McKidd (born 9 August 1973) is a Scottish actor and television director. Before playing the role of Dr. Owen Hunt in ''Grey's Anatomy'', for which he is widely known, McKidd appeared as Tommy Mackenzie in Danny Boyle's '' Trainspotting'' ...
, of ''
Grey's Anatomy
''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into se ...
''. "Gotta say North of Hell cast and crew look pretty awesome! Be warned, I don't look like myself in this movie—in a bad/good way", he was reported saying on Twitter.
On September 30, 2014, the first trailer was released and revealed that the film's new title was ''Home Sweet Hell''.
Filming
Filming began in May 2013 in
,
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
.
Reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 5% based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 3.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''Home Sweet Hell'' mistakes misogyny for subversive wit, aiming for black comedy but ending up with a grueling test of viewer endurance that wastes game efforts from its likable leads." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score of 22 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Accolades
The film received one
Golden Raspberry Award
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
nomination for Heigl in the
Worst Actress category.
References
External links
*
*{{Mojo title, homesweethell
2015 comedy-drama films
American comedy-drama films
Films shot in New Orleans
2015 films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films