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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Lions Gate
Salesrank: 35769
Released: March 27, 2007 |
| Our Price: $7.76 |
| Used Price: $2.49 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
The Hamiltons seem to be the picture-perfect American family. They are hardworking community members; giving to their local charities, attending town hall meetings and always respectful of their neighbors...except for the fact that they usually end up killing them.
The Hamiltons - After Dark Horror Fest Reviews:
Blah 
2009-08-20 - I've got to say this was one of the most disappointing movies I've ever partially seen. It was so bad I didn't even make it half way through. The only decent thing that I did see about it was the twins. I didn't bother to finish it later. It's not even worth the time to try again really.
Good premise gone wrong. 
2009-07-28 - The Hamiltons (Mitchell Altieri and Phil Flores, 2006)
One of the hallmarks of the films picked up by the After Dark Horrorfest crew is that they're movies with a whole lot of potential that never manages to realize it. Depending on how much potential there is, these can range from mediocre to painfully frustrating. The Hamiltons is one of the latter, a movie with a fantastic premise that manages to blow it by being predictable at every turn.
The title family--oldest brother David (Samuel Child, from the recent April Fool's Day remake), youngest brother Francis (Godspeed's Cory Knauf), and fraternal twins Wendell and Darlene (respectively, Joseph McKelheer, also from the recent April Fool's Day, and Rent's Mackenzie Firgens)--have just moved to a lovely new house in a lovely new town. Since their parents recently passed away and David is still young, the family spend some time talking to social workers, but for the most part, they're left to their own devices. All well and good, except that the Hamiltons seem to have a thing for capturing young ladies and keeping them in cages in the basement. Francis, being the rebellious teenager, is not thrilled with the family's activities, and is documenting them on video as a kind of family project. Much of the footage here is presented as if taken from Francis' camera.
The biggest problem with this movie is that, if you've seen a handful of monster movies, you'll see the big reveal coming five minutes into the movie. I assumed for most of this the directors were simply trying to avoid using the word as a kind of hip "this is a movie about ______ that we're not going to tell you is about ______" angle, but no, it turns out they don't seem to want you to know that these kids are, well, what they are. If that's truly the case, the movie is a failure almost from the opening scene. I'd normally even consider being forgiving about that given something exceptional (acting, camerawork, script, etc.) about the rest of the movie, but there is no aspect of this that is better than mediocre. Not the worst of the After Dark movies, but a long, long way from the best. **
EXCELLENT INDEPENDENT FILM - MAY BE BEST OF THE FIRST SERIES 
2009-04-21 - THE HAMILTONS
I have to say that out of all of the films in this series this happens to be one of my favorite ones. Sure the film is flawed like most others but for the budget I truly believe this is the best they could do. I would love to this with a bigger budget because even at this one it was still great and a cool take on........... well you will see. I watched this long ago when it was first released and was thanking the filmmakers because the others in the series were a little lackluster. I would recommend this film to any fan of independent films and just over all good films.
For those who have yet to see this it follows a nice little family of siblings, their parents died and now they all live together moving on. It seems that they can't stay in one place to long even though they seem to be a nice bunch of kids. David is he oldest and is now the man of the house, a job that seems thankless. Then there are the twins Wendell and Darlene who play nice with each other if you get what I mean. And then of course there is the youngest in the group Frances who is your average teen who is out there just looking to find his place in the world. Other then a little incest with the twins this seems like a nice group of kids to the outside world right? Well all is not what it seems because underneath all that goodwill there is a dark secret that the family is hiding. Turns out this family likes to kill other people, all that is except Frances who is contemplating turning in the family.
I have to say that the only thing weighing this film down is the budget constraints and maybe some of the performances seem to lag at times but still this is good. Cory Knauf was great as Frances and played the confused teenager very well, plus I like how some of the story was told through his home camera. Samuel Child as ok as David but at times he seemed a little off, but then again that may have been the character. Then of course there are the twins played well by Joseph McKelheer and Mackenzie Firgens, both turn in good performances each. Every one else in the film were good as well but this film is about the family more so then the victims so we will leave it at that.
Writer/directors The Butcher Brothers did very well with a very low budget and pulled off one of the best in this series. Their direction is good but their real triumph is in the script, this was a really interesting story with a great outcome. Like I said they put a cool spin on something that is very familiar, you will see. The film was shot well but it doesn't look as good as some of the others in the series, budget once again. I need to check out the other film by these two, if it is near as good as this I can buy it without even watching it first. It should also be noted that Adam Weis was a writer on this as well so credit should go to him as well.
This is a very entertaining film that is one of the better ones in the series of After Dark, maybe the best of the first year, maybe. Still this is a worthy addition to any home library so I recommend a purchase and skip the rental. If you do not like low budget films because of their look or something this may not be for you. Man I love that ending.
don't bother
2009-03-20 - the scariest part of this movie was the acting. I had to force myself to stay awake. NO THRILLS.
JOSEPH MCKELHEER(WENDELL)MACKENZIE FIRGENS(DARLENE)ARE THE MOVIE! 
2009-02-21 - THIS IS AN EXCELLENT MOVIE!I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE!IT'S UNIQUE.IT'S RARE.NOT GORY.AS YOU WATCH THE MOVIE-YOU'LL UNDERSTAND WHY THEY ACT LIKE DO AND DO WHAT THEY DO.AT CERTAIN TIMES THEY KILL.THEY HANG PEOPLE UP IN THE BASEMENT IN A LOCKED CAGE ALIVE.LENNY LIVES IN THE BASEMENT LOCKED IN HIS OWN PRIVATE ROOM.WENDELL AND DARLENE ARE NASTY,AND SARCASTIC.WENDELL ESCPECIALLY IS CRUEL!I LIKE HIM THOUGH.HE'S SEXY.HIS EYES EXPRESSIONS,AND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS GO PERFECTLY WITH HIS BODY LANGUAGE,AND ATTITUDE.DARLENE'S THE SAME WAY-BUT THERE'S A CERTAIN SOMETHING ABOUT WENDELL.JOSEPH AND MACKENZIE HAVE EXCELLENT ACTING ABILITY!THAT WENDELL,THOUGH....HE'S SOMETHING ELSE!KITTIE IS DARLENES FRIEND.WHAT THEY DO TO HER...WITH FRIENDS LIKE THEM-WHO NEEDS ENEMIES?!THIS IS NOT SCARY.IT'S NOT YOUR TYPICAL HORROR MOVIE.IT'S A STRANGE MOVIE,BUT THIS MOVIE KEEPS YOUR CURIOUSITY GOING.I BOUGHT THIS MOVIE ONE TIME,AND I GAVE IT TO A FRIEND.I JUST BOUGHT IT AGAIN FOR ME TO KEEP TO ADD TO MY MOVIE COLLECTION.YOU'LL ENJOY THIS MOVIE IF YOU SEE IT.
