James DeMonaco, the filmmaker behind “The Purge” franchise, has crafted his most politically charged horror film yet with “The Home,” which explores generational conflict through a terrifying lens. The director reveals the film’s provocative premise came from observing real-world tensions: “This generation being raped by previous generations coalesced into this idea of this old age community that wasn’t what it seemed,” he says.
At the heart of the film is Pete Davidson’s performance as Max, a troubled young man assigned to community service at a sinister retirement home. DeMonaco deliberately cast against type, explaining: “I always found in movies that old people are quite often depicted as cute and cuddly and nice, and I always found that to be not always true. If you’re an asshole when you’re young, you’ll probably grow up to be an elder asshole.”
The director’s long friendship with Davidson, dating back to when the comedian worked as a waiter at Staten Island’s Nucci’s restaurant, informed his casting choice. “When Adam and I wrote ‘The Home,’ we wrote it for Pete,” DeMonaco says. “Knowing Pete as a human, not just as a celebrity, we knew he was a very soulful man who could do more than just comedy, which I think he showed in ‘King of Staten Island,’ which came out during COVID, and ‘Big Time Adolescence,’ which he’s got some nice beats in.”
DeMonaco emphasizes how Davidson’s persona perfectly represents the film’s generational conflict: “Pete represents the generation of now, the younger generation. So it felt right pairing him against the John Glover generation, the Boomer generation. There was something generational about Pete — he represented something that I thought was important when this war between the generations happened.”
Despite the dark subject matter, Davidson’s comedic instincts frequently surfaced during production. “I wanted it completely straight,” DeMonaco says. “Pete was like, ‘JD, let’s do one take where I’m funny.’ So we’d always do one where he was riffing with some of the older actors, and it was very funny.” However, these improvised moments ultimately didn’t make the final cut: “We tried it in editing. We always have that one take readily available to try to push the humor, but it seemed to break tone. If we went too far, it always felt like we were pushing it almost into sketch world.”
The director acknowledges his tendency to incorporate social commentary, while striving to avoid heavy-handedness: “I try to layer my movies without being preachy or proselytizing with some social-political content,” he says. “I think I pushed it too far in certain movies, to be quite honest. In certain ‘Purge’ movies, my hatred for certain things might have snuck too far into the narrative. Understandably, I don’t think audiences want to be preached to by some fucking guy from Staten Island.”
“The Home” promises to deliver both scares and uncomfortable truths when it hits theaters July 25 via Lionsgate. The film represents a career milestone for Davidson, showcasing dramatic range beyond his comedy roots, while allowing DeMonaco to explore timely themes through his signature horror lens. With its potent mix of social commentary and genuine terror, “The Home” aims to unsettle audiences on multiple levels – both as a gripping horror film and as a mirror reflecting real-world generational tensions.
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