DANCES WITH FILMS 2026 REVIEW! In writer/director Jordan Rowe’s Hamilton House, being young, broke, and chasing the dream in New York City that keeps moving further out of reach is at the heart of this Gen Z tale.
Zach Harris (Elijah Lawrence) is stuck. He’s a struggling actor living in a cramped basement apartment in New York City with his girlfriend Vivienne (Julia Whitcher) and a handful of roommates, all of them on the precipice of breaking out or dropping out. Then one day Zach bumps into Gunther Lazlo (Jack Dimich), a legendary B-movie horror director, who happens to be his neighbor. After an awkward conversation, Zach has this harebrained idea—turn the apartment into a haunted house themed around Gunther’s work, get the man through the door, and get his friends to channel their best inner actor to scare guests.
Zach rallies Vivienne, Terrence (Jonny Morrison), and Jacob (Moziah), and they eagerly throw themselves into building the house with sets, scares, and costumes. This plan might actually work. But plans like this never go clean. As Halloween gets closer, the cracks start to show. Pressure mounts as props break, egos clash, and Vivienne gets the opportunity of a lifetime. Sure, Zach’s dream of impressing Gunther might be a bit misguided, but maybe it’s the spark that will light up his career.
“Zach has this harebrained idea—turn the apartment into a haunted house themed around Gunther’s work…”
Hamilton House opens with the tone of a horror film as its hook, but quickly shifts into a Gen Z coming-of-age story that, honestly, resonates with young adults across the board. Writer/director Jordan Rowe has crafted something that is, at its core, about the pressure of living on pure blind faith, especially as a struggling New York actor. Zach believes in himself completely. He has a good heart with good intentions, and that stubborn optimism is why we root for him.
Filmmaker Rowe keeps the film’s tone as a light drama rather than a full-blown comedy. The humor here is what I call Gen Z comedy. There are no traditional jokes with setups and punchlines. Instead, the humor comes from the ideas and situations that revolve around the absurdity of Zach’s plan. Zach is very charismatic as his friends hop on board the haunted house—all hoping to ride Zach’s coattails. By the end, Rowe zeros in on the real conflict beneath it all: the person we see ourselves as versus the person we actually want to become. That’s where Hamilton House hits the bull’s-eye.
Elijah Lawrence carries the film, and he’s surrounded by a cast of young, talented actors who, performance-wise, look great on the big and small screen. Solid across the board. Now, as a veteran film critic, I tend to want my drama to cut deeper—I mean life-or-death stakes—the kind that wake you up in the middle of the night. But I’ll admit, for a generation staring down an uncertain future, maybe the stakes for them are supposed to feel that high. I’m pretty sure I felt the same way right after college.
Hamilton House is a warm, scrappy little film about what it costs to believe in yourself, with heartfelt performances to match — and for this particular generation, that might be exactly enough.
Hamilton House screened at the 2026 Dances with Films.
"…By the end, Rowe zeros in on the real conflict beneath it all..."
