Homestead Image

Homestead

By Perry Norton | February 5, 2025

In 2023 Angel Studios had the sort of monster hit that movie producers dream about. Sound of Freedom, a low budget drama based on former DHS Special Agent Tim Ballard’s campaign against sex trafficking in Central America, took $250 million dollars worldwide by generating a mountain of free PR from the politically polarized response to its release.

Condemned by the left as reactionary and inaccurate – it was famously described as ‘Qanon adjacent’ – it was nonetheless well regarded by some right wingers for its, well, Qanon adjacent depiction of sex trafficking, and it found an audience with it’s emotional clout. There was some controversy about the oddity of its marketing, with a ‘pay it forward’ scheme that allowed viewers to subsidize tickets for the underprivileged. This allegedly led to empty auditoriums bolstering the box office, with a large number of tickets not redeemed in person. The pay it forward scheme is also present in their latest offering, the apocalyptic drama Homestead (there is a QR code at the end of the film should one want to gift some rando with a viewing.)

From Homestead’s opening briefcase nuke attack off the coast of Los Angeles, the outdoor world is rendered as a truly frightening place. Fuel pumps run dry, and the screams from home invasions pierce the night as the cast of plucky preppers either fortify ‘the best prepared site in The Rockies’ or struggle towards it. 

“…opens with a briefcase nuke attack off the coast of Los Angeles…”

The action is low key and well chosen, even if the broader situation is described too loosely, with the attack in LA not mentioned again (at least not in the feature length opener that I saw.) The status and whereabouts of the government is always vague, as if too much thought will capsize the setup. Soon the focus boils down to a single location, the homestead itself and the encampment of people at it’s gate desperate to get in.

But it all works as a schlocky TV show. Mainly because the cast is on point, with a broad set of appealing characters generating their own stories well within the overarching silliness about the outside world. Neal McDonough’s steely good looks convey perfectly the constant fretting of the homestead’s founder, Ian, over the society he is creating. In one memorable exchange with the crowd gathered at the compounds gates, an old friend Ian has known for years pleads to be let in, insisting he has useful skills.

“I love you but you install fireplaces” is the horribly tart yet funny response from Ian.

Homestead (2024)

Directed: Ben Smallbone

Written: Phillip Abraham, Leah Bateman, Jason Ross

Starring: Neal McDonough, Dawn Olivieri, Currie Graham, Susan Misner, Bailey Chase, Jesse Hutch, Kevin Lawson, Kearran Giovanni, Tyler Lofton, Emmanuel McCord, Olivia Sanabia, etc.

Movie score: 8/10

Homestead Image

"…a weird, eschatological tale..."

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