Horror Movie Review: 11th Hour Cleaning (2022)

Directed by Ty Leisher, who also wrote it with Eric R. Brodeur and Ed Morrone, 11th Hour Cleaning (also known as Murder House) is a supernatural horror movie with a ton of familiar tropes but is concise enough to not overstay its welcome.

The 11th Hour Cleaning company, specialists in crime scene clean up, are called to the site of a recent mass murder/suicide. The place needs to be cleaned, and cleaned quickly, something that Dylan (Edward Finlay) is happy to do as it promises a big payday.

It’s the holidays though and he’s short staffed so drags his wife Rachel (Anita Leeman Torres), his brother-in-law, Marcus (Ed Morrone) along, and talks employee Hannah (Chloe Brooks) into changing her plans. Given a little time to breathe, the four characters all have conflict that spills into each other’s respective relationships.

Dylan isn’t happy about ex-con Marcus staying with them or that fact that Rachel is on his case about starting a family. Marcus is trying to make things right, but went through a bad split with Hannah, of all people. Just the right amount of tension for a demonic force to take advantage of.

Which something those, as once inside the house of murder, they find they can’t leave. How does this connect to the events that took place before they arrived? Does it have something to do with the Nordic symbols on the walls? How did the police manage to leave behind so much important evidence? Why is this entity just like every other demon we’ve seen before?

So many questions that 11th Hour Cleaning doesn’t have the time or patience to answer. It wants to get to the ghostly-goings-on in the hope that the viewer will be distracted by the lack of substance in the story.

Alas, that doesn’t work because this film’s demon is as standard as they come. Bumps in the night stuff with the occasional taking advantage of fears and doubts. Stuff we’ve seen in supernatural horror time and time again. Even more unforgivable when you consider how much effort is put in to make the Nordic side of things feel important at first. None of this stuff matters, it’s a demon and that’s all you need to know.

None of this makes it a bad film though. 11th Hour Cleaning has some decent atmosphere and a spooky setup. The acting is good, and the gory interior of the house stands out. If it had stronger character building, a more detailed demonic angle that actually utilises the Nordic elements, and less cliched horror moments, it would be a much more memorable film.