Aahana Swrup
‘Smart Home Killer’ is a thrilling home invasion film in which the threat comes from an unexpected backdoor into the house. It follows the story of a single mother, Leah, who becomes vigilant about security after a burglar breaks into her last home in broad daylight. As a result, she and her teenage daughter, Harper, move into a house under beta testing for an advanced home security system called Soteria, overlooked by its genius inventor, Devan Karloe. However, the system’s cameras and the voice activation systems end up creating a nightmare scenario for the mother-daughter duo once its controls fall into the wrong hands. This Meeshelle Neal Lifetime film charts an engaging tale as Leah unwittingly coils herself tighter into a trap until it eventually leads her to the edge of her demise. SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Smart Home Killer Premise is Entertaining, Even if Sometimes Improbable
‘The Smart Home’ opens with an intriguing idea as it sets up previous home invasion victims for an even more adverse horror. Leah and Harper move into their high-tech, super secure home on behalf of the former’s overcompensation for the ease with which her previous house got broken into. Initially, the daughter is highly skeptical of the necessity behind some of the house’s functions—including everything from maintaining meal lists to the owner’s calendar. Nonetheless, she quickly sheds her self-awareness in favor of reckless teenage abandon, which manifests in the form of flirtations with the creepy and much older Wes, Devan’s assistant.
However, as the plot progresses—swinging between Leah’s budding romance with an old college friend and Harper’s bad choices—the story’s true antagonist emerges. As tends to be the case with technological geniuses, Devan grows possessive over his work—and, by extension, Leah’s family—to the point of obsession. Thus, the final act dives into classic home invasion high-stakes thrill, delivering a captivating cat-and-mouse chase.
Still, the swiftness of this progression sacrifices the potential for a gradual development of Devan’s character, which could have served the central conflict much better. Consequently, since the villain’s actions feel so expedited and predictable, one can’t help but question Leah and Harper’s reactions as well. Therefore, the plot becomes a little less plausible near its last legs, compelling the audience to suspend their disbelief. Even so, the attention to the tension build-up during the final protagonist vs. antagonist hunt brings a satisfying conclusion to the thriller.
Smart Home Killer Plot Synopsis
Leah and Harper’s latest move into the Karloe Smart Home Solutions’ beta house remains a conflicting topic between the mother and her daughter. While the former is pleased with the house’s advanced security system, given her past experience with a home invasion, the teenager remains bitter about the new move. Their new neighborhood comes with a new school, where the students aren’t nearly as friendly as Harper’s last school. Still, something in the new place catches her eye, namely Devan’s assistant, Wes. The older man similarly reciprocates her interest and asks her out behind her mother’s back.
Meanwhile, Leah settles into her new job, which also allows her to reconnect with Oscar, an old friend. However, her daughter tries to take advantage of her busy schedule by skipping school to hang out with Wes and a new school friend, Nikko. Using his insider knowledge of the Soteria server, Wes loops the house’s cameras to mask his presence with the teenage girls by the poolside. Nonetheless, Leah learns about it all the same due to a glitch and breaks up their impromptu hangout session. She also makes it clear to the older man that he is no longer allowed to be near Harper.
As a result, Wes grows vengeful and tries to get back at Leah by messing with her house’s functions late into the night. Even though his actions aren’t fatally harmful, it still lands him in trouble with Devan when the latter finds out about it. Still, despite it all, he continues to meet up with Harper, who finds new ways of tricking her protective mother. Consequently, Leah remains oblivious to her daughter’s growing rebellion and allows herself the time to connect with Oscar as more than just friends. Eventually, she also discovers her daughter’s secret through Devan, who goes the extra mile to keep an eye on the teenager.
The same, paired with a few other off-handed comments, makes Leah suspicious of Devan and his intentions toward her family. As it turns out, her fears aren’t entirely unfounded. After informing the woman of his assistant’s behavior and ensuring her that Harper won’t ever cross paths with him again, Devan resorts to drastic methods. During a phone call with Wes, he expresses his anger over the other man’s misuse of his life’s work. In tune with his anger, Wes’ car seems to undergo a number of inexplicable functions that eventually lead him to an adverse car crash.
Smart Home Killer Ending: Why Did Devan Kill Wes?
Initially, Devan’s dramatic reaction to Wes comes across as possible ire for messing with his Soteria server. Devan’s devotion to the home security system remains evident throughout his multiple interactions with Leah’s family. He’s eternally proud of his creation and willing to do anything to see it to fruition. Considering that the system is in its beta testing period, his ambition seems to be almost at the finish line. Therefore, Wes and his careless exploitation of the security system comes across as a threat to the company at large. If news gets out that he has been using Soteria data to facilitate his relationship with a minor, it could be catastrophic for the company’s future.
Consequently, Devan’s actions appear to be an effort toward saving Soteria. Nonetheless, as his creepy behavior toward Leah continues, a different truth emerges. While it is true that the man is overtly protective and possessive toward his security server, he has now extended those same emotions to Leah and Harper. He’s starting to think of the mother-daughter duo as people who are bound to him. It also remains obvious that he’s harboring a not-so-secret infatuation with the mother if his hostility toward Oscar is anything to go by. As such, Devan uses his technology to hijack Wes’ car and drive him to his death in a twisted way to assert his own protection over his clients.
What Happens to Oscar? Does He Die?
Soon after Leah hears news of Wes’ death, she can’t help but connect the accident to Devan on account of his cryptic behavior. She has noticed his possessive tendencies, most notably apparent in his adamant refusal to hook up Leah’s smartwatch to the home server. He antagonizes Oscar from the get-go because he knows the nature of the other man’s relationship with Leah and is eternally envious of it. For the same reason, Oscar’s character inevitably comes under narrative threat.
This is further exacerbated when Devan drops by the house unannounced, raising suspicions about his usage of the house’s security cameras. Once Leah tries to set up some boundaries between them, the man grows agitated and accuses Oscar of spreading his distrust. In doing so, he even goes as far as to grab the woman’s hand and brush off legal threats on the basis of his apparently close friendship with the police captain. Fortunately, Oscar intervenes and advises Leah to secure a restraining order against the man.
Nonetheless, considering Devan’s level of control over the various functions of Leah’s house, the same would hardly prove to be an issue for him. He proves the same the following night when Oscar is hanging out by Leah’s pool in her absence. He lures the other man to the steam room in the backyard and locks him inside. From there, all Devan has to do is turn up the heat, bringing Oscar to a cruel and elongated death. His death also seems to be an indicator of the tech genius’ complete arrival into a state of mania, where he’s willing to cross any boundaries to get to his goal.
Do Leah and Harper Survive?
Devan’s obsession with Leah and Harper remains uncanny and difficult to decipher. Initially, it seems like an over-protectiveness that is an extension of his relationship with Soteria. Perhaps he’s so involved in the mother-daughter duo’s lives because he doesn’t want anything to go wrong during this test run for his security system. However, his growing crush on Leah introduces another angle. Devan made Soteria after a home invasion attack led to his wife’s death. Therefore, it’s possible he’s trying to replace the guilt and grief he feels over the same with Leah and her family. For the same reason, his killing spree initially comes across as a stalkerish show of possessiveness.
Nonetheless, everything changes with Oscar’s death. While Wes’ death was remote and plausible enough to detach Devan from it, the same cannot be said for his second victim. As such, the man actually spirals completely out of control with the killing. He seems to be relying on his connection to the authorities to clean his hands off the whole ordeal. Still, he needs to wrap up the loose end that Leah and her daughter propose. Now that Devan knows Leah won’t ever trust him again, he seems to find an ease in letting her go—in the worst way possible.
Thus, he initiates a kind of lockdown on the house and fills the rooms with carbon monoxide to send Leah and Harper on a path to a slow death. Furthermore, he aggravates their emotions by playing a recording of Oscar’s death on the living room television. Afterward, he finally slips into the house, ensuing a chase between him and his victims. Fortunately, despite his best efforts and the shared lightheadedness that Leah and Harper experience, they are able to incapacitate him.
Ultimately, Leah bashes Devan in the head with a pan—an effective tool that knocks him out in one or two blows. Thus, she is able to use his tablet to open the house’s front doors and escape with her daughter. As such, Leah saves her family from the clutches of a maniacal man. In the end, Devan gets caught, and the Soteria system is taken away from the house. This time, when it comes to future home security measures, Leah considers a good, old-fashioned dog that will hopefully keep her and her daughter safer.
Read More: Smart Home Killer: Is the Lifetime Movie Based on a True Story?
