Steve Hofstetter never envisioned “Handyman from Hell” as a Halloween movie, but he can see why it would make sense as a spooky-season flick.
The campy thriller follows poor Maggie (Liliana Tandon) as a simple kitchen renovation turns potentially deadly thanks to the diabolical designs of the contractor she hires. It’s set in Western Pennsylvania and was shot almost entirely at Steel City Arts Foundation, Hofstetter’s live-work-play space for creatives fashioned out of a converted Stanton Heights church.
“Handyman from Hell” was produced by Hofstetter and Brian Hartman, written by Jay Black and directed by Brian’s son, Cody Hartman.
The film was shot over the course of 12 days in December 2022 and will premiere Thursday at 8 p.m. on Lifetime Movie Network before it begins streaming Friday via LMN’s website. Anyone interested in checking out the first screening of “Handyman from Hell” Thursday night alongside some of the cast and crew can sign up at various price points for a virtual watch party via handymanfromhell.com.
“I am frickin’ thrilled,” Hofstetter said of “Handyman from Hell” landing on LMN. “Especially the idea that we’re going to take it to the market and hopefully sell it. It was a whirlwind of, they bought and are airing it, let’s go!”
“Handyman from Hell” also stars Hofstetter as Maggie’s gruff and overprotective brother, Michael; Kristina Horan as Harriet, Michael’s girlfriend and Maggie’s best friend; Joey Ariemma as psychopathic contractor Nate; locally based actor David Santiago as David, Maggie’s philandering husband; and Jodie Sweetin of “Full House” fame in a small but crucial role. As Hofstetter put it, LMN “knows their demographic” and changed the film’s title from “Overhaul” to the far less subtle “Handyman from Hell.”
Steel City AF is not currently open to the public, nor is Sunken Bus Studios, a former church in Ross that Hofstetter bought earlier this year and is also converting into an entertainment hub. Hofstetter said they’re still getting used, though, by Steel City AF members for activities like digital open mic nights, writers-group meetings, rehearsal space and, of course, as the primary film set for “Handyman from Hell.”
Black and Hofstetter conceived the story together before bringing on the Hartmans to help turn their ideas into a feature film. Making a movie that didn’t take itself too seriously was a fun departure for them as they they toiled away on “Unsinkable,” another film they recently shot and made in the Pittsburgh area, which chronicles the U.S. Senate inquiries that followed the 1912 Titanic disaster.
“It was a dark comedy thriller created by comedians,” Brian Hartman said. “We thought, who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?”
Hofstetter was a little skeptical about working with a father-son team but was quickly won over by how Brian clearly “understood the local scene” and after seeing how Cody “got the best performance out of everyone while still being kind and respectful.” Similarly, Brian found Steel City AF to be “a supportive environment” while shooting “Handyman form Hell.” Cody likened the intimacy of packing into one place for almost two weeks of nonstop filming to “an incredibly fun summer camp.”
“It’s just always exciting to have something out there for people to enjoy,” Cody said of the film’s impending release. “It always feels like an accomplishment when you’re coming out of a production with people that you really liked spending time with. Hopefully we all continue to work together in Pittsburgh.”
He and the “Handyman from Hell” brain trust agreed that their best bet was to “make things campy, fun and larger than life.” Hofstetter said that he and Black did their best to “break from the mold a little bit” in terms of crafting a thriller containing relatable dramatic stakes and female characters with agency.
“Part of it is there’s a fine line between camp and crap,” Hofstetter said. “You never want to cross that line. ... To be able to stay within the boundaries but play with them was so much fun.”
That tone is established early on with what Hofstetter referred to as “a brilliant misdirection” involving Sweetin’s character and rarely strays as Nate’s plans for Maggie and Michael begin to take shape. Hofstetter commended Sweetin for being so “funny, quick and up for it,” and Cody recalled having to mute himself while recording a montage of Zoom calls between Maggie and weirdos played by comedian-actors Michael Ian Black, Frank Caliendo and Vic Dibitetto “because everyone was so funny.”
Jay Black and Hofstetter didn’t have much trouble convincing Lifetime Movie Networkto air “Handyman from Hell,” though Hofstetter was surprised by how quickly the network slotted it into their October lineup and that they allowed him to keep the film’s theatrical, VOD and international distribution rights.
If all goes well, Hofstetter will have secured a “Handyman from Hell” VOD release for sometime in the next month or so. He’s also currently talking to a few movie-theater chains about scheduling one-off screenings in various cities — including Pittsburgh, naturally.
A lot of the production team has remained tight since filming wrapped almost a year ago, and Hofstetter and Jay Black have already sketched out a “half prequel and half sequel” concept that the Hartmans said they would both be open to returning for if audiences demand more “Handyman from Hell.” That would also give all three of them an excuse to continue providing movie lovers with more evidence of all Pittsburgh has to offer as a filmmaking destination.
“[T]he movie is a love letter to Pittsburgh,” Hofstetter said. “The local references are authentic. The crew was [mostly] local. … I live here, David’s from here, a lot of the extras and smaller roles were Pittsburghers. We want to build up the film industry here.”
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: October 18, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: October 18, 2023, 2:11 p.m.
