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In a parking lot, teenage filmmaker Eric attempts to document the wannabe lifestyle enjoyed by Allison Lang and her boyfriend Toby's gang of white upper-class teenagers living in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. A brawl ensues between Toby's gang and another gang, which ends with both sides fleeing just before police arrive. Later that night, Toby's gang goes to a party at Eric's house, and Allison's relationship with Toby as well as her other friends Emily and Sam is further revealed. At the end of the party, Allison performs oral sex on her boyfriend.

The next day, Allison meets with her father, Stuart, at work to discuss family problems, the awkward conversation revealing the virtually non-existent relationship Allison has with her parents. Afterwards, she and her friends drive downtown into East Los Angeles, intent on buying marijuana, eventually encountering Mexican drug dealer Hector and his crew. Toby and Hector make a deal, but Toby believes that Hector did not sell him enough for what he paid, and attempts to confront Hector, who pulls a gun on him, humiliating him in front of his friends. Allison persuades Hector to let Toby go.

The next night, Allison and her girlfriends return to the location of the drug deal. There, she and her friends once again meet up with Hector and his crew, who invite them to a party at his house. Before they leave, Hector informs Allison of a motel where his crew regularly party, and invites her to stop by if she wishes. The next day, Eric continues his film project at Allison's home, with Allison turning his interview of her into a bizarre mind-game.

That evening, Allison meets up with Hector again in a store, and he shows her around his neighborhood, while talking about his family and lifestyle. His guided tour abruptly ends when the police arrive in force, ostensibly on a drug bust. Allison winds up being arrested with the other present gang members, but – save for an argument with her parents and Toby – is let off the hook. The experience only serves to increase Allison's fascination with the inner-city lifestyle. The night after her release, Allison and Emily agree to head downtown the next evening to hang out with Hector's crew.

The two meet up with Hector and his gang at a motel, and a night of partying and drinking results in Allison and Emily asking Hector if they can join his crew. Hector informs them of their initiation; to join the gang, the two must roll a dice; the number they roll corresponds to the number of gang members they must have sex with.

Allison rolls a one, Emily rolls a three. Hector and Allison pair off, but Allison has second thoughts and refuses to have sex with him, and is thrown out of the room by Hector's brother when she tries to get Emily to leave with her. Emily eagerly engages in sex with Hector. His brother stands at the door waiting his turn while Allison sits outside pouting. Hector signals his brother to join in as the third member enters the room. Allison hears Emily cry out and runs into the room. Allison tries to comfort her but Emily just collapses and cries in her arms. All three men flee the room, yelling at the girls.

The next day, Allison returns to the motel and confronts Hector over the previous night, but he responds by saying he didn't do anything wrong; that he only did what she and Emily had asked him to do. At that moment, a woman shows up at the door, surprising Allison, much to the amusement of Hector, who mocks Allison for thinking he had feelings for her, and calling her a poseur who only knows how to play games and nothing about the realities of gang life.

The same day Emily is shown at a police station accusing Hector and his crew of gang rape. Allison is brought in for questioning, but claims to know nothing about a rape. Hector is subsequently arrested, and members of his crew vow to seek out and silence Allison and Emily, but wind up getting lost in Bel-Air. Meanwhile, Toby and his gang are shown posing with guns in front of Eric and his video camera, making clear on their intent to seek revenge on Hector's crew. Eric later shows Allison the footage, and Allison subsequently calls Toby and makes an ill-fated attempt to convince him that there was no rape and what he is doing is foolish.

Allison informs Emily of what Toby plans to do and reveals to Emily's parents the events at the motel. This initially upsets Emily to the point of nearly attempting suicide, but eventually the two reconcile. Meanwhile, Toby and his gang arrive at Hector's motel and bust in violently, but only succeed in frightening a group of Latina women and a baby. Toby tries to work up the nerve to shoot them, but, consumed by their desperate pleas to not hurt the baby, realizes he can't and storms out.

On their drive home, the gang passes the SUV containing the members of Hector's crew that had been looking for Allison and Emily. The two gangs exchange looks, and the screen subsequently fades to black. After a few seconds the sounds of tires squealing, people shouting and a gunshot is heard.

The film ends with Allison's "bored" segment of Eric's footage shown for a third time.

The original treatment of the script was written in 1993 by Jessica Kaplan, who was 14 years old at the time, and was based on her own observations of her affluent white classmates in West Los Angeles. Her script was sold to New Line Cinema two years later for $150,000, with the script being developed at Single Cell Pictures, a production company headed by Michael Stipe.^[6][7] Originally titled The Powers That Be, the script was a drama about Beverly Hills high school students who try to get involved with the South Central Los Angeles gangster rap music scene, and a young male teacher who helps the main character deal with a tragedy as a result of said escapades, the script went unused for two years, eventually gaining traction with the studio after it received a re-write from Stephen Gaghan. In 1997, Variety reported that Peter Horton was attached to direct.^[8][9] The script was later retitled Havoc.^[10]

Tony Kaye was approached to direct the film, Kaye had problems with the script, and made a series of demands, which included him having full control of rewriting the script.^[11]

On June 6, 2003, shortly before filming began, Kaplan was killed in a plane crash in Los Angeles, along with four other people, including her uncle.^[12] A dedication to Kaplan is shown preceding the credits at the end of the film.

When the script was sold in 1995, actors such as Alicia Silverstone, Stephen Dorff, Ethan Hawke, and Christian Slater were considered for roles.^[6]

Mandy Moore was originally cast as Allison, but dropped out and was replaced by her Princess Diaries co-star Hathaway shortly before filming began. Moore reportedly left the project because she felt uncomfortable with the film's subject matter. Jena Malone was originally set to play Emily, but left the project shortly after Moore's departure.

Principal photography took place around Southern California, including Los Angeles, Altadena, Brentwood, and Santa Monica, in the fall of 2003.

Havoc was not given a theatrical release in the United States but received one overseas, grossing $371,000 on a $9 million budget.^[2]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 45% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10.^[13]

Lisa Nesselson of Variety claimed that the film "too often feels like a gussied-up '50s-style treatise about the dangers of nice girls flirting with social rebels", and suggested that the film be retitled Slumming for Dummies.^[5] Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide stated that the picture was a minor effort that was even more disappointing after considering the highly regarded names who had worked on the film, most notably Academy Award-winners Kopple and Gaghan.^[14] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times was among the few noted critics who praised the film, calling it "harrowing and authentic", and also claimed that it might have made his list of top 10 films for 2005 had it received a proper theatrical release in the United States.^[15]

Various critics praised Hathaway's performance in the film, with Christopher Null stating that her turn proved "without a doubt that she has been underutilized as an actress for far too long."^[16]

• Slum tourism

• Havoc at IMDb  
• Havoc at Box Office Mojo  
• Havoc at Rotten Tomatoes