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It's said that some artists welcome a degree of chaos into their lives in order to inspire greater drama in their work, and a young writer finds this notion taking over his life in this independent drama. David (Jeff Feher) is an aspiring novelist who pays a visit to the neighborhood where he grew up and finds that a house famous as the site of a notorious killing is inhabited by the Contreras family. The family has a room for rent and David takes it, hoping to use the space as an office for his work. But David finds himself coming under the thumb of Hal (Bill Krauss), the domineering head of the house, and discovers that the ups and downs of the family's emotional well-being seem to have a direct effect on his writing. Alcatraz Avenue was the first feature for writer and director Tom Edgar; the film was shown in competition at the 2000 American Film Institute Film Festival.