House at the End of the Street
Director: Mark Tonderai
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Elisabeth Shue, and Max Thieriot
New Release Review
As a self-proclaimed scaredy-cat, I was hesitant to see House at the End of the Street. Especially in the movie theatre, on a Friday night, at 10:00pm. But alas, I stepped up to the plate on the hopes that this wouldn't be another ghost story that would have me running out of the theatre screaming bloody murder.
The plot starts off like your typical horror film: single mother moves with her outcast teenage daughter to a rural upscale town to start their lives over. They find the house of their dreams, which of course is super cheap because, although conveniently not advertised on the listing, it's next door to a house where a family was murdered.
Everything starts off peachy (as in all horror films) and the teenage daughter, Elissa (Lawrence) becomes involved (shocker!) with the mysterious stranger who lives in the aforementioned "murder" house. As the stranger, Ryan, who turns out to be the brother of the young girl who murdered her parents in their home (don't worry - this is not a spoiler - you find this out right away), begins to open up to Elissa, things start to get strange. And I won't delve any further into the plot because that will head into spoiler country.
The story felt like it was taken from an episode of Criminal Minds. Not a ghost story or even killer-stalking-its-victims-for-revenge type story. It was more psychological. And seeing as it was marketed as a horror film, I can see why a lot of people were disappointed with this film. It wasn't scary. Well, the actual filming was sometimes quite scary - scary bad! It was so choppy at times, I wasn't sure what was going on because I couldn't look at the screen much longer! The story dragged here and there but never quite picked up speed until closer to the end of the film. The twist was okay. Not stellar. Not horrible. Just okay. It's been done. Some say this film is to Psycho what Disturbia was to Rear Window. I would say that comment is pretty on point.
Lawrence is great in this role, considering what little she had to work with. She demonstrates characteristics of an actor well beyond her years (she's only 22) and with each role she once again solidifies her calibre as an Oscar-worthy actress. (She was nominated for an Academy Award in 2010 for Winter's Bone)
The supporting cast was dull to say the least. Without spoiling the "twist" (which you can probably see coming from the get-go) the film's antagonist was utterly non-scary. Shouldn't you be at least a little terrified of the bad guy? Especially if this is supposed to be a "horror/thriller"?
Final Verdict: See it. Simply because anything Jennifer Lawrence is in these days is worth seeing. It might not be the most thrilling thriller (haha) out there but it's an okay episode of Criminal Minds. Oops I mean it's an okay film - as long as you know what you're in for.
Rotten Tomatoes
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