House at the End of the Street Review
House at the End of the StreetDirector: Mark Tonderai
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Max Thieriot, Gill Bellows
Year: 2012
Prime example of a suspenseful scary movie that gets a creepy name for the sake of it. There are like two houses on that damn street! Anyway, with the power of Netflix I recently watched House at the End of the Street. And like most movies I watch, I thought I’d have to watch it again before really knowing my full opinion. And yeah, I’m glad I did, because it really felt like two different movies. The first time I watched it, I thought it was a pretty good suspense movie. I fell right into the whole big surprise, and I was on the edge of my seat, and I remember thinking the mom and daughter relationship was good. But then just watching it now with my critique goggles on, it felt worse. And this is why I think a lot of critics shouldn’t judge a movie the first time they see it, because it does change the movie. Anyway, not that original, it’s a typical horror flick. The new girl in town becomes friends with the neighbor, but the neighbors’ family was killed by his sister, and he’s now the local freaky dude, but he seems like a nice dude. And yeah, besides that it didn’t have much. There was a mother daughter relationship going on, but not much else. And there’s a long period of time where there is pretty much no suspense, just character and world building. And that portion I’d say seemed a lot worse. I mean it really felt bad. The writing didn’t feel like teenagers, which doesn’t help when Jennifer Lawrence looks to old for her role anyway. And one person in the movie even listens to cassette tapes. Then Jennifer Lawrence’s character is like, "Oh still using cassettes.” How old was that dude? I’ve had people get weird looks from using CDs in the year 2012, let alone cassettes. It’s like why? Also the mother daughter relationship I remembered for being good actually wasn’t really that good at all when I had critique goggles on. But then things start to get going, and it gets going. Then there’s a big reveal, and I found the movie around this point to be pretty good from then on. I know it was because I didn’t have my brain on thinking mode, but I didn’t guess the big reveal, which was pretty good. And it had back-story, and the characters felt like they had past. They referenced things and did things, and it gave them depth. As for the actors, nobody sucked. Jennifer Lawrence was great, which I guess is to be expected. I mean Oscar winner over here is in teenage suspense movie that got shitty reviews… yeah, not a good call. The guy planning the nice creepy dude I think at times was a little off at some parts, but he did a good job. That last picture you’ll see in the movie, yeah I give him props for that. As for everyone else they’re not great, but they get the job done. The character list is pretty small though. But it’s still just a very typical movie, and doesn’t really give much value. It’s entertaining for a first view, and good enough to sit through, but I don’t think I’ll ever feel the need to see this movie ever again. Do I think it’s good, no. But I remember being entertained and getting hooked in, and that’s about all it tries to do. It’s not trying to be much, but it’s still a good movie. Er, maybe average to above average is better. But just saying, if the main actress was somebody who was your non experienced horror movie actress, and not Jennifer Lawrence, it probably would be worse, she kind of saved the movie. But yeah, I think somebody will fall into the suspense. I was thinking on a level that didn’t make sense. I said the "What?” and "Huh,” at the moments you’re suppose to, and I genuinely was asking what would be next, and was satisfied. And there are some really good moments, like that last moment again. I got chills just from that. But in the end, it just seems to be a very eh movie. Some suspense, some good parts, some bad parts, you’ve probably seen it a couple times before, and will see them a couple times again. It had its own thing, but that doesn’t really separate it enough when what it had wasn’t that great to begin with. It’s just above average at best for me, hitting a light six. But maybe from now on you will wonder what’s going on at the house on the end of your street… that has two houses on it. Yeah, not that good of a movie.
House at the End of the Street gets a 3/5
Spoilers: Okay, that face in the tree, was I the only one who didn’t see that thing? I’m still confused on that! Anyway, yeah, the kid turned out to be a really disturbed dude. But it’s okay, because in his insanity the mom and daughter came closer together… sort of. They should have had a seen after that. But the whole Carry-Ann thing I thought was good. I kept having to guess, and I didn’t think in the end he kidnapped people and disguised them as his sister. It got me. And seeing it in the view of the girl going from villain to person trying to leave a home prison on drugs was a cool switch, but still not worth seeing the movie twice. But still that last moment, it was cool. Anyway, a good enough movie, but nothing that special. That cop that had the tiniest role ever might be a good example.
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