Rated
PG-13 (Intense Sequences of Violence and Terror, Thematic Elements, Language,
Some Teen Partying and Brief Drug Material)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 41 Minutes
Cast-
Jennifer
Lawrence-Elissa Cassidy
Max
Thieriot-Ryan Jacobson
Elisabeth
Shue-Sarah Cassidy
Gil
Bellows-Officer Weaver
Eva
Link-Carrie Anne Jacobson
Allie
MacDonald-Jillian
Nolan
Gerard Funk-Tyler Reynolds
Krista
Bridges-Mary Jacobson
John
Healy-John Jacobson
Directed
by Mark Tonderai
 |
| Here she is, the best part of the film. |
Sometimes
it's hard to review a film that elicits little more than a shrug. That film is
"House at the End of the Street" starring Max Thieriot and…Jennifer
Lawrence. Now I know what you're thinking: why would a critically acclaimed
actress like Lawrence appear in such a bland and generic PG-13 horror film?
Well, "House at the End of the Street" was actually completed over
two years ago in 2010 and at the time, Lawrence was still an unknown, forced to
pay her dues by accepting any role that came her way. The release of
"Winter's Bone" that same year changed everything, as Lawrence's
performance as seventeen-year-old Ree Dolly earned her a Best Actress
nomination at the 83rd Academy Awards in 2011, the second-youngest actress to
date to be nominated for that category. Since then, Lawrence's fame has risen
significantly and she cemented her newfound celebrity status by accepting the
role of Katniss Everdeen in the film adaptation of Suzanne Collins'
best-selling novel, "The Hunger Games." Directed by Gary Ross and
released back in March, "The Hunger Games" reaped a massive $685
million worldwide, turning Lawrence into the highest-grossing action heroine of
all time. Relativity Media decided to capitalize on her current popularity by
delaying the release of "House at the End of the Street" to
late-September 2012. Shelved for the past two years, "House at the End of
the Street" is a clichéd, mediocre teen horror flick that blatantly rips
off of Alfred Hitchcock…and I bet those same teens have not even heard of him.
Lawrence would be wise to omit this terrible film from her résumé when pursuing
future roles.
Moving away from Chicago in an attempt to seek a fresh start,
recent divorcee Sarah Cassidy (Elisabeth Shue) and her teenage daughter Elissa
(Jennifer Lawrence) settle into a peaceful, upscale neighborhood in rural
Pennsylvania when they find the house of their dreams for a surprisingly low
rental price. The reason for this is that four years ago, in the house next
door, a young girl named Carrie-Ann (Eva Link) murdered her own parents in
their beds and subsequently fled into the woods. Although her body was never
found, it is believed that she drowned in a nearby dam. The family is survived
by their son, Ryan Jacobson (Max Thieriot), who now resides in his deceased
parent's house and goes to school at the local community college. The
neighbors, angry about their lowered property values, seek to demolish the
Jacobson house and sell it but Ryan refuses to leave despite the local's
hostile reactions toward him. While walking home one night from a high school
party, Elissa encounters Ryan, who offers her a ride home. She initially
refuses but is forced to take his offer when a freak thunderstorm occurs. The
two are immediately taken with each other and embark on a relationship despite
Sarah's suspicions. However, Ryan isn't as innocent as he looks and harbors
some dark secrets, ones that put Elissa in danger as she continues to grow
closer and closer to him.
As a horror film, "House at the End of the
Street" is rather old-school, focusing on character drama and suspense but
the problem is that director Mark Tonderai fails spectacularly on both
accounts. Based on a story by Jonathan Mostow, the script from David Loucka
(who was also responsible for the disastrous "Dream House" last year)
is just one tired cliché after another. The so-called 'drama' almost put me to
sleep due to the weakly-written characters, which can be simplified to the
rebellious teenage daughter, her exasperated mother, and the emotionally distant
boy-next-door. Ryan's secret is revealed fairly early, which is a big mistake
from Tonderai as any suspense he could've wrung out of the film is now gone as
it devolves into a series of eye-rolling red herrings and predictable twists.
Scares are often telegraphed way in advance and consist of loud noises to jolt
the audience. After all these years, I still cannot wrap my head around the
fact that there are directors who still do not understand the difference
between being afraid and being startled. There are also some unintentionally
laugh-out-loud moments as certain characters behave in an asinine manner,
investigating strange noises by stepping outside the safety of their home and
vulnerably standing out in the open. "House at the End of the Street"
liberally borrows many of its cues from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 seminal classic
"Psycho," and that includes ripping off from its story while dumbing
it down for today's teenage audience. Tonderai tries to build tension by mixing
a number of filmmaking techniques but the differing styles messily clash with
each other. Simple dialogue scenes suffer from an errant camera and are
choppily edited together. The climax devolves into a generic cat-and-mouse game
that is blatantly stolen from "The Silence of the Lambs" but by then
you just don't even care anymore.
The acting is sub-par, with Jennifer Lawrence
giving a sleepy performance as rebellious teenager Elissa. Of course, it's not
entirely her fault as the blame really lies with the weak script from Loucka.
Male teenagers will probably get a kick out of seeing her in a tank top, which
is just sad if you're willing to pay $13.00 for something you can find online.
Elisabeth Shue never looks at ease as Sarah and the mother-daughter
relationship with Lawrence never feels authentic. Max Thieriot's role is the
most difficult to pull off and not surprisingly, he proves that he's not up to
the task as he spends much of the film with a strained, constipated expression,
much like Robert Pattinson in "Twilight"! Finally, there's Gil Bellows
as a police officer named Weaver, who must hold the record of fastest death
from a stab wound.
Released on September 21, 2012, "House at the End of
the Street" has received negative reviews with 12% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Critics called it 'poorly conceived, clumsily executed, and almost completely
bereft of scares.' I attended an advance screening of the film last Thursday
and the audience treated it like it was a comedy, which is never a good sign.
Unfortunately, people still came out in droves, allowing it to turn a small
profit with its $12.3 million weekend debut as the production budget was only a
mere $7 million. Honestly, I'm absolutely flabbergasted but then again, I
shouldn't really be surprised considering the tastes of today's teenagers. There
really is nothing more that I can say except for the fact that Relativity Media
should've just shelved this crap forever. "House at the End of the
Street" isn't the worst film I've seen all year but it's just so lifeless.
If you're not going to put in the effort into creating something remotely
original, why should I even bother?
Final
Rating: 2 out of 5
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