Geekscape Movie Reviews: ‘The House at the End of the Street’

With no Dredd 3D showings near me until this evening, I decided to take a stroll down to The House at the End of the Street. It’s a large house, with some pretty faces and some half-decent performances, but is it worth the 101 minutes and your ~$10? Read on to find out!

The film begins with an odd, yet intriguing opening. No introductions, no explanations, just a creepy looking girl slowly stumbling down a hallway. She treks her way to her parents room where she proceeds to kill them both brutally. The scene likely intended to feel much more dramatic, but it felt as though it was executed rather poorly. The camera is constantly jumping around, and irritatingly shifting in and out of focus for the duration, adding a high level of distraction to the scene rather than the discomfort that was likely intended.

The previous scene cuts away, and we’re introduced to Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) and her mother Sarah (Elizabeth Shue). The pair has just moved into the area (made possible due to the events next door causing a huge drop in property value). As seems to be common in these films (even just a few weeks ago in The Possession), the family has been broken by a recent divorce, and mother and daughter are definitely having trouble getting along. I found many of the mother-daughter conversations to be among the weakest points of the film. Dialogue feels extremely forced, and the two characters will needlessly change tones and moods without a moments notice. Maybe this is realistic? I recall my sister doing this frequently.

A BBQ is hosted to welcome the pair to the neighborhood. It’s here that we spend a little  too much time on some extremely disposable characters (most of which we will never see again). The purpose of the feast is to learn how negatively the neighborhood feels about the house and its remaining resident Ryan, the (seemingly) only remaining member of the family. The feeling is extremely negative: though he is said to keep essentially to himself, one of the neighbors mentions that they wouldn’t mind if the house was to burn down with him inside.

The House at the End of the Street took too long to get to this point, and the pace doesn’t seem to ramp up for some time. When we’re finally introduced to the mysterious Ryan, an intense relationship (with an extremely awkward feeling performance from Max Thieriot) seems to bloom between he and Elissa almost instantaneously. He states that he’s never been able to speak to anyone as he can to Elissa, and she appears to eat up every word he says, all within a day or two of meeting.

Ryan of course,  isn’t being completely honest. He seems like a nice enough guy, but it’s then revealed that he keeps his murderous sister locked in the basement. What’s up with that? Seems like Elissa bit off more than she could chew with this one.

The House at the End of the Street was boring. It takes far too long to introduce its characters, and there are very few of them that we actually give a damn about (a decent performance from Jennifer Lawrence was about the only saving grace). Again, much of the dialogue feels forced, and does little to further plot or character. I can’t really pinpoint a time where the experience fell apart for me, because it rarely (if ever) feels like it’s fully together.

We then get a few instances of Cabin in the Woods level stupidity before the finale hits (I loved Cabin in the Woods, I’m referring to the deliberate stupidity of the characters). Ryan conveniently forgets to lock the door that has been constantly locking for years, and then after this puts the key to said door within easy rich of his prisoner. The finale approaches quickly now (though some scenes do seem to drag on forever).

Shortly before the film ends, there is a moment I found absolutely brilliant, that could have redeemed the rest of the experience. Of course however, it goes nowhere, and the rest of The House at the End of the Street degrades back into a nigh-unwatchable mess.

My recommendation: avoid this house at any cost, even if it’s just to tide you over until Dredd 3D shows (check out our review for that one here!).

1.5/5