House at the End of the Street is a new teen horror-thriller which sees daughter Elissa [Jennifer Lawrence] and mother Sarah [Elisabeth Sue], move to a new town to seek a fresh start, only to find they are living next door to a house where a girl murdered her parents. Elissa begins to form a relationship with the surviving son of the family, Ryan [Max Thieriot], as their relationship develops mysterious things begin to happen and things start to take a turn for the worse.
House at the End of the Street is written by David Loucka, [who also wrote other horror-thriller, Dream House which was poorly received by audiences and critics alike. Surprising given its leading A-list stars, Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz]. It does contain some jumpy moments and while it won’t win horror event of the year it still makes for a reasonably entertaining watch.
The good:
The main attraction for most audience members is seeing post Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence trying a fresh role. She is great as Elissa, the daughter who is in search of fresh start. There are similar traits to her character in this and in The Hunger Games. She has a great on screen presence and plays the kind of woman in distress role well.
Max Thieriot plays mysterious neighbor Ryan, who is both charming and creepy at the same time and suggests that he has a few skeletons left in the closet. He starts off in the movie quiet and reserved, and as the story progresses Elissa and Ryan become ever closer and you find out there is more to him and his past. Fortunately there is great chemistry between the two and it is what carries the movie.
The story also taps into subjects such as paranoia, obsession, loneliness, which are similar to previous horror films such as Disturbia, The Resident. The film does offer some decent jumpy moments but is in desperate need of more and offers an average twist which is only properly revealed at the end.
House at the End of the Street Poster
The bad:
The film’s main fault is its unimaginative title and even though it features some scares it is predictable in places. It’s a horror by numbers, which slowly unravels into a kind of catch the psycho thriller. It also features every convention you would expect from the genre, such as deserted basements, torches that don’t work or unreliable cops.
Conclusion:
Overall, House at the End of the Street, features great performances from the two leads [particularly from Jennifer Lawrence], the film may lack scares and isn’t a full-blown horror, but if it’s a decent thriller you’re looking for then this should be right up your street.