Wednesday, October 24, 2012

House at the End of the Street (2012)





RATED- PG-13
RUN TIME- 101 MINS
WRITERS- DAVID LOUCKA AND JONATHAN MOSTOW
STARRING- JENNIFER LAWRENCE, MAX THIERIOT AND ELISABETH SHUE
DIRECTOR- MARK TONDERAI



Synopsis taken from IMDb
Newly divorced Sarah and her daughter Elissa find the house of their dreams in a small, upscale, rural town. But when startling and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret. 




House at the End of the Street was originally set for an April 2012 release but got pushed back 'til September 21st, 2012. While the movie seemed to have success with it's target audience (teenagers), it received mostly negative reviews.

Jennifer Lawrence plays the lead, Elissa. Lawrence is know for her roles in Winter's Bone (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011) and more recently smash film The Hunger Games (2012), based after the popular book series. A sequel for The Hunger Games is in the works and set for a 2013 release.


Max Thieriot, who's known from the movie Jumper (2008) plays the weird neighbor with a secret. As well as Elissa's love interest.

Shortly after moving into their dream home, Elissa and Sarah find out a secret. Years earlier, in the house next door, a murder happened. The daughter of the family, Carrie-Ann, killed her parents and vanished. Leaving Ryan behind and alone. Ryan still lives in the house alone. Some say Carrie-Ann is living in the woods, but no one knows where she is for sure or if she's even alive.

The townspeople hate Ryan and treat him as an outcast, because he not only reminds them all of the tragedy that happened, but he refuses to move. His refusal to move is driving down property values in the neighborhood. They want his house demolished. A lone police officer supports Ryan, knowing Ryan is a good kid who's been dealt a bad hand from life.


Sarah accidentally bumps into Ryan and they like each other. Sarah, isn't happy with this so she makes Elissa and Ryan promise that they won't hang around each other unless Sarah is home. Sarah makes it clear that she doesn't trust Ryan with her daughter.

Against Sarah's wishes Elissa and Ryan continue to sneak around and see each other. Ryan begins to reveal more about his sister Carrie-Ann. Ryan tells Elissa he was sent away to take care of a sickly aunt and wasn't home when the murders happened to his parents.

Throughout the film, we see Ryan going into a back room and taking care of the hostile Carrie-Ann. I'm not giving away spoilers, don't worry. They reveal this point in the trailer, so if you know of this movie you already know. Ryan tells Carrie-Ann not to mess with Elissa because he likes her.


While visiting Elissa at a battle of the bands competition at her high school, Ryan's car is vandalized and he is jumped by a group of teens jealous that he's dating Elissa. Ryan breaks one of the bully's ankle's in self defense and runs home. Elissa follows him in order to stop his house from being burned down by the disgruntled teens. But when she arrives will she find out Ryan's secret? And will Ryan be able to save her from the wrath of Carrie-Ann?

I thought this movie started off good, had good suspense and alot of mystery. Unfortunately, this only lasts about 20 minutes. It quickly becomes very boring and predictable. So essentially I was just waiting for the movie to go off.

This movie wasn't scary at all. There was one or two quick jumps that I didn't see coming, but that's it. Nothing scary and no suspense. I figured out the twist rather early and wasn't impressed. If you watch alot of horror you'll see what I mean.


I was hoping this film would be as scary and chilling as they made it look in the trailer. This film is one of those that makes the trailer look better than the film is capable. It's completely hollow, a hollow shell of a horror film. I was giving it the benefit of the doubt, but this film was another bad attempt at a PG-13 horror movie.

The very last scene tries to pull another twist and take a kind of Sleepaway Camp twist. At this point the movie's beyond saving and the twist falls flat. I already had the twist figured out way before the end and yet again I wasn't impressed.


THIS FILM GETS 1 1/2 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5





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