Review: House at the End of the Street (2012)

Following a recent post by fellow blogger Laurie, a praise of all things Jennifer Lawrence, I decided that it might be a good thing to go back and look at some of the work she’s done that I’m not familiar with.  I’ve been enjoying her performances thus far and truly do think that she’ll be one of the actresses to watch during the next decade or so.  As it turns out, like any actress new to the trade, not everything she’s done has been spectacular.  House at the End of the Street was one of these turkeys.

The story is pretty basic.  A single mom and her teenaged daughter move to the middle of nowhere to get away from the city.  The next door house happens to have been the site of a murder four years back.  A crazed daughter killed her parents and now only the son lives there, fixing the place up.  The daughter (not the crazy one), played by Jennifer Lawrence, makes friends with the boy next door.  Nobody else likes him, thinking he’s a freak because he still lives in the house where his parents were killed.

As the story progresses, we realize that the son’s sister is still alive, being kept in the basement under the influence of drugs.  She apparently survived and he’s taking care of her to make sure that no one tries to take her away.  Of course, things aren’t as simple as all that and, after a few twists, Lawrence must face off against her neighbor.

It’s hard to talk about it without giving away the “twist” that defines the film, so I’ll just let the criticism flow instead.  First of all, this movie actually does a decent job of presenting somewhat believable characters, though this is mostly due to the acting.  Lawrence manages to bring life to her character, but still can’t manage to save the film once it degenerates into the final confrontation.  The script itself is a bit cliché, but if done correctly may have turned out a better film.

The main problems, at least to one such as me who is a hound for editing issues, seems to be that there are too many things that are glossed over when it comes to the execution of the tension.  The last scene is done well for the most part, but the director ignores some very basic elements that crash that tension over and over.  Hear someone smashing through a window in your garage?  Then why did you not look for that person and why are you surprised when you notice the broken window?  How do you drive your car somewhere and still manage to leave your keys in the door at your house?  It’s the little things like this that throw you out of the story and destroy what tension has been building.

All-in-all, it’s mediocre, but a mediocre horror film is comparable to a really bad comedy.  It takes a special touch to make a horror film that is more than cliché these days, and House at the End of the Street does not have that touch, despite Lawrence putting in a great performance.  I don’t know if I would be as harsh as to rate it the amazingly low 11% that it received on Rotten Tomatoes, but I wouldn’t suggest that anyone go out of their way to see this film.

House at the End of the Street promo courtesy of mobivity.com