House at the End of the Street
3/4
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Max Theriot, Elisabeth Shue, Gil Bellows, Nolan Gerard Funk
Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence and Terror, Thematic Elements, Some Teen Partying and Brief Drug Material
At first glance, "House at the End of the Street" looks to be another generic teen ghost story. You know, lots of cheese CGI monsters and loud jumps every 10 seconds (without any true terror), no gore or nudity, acting challenged yet photogenic teen stars and usually remakes of horror flicks from across the Pacific.
But looks can be deceiving. For starters, there's no ghost to be found. Second, there isn't a haunted house. Finally, it's not a remake. It's an original story by Jonathan Mostow (who co-wrote and directed "U-571") and a script by David Loucka. Most importantly, it contains some effectively tense scenes.
Elissa (Lawrence) has just moved to a new town with her mother Sarah (Shue). They're living in a gorgeous house, which they can only afford because the house next door was the location of a double homicide: a young girl brutally murdered her parents a few years earlier. The girl ran off and is thought to be dead. The only survivor is the girl's brother Ryan (Theriot), who wasn't there at the time of the murders. He's still living in the house, by himself, no less, and after they meet one rainy night, Elissa starts to like the guy. Of course, the story that everyone believes isn't exactly the truth.
After scoring an Oscar nomination for "Winter's Bone" and starring in "The Hunger Games," the third biggest movie of the year (after "The Avengers" and "The Dark Knight Rises"), Jennifer Lawrence has become a hot commodity. Unlike wannabes like Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner (whose hideous performances will finally end once the "Twilight" franchise wraps up this November), it's easy to understand why she's become so popular. Lawrence is a natural talent with an unforced acting style. While Lawrence isn't going to get any acting awards for this film (Relativity Media is doing surprisingly little promotion for this movie. Maybe they didn't know what they had on their hands or it turned out to be different than they imagined. And these types of movies aren't noticed by any big awards anyway), she does good work. Elissa is a normal girl; unlike Bella Swan, her interest in the local misfit isn't due to a sexist need for protection, it's because she likes "fixing" people. It doesn't take long for the audience to get behind her.
Lawrence is surrounded by a solid supporting cast. Elisabeth Shue is quite good as Elissa's mother. The relationship between the two is believable. Max Theriot is effective, much better than his deer-in-the-headlights turn in the unspeakably bad "My Soul to Take." His performance is low-key and mellow, but that becomes a detriment towards the end of the film. Also worth mentioning are Gil Bellows, who plays a very sympathetic cop (his tentative relationship with Sarah is underdeveloped, however), and Nolan Gerard Funk, who plays the local "golden boy who's really a sadistic sociopath." Funk is quite convincing.
I liked how this movie surprised me. I'm not talking about M. Night Shyamalan-ish twists, however. The film continuously evolves in ways I didn't expect. For example, the townspeople don't regard Ryan and his house with fear; they view him with disdain because the house's history drives down their property value. Also, director Mark Tonderai doesn't fill up his movie with lots of cheap shocks; he takes time to develop his characters so we sympathize with them. He also goes against the conventions of the genre. Ten minutes into the film, I thought I knew exactly where this film was going. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was dead wrong. And Tonderai manages to do something that many directors, even good ones, are unable to: fool us into thinking that the film is going in one way while it's really going in another.
The problem with the film is its final act. It isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it could have been better. With stronger direction, it could have been a real nail-biter.
I don't hesitate to encourage thriller fans to seek this movie out.
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Max Theriot, Elisabeth Shue, Gil Bellows, Nolan Gerard Funk
Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence and Terror, Thematic Elements, Some Teen Partying and Brief Drug Material
At first glance, "House at the End of the Street" looks to be another generic teen ghost story. You know, lots of cheese CGI monsters and loud jumps every 10 seconds (without any true terror), no gore or nudity, acting challenged yet photogenic teen stars and usually remakes of horror flicks from across the Pacific.
But looks can be deceiving. For starters, there's no ghost to be found. Second, there isn't a haunted house. Finally, it's not a remake. It's an original story by Jonathan Mostow (who co-wrote and directed "U-571") and a script by David Loucka. Most importantly, it contains some effectively tense scenes.
Elissa (Lawrence) has just moved to a new town with her mother Sarah (Shue). They're living in a gorgeous house, which they can only afford because the house next door was the location of a double homicide: a young girl brutally murdered her parents a few years earlier. The girl ran off and is thought to be dead. The only survivor is the girl's brother Ryan (Theriot), who wasn't there at the time of the murders. He's still living in the house, by himself, no less, and after they meet one rainy night, Elissa starts to like the guy. Of course, the story that everyone believes isn't exactly the truth.
After scoring an Oscar nomination for "Winter's Bone" and starring in "The Hunger Games," the third biggest movie of the year (after "The Avengers" and "The Dark Knight Rises"), Jennifer Lawrence has become a hot commodity. Unlike wannabes like Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner (whose hideous performances will finally end once the "Twilight" franchise wraps up this November), it's easy to understand why she's become so popular. Lawrence is a natural talent with an unforced acting style. While Lawrence isn't going to get any acting awards for this film (Relativity Media is doing surprisingly little promotion for this movie. Maybe they didn't know what they had on their hands or it turned out to be different than they imagined. And these types of movies aren't noticed by any big awards anyway), she does good work. Elissa is a normal girl; unlike Bella Swan, her interest in the local misfit isn't due to a sexist need for protection, it's because she likes "fixing" people. It doesn't take long for the audience to get behind her.
Lawrence is surrounded by a solid supporting cast. Elisabeth Shue is quite good as Elissa's mother. The relationship between the two is believable. Max Theriot is effective, much better than his deer-in-the-headlights turn in the unspeakably bad "My Soul to Take." His performance is low-key and mellow, but that becomes a detriment towards the end of the film. Also worth mentioning are Gil Bellows, who plays a very sympathetic cop (his tentative relationship with Sarah is underdeveloped, however), and Nolan Gerard Funk, who plays the local "golden boy who's really a sadistic sociopath." Funk is quite convincing.
I liked how this movie surprised me. I'm not talking about M. Night Shyamalan-ish twists, however. The film continuously evolves in ways I didn't expect. For example, the townspeople don't regard Ryan and his house with fear; they view him with disdain because the house's history drives down their property value. Also, director Mark Tonderai doesn't fill up his movie with lots of cheap shocks; he takes time to develop his characters so we sympathize with them. He also goes against the conventions of the genre. Ten minutes into the film, I thought I knew exactly where this film was going. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was dead wrong. And Tonderai manages to do something that many directors, even good ones, are unable to: fool us into thinking that the film is going in one way while it's really going in another.
The problem with the film is its final act. It isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it could have been better. With stronger direction, it could have been a real nail-biter.
I don't hesitate to encourage thriller fans to seek this movie out.
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