House At The End Of The Street? More like House At The End Of My List

Words cannot describe how excited I was to go and see House At The End Of The Street. My usual movie partner and I were joined by our two other roommates, and the four of us were pumped for a good scare. 

photo courtesy of imdb.com

The movie follows 17-year-old, and full of teen angst, Elissa. Along with her newly divorced mother, the two move from the ultra urban Chicago to the extremely rural, but somewhat upscale town in Pennsylvania. Lucky for them, a horrific double murder occurred there, driving down property values and making a dream house affordable for the pair. Four years prior a crazed daughter attacked and murdered her parents in the middle of the night, before disappearing herself. The only catch- their house is the one next door to the house the murders took place in. Oh, and that's the only other house nearby. The mureder house is supposed to be empty, but the couple’s surviving son is living there alone.

Ryan, the surviving son, is a few years older than Elissa, lives alone, and is pretty good looking. Basically, every mother’s nightmare. Naturally, Elissa and Ryan start a relationship, against Sarah’s wishes. As Ryan and Elissa grow closer, he reveals more and more about his past. He does manage to leave out that he’s hiding his psychopath sister, Carrie-Ann in his basement. 

After seeing the movie that first thing I have to say is that whoever wrote the script needs to take some more writing classes. ASAP. The dialogue was atrocious. I thought my ears were going to bleed, it was that bad. I don’t understand how that writing was accepted for anything more than a straight-to-dvd, b-horror movie with no recognizable stars. Even my roommates, who are not as critical as I am, mentioned how terrible the writing was. So if you decide to go see the movie for yourself, don’t say you weren’t warned. 

The next point I have to make is that some of the story-lines were just a little ridiculous to me. I’m not talking about the horror aspect either. It was the supporting scenes about Elissa. First of all, Elissa is the new girl in town, so obviously she does not have any friends to start off with. However, since she is the new girl, and there is some mystery in that, she automatically gets invited to a party. There, while trying to take a break from the madness, she finds a quiet bedroom- complete with a passed out girl on the bed. Elissa decides it would be nice to cover up the drunken mess; who not two minutes later gets up to vomit. Fast-forward to the next day at school. Somehow the drunk mess, who’s real name is Jillian, remembers that Elissa tried to help her, and they become insta-friends. Like, inseparable, right off the bat. I’m sorry, but to me that whole scenario is so unrealistic. Doesn’t Jillian have any other friends? Because, the audience doesn’t see them. That’s not the only ridiculous plot line either, but in the interest of not giving away the entire movie, I’ll stop there, and just let that example sit with you. 

Moving on. If you can’t tell by now, I wasn’t the biggest fan of House At The End Of The Street. I do have to say that it wasn’t the central plot of the movie that bothered me. The whole idea, and big reveal were crazy, or weird enough, that they actually could’ve worked to make a pretty creepy movie. My biggest problem was the execution of the film. The way the whole thing was put together just ruined any promise the original idea held. The terrible script, and the scenes and story-lines just did not work. The acting was even fine. I think what makes me the maddest is the wasted potential. There was so much there to work with, and in the end, when everything was said and done, it all just fell apart. 

photo courtesy of imdb.com

As I mentioned in my preview, one of the main reasons I was originally excited to see House At The End Of The Street was because of the film’s star; Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence made a big screen bang earlier this year with the wildly successful The Hunger Games. Lawrence has time and again proved she is a strong and talented actress and can lead a movie. In House At The End Of The Street  Lawrence did the best she could with what she had. The acting in the movie was not one of its many flaws. The supporting actors that I mentioned in my preview (Elisabeth Shue as Sarah and Max Thieriot as Ryan) did as best they could with what they were given too. Shue played well into the working single mother, who may not know exactly what to do with a 17-year-old daughter, role. Thieriot was actually somewhat impressive as Ryan. He walked the line of being a damaged survivor, who is misunderstood and hated. He was believable as a victim as sorts. He also made a smooth transition to a creepier side. 

For all of the negativity I’ve given this movie, I do have to say that there were a few tense moments when I jumped. There, I said it, there may be a few sneaky, jumpy parts hidden in the mess of House At The End Of The Street. Also, there is a twist- and it's a pretty good one. It had to potential to be a great one. Oh well. 

Overall, I was not a fan. House At The End Of The Street would get a D in my grading book. Don’t even wait for the DVD, just skip this one all together.