Review House at the End of the Street (2012): One for the rainy Sundays!

genre: horror, thriller

If a poster is telling you there is an awesome twist then you know it is not going to make good on it's promise. In case you do believe this let me help you out of that dream: NO IT IS NOT AWESOME OR SCARY!

 

House at the end of the street could have been so much more since it clearly shows it has the potential. This film is proof how important a director can be to translate such potential to the screen. In this case Mark Tonderai fails to.

From the title you might have gotten the impression this is one of so many haunted house stories. And there was enough there to make it seem like that way. Which would have added to the viewing experience. Yet too soon any hint towards the supernatural is crushed by a turn in the story that in my opinion came far too soon. Then the director seems to be more focused on the dynamics between mother Elisabeth Shue and daughter Jennifer Lawrence. Which was nice to set up the tension between them but it has no bearing to the overall story. And thus ends up a waste of time. Then the thriller elements kicks in that start out promising  and even offer a decent amount of suspense which sadly never supersedes mediocrity. A lot could have been done to add suspense or thrills. Like adding some good old red herrings. I know some people don't care about those and want the blood and the gore. Guess what there is none. Luckily I am not one of those horror fans who find that to be necessary. One can thrill in several other ways. But director Mark Tonderai does nothing of the sort and goes for the easy and predictable solutions. Not even bothering to surprise or reward the viewer for watching at the end of this film. 

So is it a title that is worth your time? It is not bad by any means. Only it’s not particular good either. For me this is one of those titles I reserve for rainy Sundays when nothing else is on. I think Jennifer Lawrence fans will watch this regardless. And perhaps will fall for the charm of Max Thieriot. He shows promise and did what he could with his role and is bound to impress the ones who watch this. Other than that there is nothing going on that needs mentioning.