Review of House at the End of the Street (2012) by Bob R — 15 Feb 2014

Yeah, It wasn't my idea to watch this one, but I think Jennifer Lawrence is an impressive new actress, so I thought fuck it, I'll go with it. The fuck was I thinking. There's a whole bunch about this movie that is balls, but I figured I'll at least make a review out of it. So I guess I'm gonna get right into it.

Elissa and her mom just moved into a new neighbourhood in this nice house. It's right next to another home, that has a young man around the same age living there. His parents were killed by their own daughter, so the guy lives alone. Elissa, being the rambunctious teen she is, ignores her mom and everyone in the neighbourhood when they say the guy is bad news. She decides to befriend him, and learn about his troubled past. Everybody keeps talking about how there are some people you can't fix, but Elissa doesn't listen. She sees the good in this guy, but she eventually stumbles upon some horrifying secrets that put her in extreme danger.

Fuck, first thing that comes to mind when thinking back on this one, would probably be how ridiculously riddled with cliches it is. The writing is about as colourful as cardboard, and the performances are pretty stiff. Not to say Lawrence doesn't try saving this one, but for everybody involved, nobody is at their best here. The characters are boring, and the whole plot is pretty predictable in terms of where the movie ends up finishing. The cinematography is pretty trashy, and at times I felt like I was watching a made for TV movie. The movie is a hybrid of mystery, thriller, and horror, but never really decides on one style. Not just this, but the whole movie really isn't that scary. I mean shit, most of the movie is just her and her mom hangin' around the house, while she periodically goes to hang out with the neighbour, or taking part in tiresome cliche high school movie activities. It's bland, boring, and pretty uneventful. The script is a completely whole other aspect of the movie that makes it bad. I don't really want to put blame on the actors, because I think they tried with what they we're given. And what they got was horseshit. The dialogue is down right cringe worthy, and adds nothing to the movie, but rather takes a lot away.

The movie does feature a twist into the finale, but it really just falls short. It's funny, because the director made it seem as if the twist would just leave you floored, and change the whole film, but by the time the turn of events comes into play, I was way too bored to care. Not just this, but the ending is buttfuck stupid. Not the actual conclusion in general. The overall conclusion is bad, not horrible, just way too predictable and formulaic. No real risk taking was involved going into the movie's ending. Just the final sequences before the credits roll is what got me. Holy fuck. I knew it was shit well before the end, but that little ending solidified how fucking bad it is. While Jennifer Lawrence does try hard to salvage some kind of positive, interesting aspect from the movie, it's not enough to save this bag of Raccoon piss.

House at the End of the Street is cheaply made, cheaply acted, and painfully uneventful. It's poor twist just contributes to it's lazy, low quality.