Review: House at the End of the Street

Review: House at the End of the Street

by Eli Henry

 With a name a little too similar to Wes Craven's masterpiece 'Last House On the Left', I went into 'House at the End of the Street' without reading any interviews, and seeing little footage (as not to either influence my opinion or spoil too much). I'm going to be honest with you, I like Max Thieriot (My Soul to Take, Jumper, etc.) and Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games, X-Men: First Class, etc.), so I did have an expectation for at the very least decent performances. I was right.


 House at the End of the Street is a fantastic modern horror film, and was money well-spent. Jennifer Lawrence stars as Ellisa, a teenage girl who has just moved into a house next door to a home where a young girl named Carrie Ann murdered her parents, and her brother, Ryan (Max Thieriot) now lives, alone. 

 House at the End of the Street is for the most part a mystery, until the last half-hour. Max Thieriot gives his best performance yet as Ryan, and Mark Tonderai's direction gives the film a lot of its power and suspense. Two surprisingly good characters were the local cop, Bill, and Ellisa's dick-ish teenage neighbor. While there is teen relationship drama, it never feels like it's too much or overly-dramatic, and it fits well into the story. Despite how the trailer makes it seem, this movie is completely set within the real world, and has no supernatural elements. Now, time for some talk about the ending.

SPOILERS FOLLOW

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 The ending of House at the End of the Street is essentially a rehash of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho', with the seemingly-stable male lead turning out to be a total nutjob due to mistreatment by his parents. However, this doesn't mean I didn't like it. I think the build-up and reveal of Ryan's backstory was done incredibly well, and neither Max Thieriot, nor Jennifer Lawrence's performances ever faltered.

 Overall, I give it 9/10

 This is a great and, for the most part, original horror film, and the best non-comedic one I've seen in years. Go check it out.