Critic Reviews
-
A.A. Dowd, Time Out New York
Shockingly uneventful, this horror film marks time until dropping its big, dumb reveal.
-
Stephen Holden, New York Times
A choppily edited, poorly timed mess with little continuity, overloaded with aural shocks in a desperate attempt to compensate for its minimal suspense.
-
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice
Tonderai steers the story cleanly around its queasy hairpin turns, perversely toying with one of pop cinema's most cherished clichés: the audience's inculcated desire to side with the underdog.
-
Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
There are one or two clever plot twists that are subsequently followed up by a cavalcade of ridiculous, credibility-stretching ones.
-
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
What could be so bad about a new Jennifer Lawrence movie that its distributor opts to keep it away from critics and release it with minimal ad support? Please, allow "House at the End of the Street" to answer that question.
-
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
This is the rare horror film so bad you almost wish it had turned into a good old connect-the-gory-dots slasher movie. The only mystery at work is how Lawrence's agent ever let her sign on.
-
Steve Newton, Georgia Straight
A clunky, run-of-the-mill horror flick written by the same guy who penned last year's similarly themed disappointment, Dream House.
-
Eric Melin, Scene-Stealers.com
It isn't very scary, but it does pile a bunch of really tasteless twists on towards the end that make no sense and it almost becomes a comedy. On one hand, is a failure as a horror film, but as an exercise in desperation, it's kind of a hoot
-
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures
exactly what you'd expect from a PG-13 horror movie dropped in September. There's really nothing particularly scary about it, and the story ranges from shaky to thin
-
Jeff Beck, We Got This Covered
House at the End of the Street is nothing more than a lazily-written horror film that falls back on every cliche possible while failing to provide any scares in the process.
-
Jeremy Wheeler, TV Guide's Movie Guide
House at the End of the Street reveals itself to be merely another forgettable PG-13 thriller banking on the brain-dead mall crowd to tweet their unending love for a crummy feast such as this.
-
John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
The screenplay has a nice twist that could have supported a stylish giallo-style thriller; unfortunately, director Mark Tonderai delivers a mess -- an almost random tangle of choppy edits, handheld camera, 'shock' sound effects and other horror cliches.
-
Bruce Bennett, Spectrum (St. George, Utah)
Formulaic, unoriginal suspense thriller aided by a plot twist and good leads, that might delight the less-gore-is-more teenage audience.
-
Jackie K. Cooper, jackiekcooper.com
A routine 'Don't go down to the basement' thriller, but watching Jennifer Lawrence go through her paces makes it enjoyable.
-
Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing
The filmmakers elect to emphasize every plot point and telegraph every plot twist with the delicacy of a train blaring its horn as it approaches a crossing -- and yet that isn't even their greatest sin.
-
Sandy Schaefer, ScreenRant
Borrows so liberally from other movies that it could have been fascinating, but due to confused direction and a mishmash of acting, it's ultimately bland and forgettable.
-
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
Lawrence is fine as the solo-parented teen and Thieriot does a mean Tony Perkins (circa Pretty Poison, but on downers), but the sheer tedium of the storyline means you never really care about any of them.
-
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
[T]he scariest thing about [this] is that this sort of junk is considered a good career move for a young actress who's just come off a small film from a respected indie director...
-
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Saying that House at the End of the Street is contrived is an insult to contrivances.
-
Greg Maki, Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)
... Typical of modern horror movies, jump-scares (which are startling, not scary--there is a difference) sprinkled throughout deflate the suspense before it builds much.
Read all 25 critic reviews
Featured Audience Ratings
-
I wouldn't class this as a Horror, if you're expecting one and that might expect some of the low ratings. A 12a rating is another sign normally. This is definitely more of a thriller in the mould of Disturbia, Rear Window. Jennifer Lawrence can do no wrong at present and is… More
I wouldn't class this as a Horror, if you're expecting one and that might expect some of the low ratings. A 12a rating is another sign normally. This is definitely more of a thriller in the mould of Disturbia, Rear Window. Jennifer Lawrence can do no wrong at present and is very good in this. The twist(s) are pretty good, if a little easy to predict, but it still makes for an interesting film. You can tell they thought about the overall visual look of the film as well, it has some cool making of features to.
-
Generic, derivative and stupid Psycho rip-off that doesn't mind insulting the viewer's intelligence all the way through, throwing in a ridiculous twist that makes no sense and making it more than evident that no one involved gave a crap about it.
-
<b>House at the End of the Street</b> wasn't very good. I liked the performances from Shue, Lawrence, and Thieriot, but the script is what killed it. It just wasn't what I was hoping for which was a good thriller. I need new material movie people. I am running… More
<b>House at the End of the Street</b> wasn't very good. I liked the performances from Shue, Lawrence, and Thieriot, but the script is what killed it. It just wasn't what I was hoping for which was a good thriller. I need new material movie people. I am running out of patience with seeing recycled stories played over and over again. Wow how original for a young hot blond to enter a creepy basement and unlock a locked door and think gee wow this is safe and not creepy at all. These films need to be smarter and with less cliche choices, but with more unpredictable moments. Ok, rant over.
-
Mark Tonderai's <i>House at the End of the Street</i> does very little to impress.<p>For a 90 minute story, this so called thriller goes for the slow buildup approach. The problem is the life is sucked out before the plot even thickens. There is a lot of… More
Mark Tonderai's <i>House at the End of the Street</i> does very little to impress.<p>For a 90 minute story, this so called thriller goes for the slow buildup approach. The problem is the life is sucked out before the plot even thickens. There is a lot of predictability and sure there is a twist near the end, but it isn't enough to make up for the journey to get there.</p><p>The tension and suspense level is at a minimum. The violence is slim to none and the scares all arrive with the effective "jump scare" tactic.</p><p>Jennifer Lawrence is good for what she is asked to do, which really isn't much. Max Thieriot is dull, although that seems to fit his character. The rest of the cast fills out the plot as needed.</p><p><i>House at the End of the Street</i> doesn't offer a whole lot on the table, thus leading to an unfulfilling watch.</p>
-
-
I really had no reason to enjoy this. It's poorly written, performed (minus Jennifer Lawrence, I'll get to that in a moment), and the plot is been there done that material. It's not even remotely scary and has very little suspense for a so called horror film. The… More
I really had no reason to enjoy this. It's poorly written, performed (minus Jennifer Lawrence, I'll get to that in a moment), and the plot is been there done that material. It's not even remotely scary and has very little suspense for a so called horror film. The characters continually do dumb things to keep the plot going and the final twist is a complete rip-off of Psycho. All this said, I still found it entertaining. I don't know what it was, I might have been in the right mood, but this film breezed by like nothing. Jennifer Lawrence has proven she is a great actress and a rising star and there's nothing here to derail her career. She gives by far the best performance and even makes it watchable at spots. She couldn't carry it on her own, though, and Max Thieriot was clearly out of his element here. I'll gladly watch Jennifer Lawrence in almost anything, but this is definitely the worst movie she has starred in. I don't know how she got involved with a horror movie after already being nominated for an Oscar a couple years ago. Most actors/actresses star in horror movies at the beginning of their career to start out, or after their stock has slowed down significantly and they need work. She is clearly neither. I can't recommend this, but I did enjoy watching it.
-
Jennifer Lawrence has quickly become one of my favorite young actresses today. She has made some great movies, and just shows crazy potential for the future. But, everyone makes a movie or two that isn't quite up to par, and this is the movie for her. This is a thriller, that… More
Jennifer Lawrence has quickly become one of my favorite young actresses today. She has made some great movies, and just shows crazy potential for the future. But, everyone makes a movie or two that isn't quite up to par, and this is the movie for her. This is a thriller, that tries to be a couple different things, and never really goes far enough, and just settles for PG-13 mediocre. Basic synopsis is a girl(Lawrence) and her mother(Elizabeth Shue) move into a house down the street from a house where a murder took place. The son of the parents who were murdered still lives there, and he quickly becomes friends with Lawrence. From there, secrets are revealed, weird things happen, and people are who they seem to be. Pretty standard movie, that has a couple good moments, but there are so many movies out there like this, and done much better. Fans of thriller should give it a watch, but keep expectations low. Lawrence does good, but she has done so much better. But then again, those movies were all so much better.
-
Fear reaches out... for the girl next door.
Good thriller! Very entertaining and kept my attention throughout. There's no doubt that Jennifer Lawrence makes this movie. She's really great with a very bright future. If you're a Jennifer Lawrence fan or love Criminal… More
Fear reaches out... for the girl next door.
Good thriller! Very entertaining and kept my attention throughout. There's no doubt that Jennifer Lawrence makes this movie. She's really great with a very bright future. If you're a Jennifer Lawrence fan or love Criminal Minds/Law and Order SVU, check this movie out. If you're looking for a haunted house movie, you've clicked on the wrong flick.
Newly divorced Sarah and her daughter Elissa find the house of their dreams in a small, upscale, rural town. But when startling and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret.
-
Test to see if this breaks
-
Using the same old tired out horror formula that we've seen many times before; House at the end of the Street, along with Smiley is among the worst horror film this year. This is a pitiful attempt at trying to deliver an effective horror film. Instead of being scary, it just ends… More
Using the same old tired out horror formula that we've seen many times before; House at the end of the Street, along with Smiley is among the worst horror film this year. This is a pitiful attempt at trying to deliver an effective horror film. Instead of being scary, it just ends up being boring, dull, uninspired garbage that is definitely not worth your time. The film uses elements from other better films, and in the end, it's just a dull flick with a wasted good lead actress. The film is so poorly constructed that it doesn't do anything to try and thrill the viewer. This is a failure as a horror film, and it relies far too much on clichés to try and build its horror, tension and suspense, that there is no payoff to the film whatsoever. This is a lazy attempt at horror, and everything the filmmakers try to do with its material fails to do something exciting. I hated the film, and thought that this was a film that should never have been made because this is one of those films that we've seen many times before. The film tends to rely on cheap jump scares that really doesn't work, and in the end you're more in a state of sleepiness because there's nothing entertaining going on-screen. If you love horror films, avoid this, this is truly one of the most unoriginal films in the genre this year, and if you're expecting something effective in scare delivery, you'll be sadly disappointed. Everything with this film is predictable, and there are no scares to be had. Director Mark Tonderai clearly doesn't understand how to craft a solid horror picture, thus House at the End of the Street suffers greatly from a poor script and poor directing. Don't watch this one as it is truly a predictable film from start to finish.
-
Dumb plot, dumb scares and unsure of what it wants to be. I still love you Jennifer, good on you for not promoting this piece of crap.
-
Fear reaches out... for the girl next door.
Not so far away from being good blvd.
Yes this is another hollywood horror story, but for some reason House at the End of the Street was able to keep me fully entertained. As for Mark Tonderai's first attempt in cliche hollywood… More
Fear reaches out... for the girl next door.
Not so far away from being good blvd.
Yes this is another hollywood horror story, but for some reason House at the End of the Street was able to keep me fully entertained. As for Mark Tonderai's first attempt in cliche hollywood terror, I am going to go easy on him and say he did a pretty decent job.
When Sarah (Shue) and her daughter Elissa (Lawrence) seek a fresh start in a new small suburb, it is not so late until they realize that a strange boy Ryan (Theriot) has been living in their next door house, the house of his assassinated parents.
The best thing about the House at the End of the Street has to be the character development. The movie starts of pretty fast in terms of spooks and horror, but its not until you are really driven by the plot that the characters reveal themselves. The beauty of this revelation is that slowly you start changing your opinions of each character, and the suspense is built upon figuring out who is good and who is bad. And this is a tough decision put entirely in the audiences hand. For that reason I think Mark Tonderai (who has bearly directed anything) has a good future in Hollywood.
Another thing that works for the movie is obviously the great acting from young Jennifer Lawrence, who just nails every role she gets - even though this one was similar to Katniss's role but just under different circumstances.
However, the movie is far from original and we have all seen this before. We know when to expect a spook. Yet, the twists in these movies are brilliant a true goosebumps film.
I enjoyed it, I doubt other people will enjoy it, but if you do let me know.
Elissa: I like the way you see things... I like the way you see me.
-
The title of this movie...so dumb. House at the End of the Street is about Jennifer Lawrence and her mom, Elisabeth Shue moving into a new house that happens to be next to a house where a little girl murdered her parents. The person who still lives in the house is the little girls… More
The title of this movie...so dumb. House at the End of the Street is about Jennifer Lawrence and her mom, Elisabeth Shue moving into a new house that happens to be next to a house where a little girl murdered her parents. The person who still lives in the house is the little girls brother. The little girl ends up being chained in the basement while the brother takes care of her and that's the movie. From the beginning I though this movie looked completely generic and never had hopes for it. The movie has elements of other notable horror movies and it just plays out as really unoriginal. But I was also pissed about how the movie feels like a teenage drama movie at times. The girl starts a relationship with the brother in the house and the director seemed to put more emphasis on the love aspect rather than the horror aspect. The parts where there are no horror are boring because the characters aren't interesting and the life of Jennifer Lawrence's character just drags on into scenes that don't go anywhere. The movie is very slow and there were scenes that were only a couple minutes long, but they felt like 20 minutes. Whenever there's a horror scene, it's still not entertaining because the movie is filled with horror cliches. Almost all the "scares" are just a bunch of jump scares that could be seen coming from a mile away. The cinematography is really weird too. It'll do that thing where it zooms in on an object and it just stays locked onto that object for what feels like 5 minutes. There are also parts where the camera is literally right up in the actors face. I'm aware that capturing the emotion of the character is a good technique for building suspense, but it doesn't help when the character's face is hidden in shadows like in this film. The movie has no suspense and the atmosphere is just dull. The only thing that prevented me from giving this movie only half a star was a plot twist near the end. There's a twist that I won't ruin for you, but it acually is pretty interesting. I didn't expect that certain twist to happen, so props for that, but it doesn't save the movie from sucking. House at the End of the Street is a really boring movie. A large majority of it feels like a teen romance movie, there's nothing scary that happens, the acting is poor, the ending didn't make any sense and the worst of it all is that the movie is just really boring and slow. This movie may suck, but the plot twist was better than anything M. Night Shamalamadingdong has come up with in the past 4 or 5 years.
-
House at the End of the Street, the latest PG 13 teen horror movie, feels like a cross between the "Twilight" saga and perhaps "Psycho" (not that kids are going to know what Psycho is). Jennifer Lawrence and Elisabeth Shue star as a mother/daughter recently… More
House at the End of the Street, the latest PG 13 teen horror movie, feels like a cross between the "Twilight" saga and perhaps "Psycho" (not that kids are going to know what Psycho is). Jennifer Lawrence and Elisabeth Shue star as a mother/daughter recently transplanted from Chicago to some backwood hick town. And when I say backwoods, I mean that literally, as the house they're renting is on the edge of a state park. Just over the hill and past a few trees lies the "House at the end of the street", or the place where 13 year-old Carrie Anne murdered both her parents before escaping off into the woods. Elissa (Lawrence) isn't too interested in the double murder ("People used to get shot on our street all the time"- she says), and would rather focus on playing the guitar and singing in a band. She goes to a party, meets a drunk girl (new BBFs!), and almost gets date raped by the jock that keeps making weird faces. Walking home, she's picked up by Ryan (Max Thieriot), brother of Carrie Anne and lone survivor of the double murder family. He's moved back to the old homestead and lives there all alone (where he watches sunsets and writes poetry, while brooding and probably pursing his lips all sexily or something). Around here it all devolves into some pseudo-romance movie where the two make aspirations to be the Bella/Edward "forbidden lovers" or something. Meanwhile, it turns out Carrie Anne might still be alive after all...
I'm sure there have been worse attempts at horror movies made, but House at the End of the Street still kind of feels like pandering. The twist ending might be lost on the twelve and thirteen year old girls who make up the target audience, and to anyone over the age of thirteen, you've probably seen it all before. Not very much fun, and kind of dumb, it's not worth the time or effort to watch it.
-
Yes, this is one of those films made for teenage girls who love mainstream scary movies... why did I think this would be great, I have no idea. Overall its just one of those films you just need to know what happens but at the end, you just don't care, and wish you didn't… More
Yes, this is one of those films made for teenage girls who love mainstream scary movies... why did I think this would be great, I have no idea. Overall its just one of those films you just need to know what happens but at the end, you just don't care, and wish you didn't waste your time. Still an OKAY watch but yeh, bah hum bug
-
When a movie titled "House at the End of the Street" features neither a street nor a house located at the end of said street, you know the film-makers don't have much respect for their audience. The writer, David Loucka, shows equal disdain for the intelligence of his… More
When a movie titled "House at the End of the Street" features neither a street nor a house located at the end of said street, you know the film-makers don't have much respect for their audience. The writer, David Loucka, shows equal disdain for the intelligence of his cardboard characters.
Lawrence becomes smitten with Thieriot despite the overwhelming evidence that he's harboring a deadly secret (a guy living alone with a baby monitor on his kitchen table?). She also falls for his incredibly cheesy seduction technique. When asked why he gets up before dawn he replies "I like to wake before everyone else, before the best thoughts of the day have been taken." Then there's the old "my favorite tree" routine where he somehow convinces her she can see a face in it's bark. Maybe I should wear glasses to the cinema as I certainly couldn't make out such features but then I've never seen the face of Jesus in my toast either. It seems if you act tortured and have dreamy eyes, teenage girls will fall for anything. "Twilight" has a lot to answer for.
For many years I thought of Hitchcock's "Psycho" as no more than an average thriller but I've come around to regard it as a classic, though admittedly nowhere near his best work. What brought me around? Sitting through a slew of awful imitations makes you realise just how well crafted it is. This movie borrows heavily from Hitchcock's, setting up Thieriot as a modern day Norman Bates. The problem is, unlike the 1960 film, this is completely devoid of suspense, pinning it's hopes on plot twists which you'll guess about four scenes before they occur. As is obligatory with this sort of unoriginal trash, we get an unimaginative finale involving a chase around a house. This sequence felt like it lasted thirty minutes and could have only been more cliched if the heroine had finished off the killer with a nail gun.
Don't let the marketing fool you, this is one property best left vacant.
-
The film was so so. It reminded me of movies like 1408, Hide and Seek, and What Lies Beneath just to name a few. One scene felt like a copy of a scene from Silence of the Lambs. Another scene felt like a copy of a scene from Psycho.
I did like what Mark Tonderai was trying to do… More
The film was so so. It reminded me of movies like 1408, Hide and Seek, and What Lies Beneath just to name a few. One scene felt like a copy of a scene from Silence of the Lambs. Another scene felt like a copy of a scene from Psycho.
I did like what Mark Tonderai was trying to do with the film. I do like some styles that he brought to the film. I did think that he did a good job casting the film. I did find the film predictable though.
Jennifer Lawrence was great in the film. She does what she can with the role. Elizabeth Shue is great as her mother. Max Thieriot reminded me a lot of Ryan Phillipe here.
The film is worth checking out, especially cause of Jennifer Lawrence.
-
I just finished reading the book to this movie. It does seem to be better than a lot of other teen horror flicks. It even has a pretty awesome twist. I'll give this a try!
-
Lowering the property value on the entire horror genre, House at the End of the Street eventually just leads moviegoers down a dead end. To its credit, this residence evil tries to build up the characters before bumping them off. Unfortunately, trying isn't doing when the end… More
Lowering the property value on the entire horror genre, House at the End of the Street eventually just leads moviegoers down a dead end. To its credit, this residence evil tries to build up the characters before bumping them off. Unfortunately, trying isn't doing when the end product of any character building results in a nearly scare-less thriller that sells off the cow while the milk's still pouring for free. Not only does this wannabe thriller's reveal arrive too early, it's patently absurd from the word whoa. Despite the talent involved, this House razes - as opposed to raises - any spine-chilling moments.
In the PG-13-rated thriller House at the End of the Street, Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence and her mother (Elizabeth Shue) look for a brand-new start in a small town, but a relationship with a reclusive boy named Ryan (Thierlot) pulls her into the mystery of a house haunted by an old murder.
Reduced to more of a Screaming Mimi than Katniss Everdeen, Jennifer Lawrence trades in most of her keen action skills but not her smart acting chops--both already brilliantly evinced in Winter's Bone and The Hunger Games. Sadly, this young star's winning combo of wits and looks can't tap dance away from the pathetically long lead-up to the actual horror. Up until the poorly played twist, this thriller weaves a tangled web of cheap thrills and shoddy filmmaking that just gets increasingly and scarily worse as the minutes click on. Truthfully, audiences should've just turned back after Last House on the Left.
Bottom line: The Blunder Games.
-
In what feels like amateur hour at the movies House at the End of the Street piles on every cheap scare, cliche about teenagers, and desperate plot twist it can to try and keep its audience engaged while in all actuality it is doing nothing more than scaring off audiences from ever… More
In what feels like amateur hour at the movies House at the End of the Street piles on every cheap scare, cliche about teenagers, and desperate plot twist it can to try and keep its audience engaged while in all actuality it is doing nothing more than scaring off audiences from ever wanting to trust in mainstream Hollywood horror ever again. Everything about the film is just so typical it is hard not to shake your head every single time you know what should happen next actually does. The dialogue is stale and the movie drags on for no point other than what feels like it's biding time before the "shocker" of an ending comes around. We are then forced to re-evaluate everything we've seen in order to feel that it was a legitimate twist. I really wanted to enjoy the film, I wouldn't have wasted time going to see it if I didn't believe it had potential and even despite the measly 11% tomatometer rating that showed up after its release because it wasn't screened for critics. Everything was going against the film, leaving no reason to believe it could rise above what low expectations were being created for it. I try to be fair when it comes to feature films, giving the benefit of the doubt, considering all the work that several people had to put into this to make it work but here I feel like there is no choice but to look past that. The whole production feels lackluster and thrown together not benefiting any of these actors especially the blooming star at the center of it. Following up one of the biggest films of the year and using this as a precursor for what will likely be an Oscar-nominated role in The Silver Linings Playbook Jennifer Lawrence should have passed on this script and let some other hopeful take a shot at carving out a chance of a career; but no matter who is in the lead role this horror schlock is nothing if not easily forgettable.
read the whole review at www.reviewsfromabed.blogspot.com
Read all 20 featured audience ratings
Currently unavailable on Flixster
Also available on
Other Retailers
Subscription Services