House at The End of The Street (2012)

A mother and daughter move to a small town and find themselves living next door to a house where a horrific murder happened years earlier.  A young girl murdered her parents and as the daughter befriends the surviving brother she begins to discover there is more to the story than first appears.

Director: Mark Tonderai

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Max Thieriot, Elisabeth Shue and Gil Bellows.

Running Time: 101 Minutes

I must confess I only watched this film because it starred Jennifer Lawrence and Elisabeth Shue so I had pretty low expectations for the plot etc...  That said the movie is not that great.  I appreciate what the film makers were trying to do, a modern day Hitchcock style thriller for a younger generation.  However their execution does not quite work as the film feels almost disjointed as they want to get from point a to point b in the narrative but seem to jump too quickly without much development in between.  This film could have been so much better if they had explored what the parents did to their son after the accident on the swings where their daughter was hurt.  He briefly mentions how they punished him but it is never fully explored or examined and for me that would have been the most interesting thing in the narrative.  

*********************************SPOILERS AHEAD********************************

************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

The son Ryan (Max Thieriot) was playing on the swings with his sister when they try to hold hands while swinging and his sister Carrie-Anne falls and dies.  His parents then make Ryan become Carrie-Anne and treat him as their daughter in the way he dresses, by name etc...  Obviously that is going to mess you up and it leads to Ryan eventually killing them.  This never gets overly explored though and is almost an off the cuff mention to explain why he is so messed up now and doing the things he is doing.  The ending is also totally trying to rip off Psycho (1960) but fails miserably to have the same impact.  Psycho has a fantastic ending where Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is staring straight at the camera with his mothers voice in his head as his thoughts and then a sinister smile and for a brief moment a skull is superimposed over his face.  It sums the themes of the movie up well and leaves you with an unsettled eerie feeling which is how it should be in that type of film.  However, in the ending to this film you have Ryan locked up in what looks to be a mental institution and he stares at the camera while a voiceover of his mother and others say 'your name is Carrie-Anne' over and over.  This is not enough to unsettle you or leave you with any lasting eerie feeling as it almost felt like an after thought as an add on to the end of the film rather than any thought out moment.  If the film had explored Ryan's feelings or whether he had an identity crisis which one would assume he would have some lasting damage from being raised as his dead sister for years.  The fact he had a girl hidden who he called Carrie-Anne seemed to contradict what the film makers were assigning as the rationale for his actions, the acts of his parents when he was a child.  It would have been much more interesting for him to have multiple personalities and the big reveal to be that he is actually Carrie-Anne and the last scene be him in the institution playing with a doll or putting on make up as he had been completely taken over as Carrie-Anne.  

The film is not all bad as the performances are pretty good for this type of film but it was a surprise to see Gil Bellows pop up as I had not realised he was in this film until he showed his face.  I haven't seen him in anything since Ally McBeal and there was Billy dressed as a cop trying to hook up with Elisabeth Shue, awww what would Ally say.  I was pretty impressed with Max Thieriot as I think he did well with what he was given and Jennifer Lawrence is such a good actress she will make whatever she is given believable.  The two have good chemistry in the film as well and who knew Lawrence could sing I am sure it will not be long before a musical beckons her name.  

Final Verdict

A poor attempt at a Hitchcock style thriller that comes across more as Psycho without the psycho.  The performances are good but sadly it is not enough to save the film.  The plot felt too disjointed and it could have been much more interesting with a deeper exploration of the identity issues of Ryan. 

3/10