House at the End of the Street (2012) Movie Review
Written By: JASR
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Mark Tonderai
Producers: Peter Block, Ryan Kavanaugh, et al.
Writers: David Loucka, Jonathan Mostow
Date Released: September 21, 2012
Cast:
Jennifer Lawrence as Elissa
Max Thieriot as Ryan
Elisabeth Shue as Sarah
Gil Bellows as Weaver
Eva Link as Carrie Anne
Nolan Gerard Funk as Tyler
Jordan Hayes as Penn State Carrie Anne
Rating = 1/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
The movie follows Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) who moves to a new home with her mother Sarah (Elisabeth Shue). During a get-together with their neighbors, they learn that a young girl killed her parents in one of the houses a few years prior. Elissa later meets Ryan (Max Thieriot), the son of the murdered couple, who now lives alone in his family’s house.
Gore Factor
Apart from a plain fight scene and a few defense scenes here and there, House at the End of the Street does not have much gore that viewers should look out for. This movie is tolerable in terms of gore, but do prepare for a poorly written story which can be the actual scary part.
The Grave Review
The movie appeared to be promising at first but later became confusing and disappointing. Many scenes prompted questions, and it was as if the director just presumed that the viewers would know the answers simply from assuming.
Not long after we learn about Ryan’s story, the movie reveals that he has been keeping Carrie Anne, the known killer of his parents, in a secret room. Later, we discover that the real Carrie Anne died when they were younger, and the girl in the secret room is just a lookalike whom he kidnapped.
It did not make sense why he needed to have a replacement for Carrie Anne. The movie reveals that it was Ryan who killed his parents, but why did he have to have a fake Carrie Anne? Was it to cover up his crime? All the neighbors already believe that Carrie Anne is dead though – so why have a fake one in your house?
It’s quite pointless since he just hides this “Carrie Anne” in a room. What was she there for? Why did he need to have a pseudo-Carrie Anne whom no one knew about?
Also, since this is a fake Carrie Anne, it made no sense why she felt the need to run after Elissa. What was her intention for doing that? Many things just did not add up.
When Ryan accidentally kills the fake Carrie Anne, he kidnaps a waitress he met at a diner and uses her as the new Carrie Anne. Again – why was it necessary to even have a Carrie Anne around?
When Elissa discovered the secret room by the latter part of the movie, it did not make sense why “Carrie Anne” attacked her. She’s a fake Carrie Anne, isn’t she? Why couldn’t she work with Elissa about what was going on? The pseudo-Carrie Anne’s intentions were incredibly pointless and ridiculous.
If I were to guess how the writers came up with the story, I would say they focused too much on coming up with a plot twist that the twist did not make sense at all. House at the End of the Street is just one huge question mark.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives House at the End of the Street (2012) one grave out of five graves.
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