House At The End Of The Street Review

Director: Mark Tonderai

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Max Thieriot, Elisabeth Shue, Gil Bellows, Eva Link

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 101 Minutes

Synopsis: Mother and daughter Sarah and Elissa move to a new town and find themselves living next to a house where a young girl once murdered her parents. When Elissa befriends the surviving son of he murdered family, she learns the horror is far from over…

The marketing for this thriller has been suitably unnerving. The first trailer that arrived a few months back and featured a very clever and unique spin that I certainly hadn’t seen used in a trailer before (or since). The mysterious clips, stills, and creepy poster designs made HOUSE AT THE EDGE THE STREET a thriller I had high hopes for. Rising stunner Jennifer Lawrence headlines, and following the success of THE HUNGER GAMES, was always bound to ensure a few extra bums on seats (hence her image plastered all over the posters and TV spots). But Lawrence’s talent goes beyond the hugely-successful (if a touch tepid) THE HUNGER GAMES – check out her excellent Oscar-nominated performance in WINTER’S BONE and supporting roles in LIKE CRAZY and THE BEAVER – and I’m certain she’ll stick around as a major Hollywood player for years to come. Director Mark Tonderai, who wrote and directed low-budget Brit thriller HUSH, makes his Hollywood debut here, but does his second feature stand up to the hype of the Lawrence-centric promotional material?

The short answer to that question would be… almost.

We open with the grisly crime that sets up the chain of events – young Carrie-Anne takes a hammer to her mother and father’s skulls one dark night. Fast forward four years and we are introduced to both rebellious teen Elissa (Carpenter) and her mother Sarah (Shue) who are hoping to get to know each other once again, following the death Elissa’s rock star father. The pair rent the stunning property that has dropped significantly in price due the horrific past of ‘the house at the end of the street’. It’s a title I still don’t quite get as their properties are pretty much in the middle of nowhere and located in the woods as opposed to a street. Still it’s an effective location that makes for a number of unsettling thrills and set pieces.

We’re soon introduced to supporting characters, such as whispering neighbours, douchebag prospective boyfriends, real-estate agents and the likeable small town cop. However, we’re supposed to be smitten (much like Elissa) with Max Thieriot’s Ryan Jacobson, the quiet, resilient surviving brother of the previous murder, who is still living in the macabre abode and has a few secrets locked in the basement.

I wont spoil the twists (despite a number of them being signposted), but the performances of the film are solid enough. In particular Thieriot and Carpenter, whose blossoming relationship makes the plot tick over with relative ease before the corkscrew tension finale.

In the end we’re left with an average thriller that never reaches the heights as the best in the genre. It’s being touted as a horror/thriller yet never feels frightening or contains enough suspense to credibly describe it as ‘nail-biting’ or ‘edge of your seat’ stuff. It’s certainly not all bad, with a number dizzying scenes and distorted camera angles that work well in the spooky thin corridors with an effective soundtrack, but overall the film just doesn’t quite hold up.

 HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET is out now in UK Cinemas