Jennifer Lawrence is putting together a very nice resume – The Hunger Games, X-Men: First Class, Silver Linings Playbook. It’s got a little bit of everything - a box office blockbuster, a genre film, and one that is critically acclaimed. I don’t think it is a huge stretch to say that - barring a Lindsay Lohan-esque meltdown - Lawrence is well on her way to a healthy run as a successful actress. I suspect that many years from now when they put together her highlight reel, they will most likely leave off any clips from House at the End of the Street.
The movie follows a mother and daughter (Elizabeth Shue and Jennifer Lawrence respectively) as they move to a new town in search of a fresh start. The house they move into is situated next to a home where a double homicide occurred. Still residing in the home, is the family’s lone survivor (Max Thieriot). Strange things ensue in and around the house and its occupant that make Lawrence’s Elissa suspect that things are not exactly as they seem.
If the end of my synopsis seems incredibly vague, it’s because I want to preserve what little surprise there actually is in this film. To say that the ending is telegraphed would be a gross understatement, but that is not where the film ultimately fails (as there are really only so many twists and turns that horror film can make). The issue at hand is the complete lack of suspense embedded in this narrative, which is especially surprising since it was marketed as an old school suspense thriller. At every turn, the film gets bogged down in tedious exposition and sidetracked by extraneous plot threads. The result is a slow run-of-the-mill story occasionally spiced up with a cheap thrill.
I don’t know what the cast could have done to overcome the writing of David Loucka. However, whatever it is, they did not do it. In this movie, Jennifer Lawrence comes off as just another actress in a tight tank top. There’s not a lot to her character beyond stock defiance and rebellion, and you could have cast nearly any other actress and produced the same movie. She wasn’t terrible, but she just wasn’t very good. Elizabeth Shue as her mother is fairly nondescript. Shue is a decent actress who tends to deliver credible performances and in a mediocre role she does just enough not to be terrible.
The only other person in this cast of any significance is Max Thieriot as the next-door neighbor, Ryan. His is the most complex of all the characters in this movie and probably the most challenging to portray. Unfortunately, Thieriot’s performance is highly uneven as there are times where his character has depth and feels flawed, and others when it feels like you are watching a high school drama club performance. Of all the performances, his is the most damaging as much of the suspense is derived from the mystery surrounding his character.
I don’t think there is much else to say about this movie. When you describe a movie’s three principle performances as not very good; “just enough to not be terrible;” and “highly uneven” respectively, that more or less tells you that this is a movie you should let slip off your radar. If on a random night winter’s night, you happen to stumble onto this one on TBS, TNT, or FX and can’t find the remote control to change the channel, it might be a perfectly mediocre way to pass a hollow ninety minutes. Any effort beyond pure happenstance to see this will completely obliterate what minute entertainment value it has. In regards to Jennifer Lawrence, I suspect that we won’t be seeing her again in a film like this any time in the near future.
Standout Performance: Gil Bellows. As Officer Weaver, Bellows comes off as affable.
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