Review by Bob Ignizio
One-time partier mom turned responsible
nurse Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) and her 17 year old musician daughter
Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) try to reconnect while renting a swanky
house that would normally be well outside their budget if it weren't
for the double murder that took place next door. As we see in the
flashback that opens the film, a teenage girl named Carrie Ann (Eva
Link) killed both her parents there. The girl was never found, and
while most assume she died in the surrounding national park, some
maintain she's still out there. The only known member of Carrie Ann's
family still alive is brother Ryan (Max Thieriot), who was staying
with his Aunt at the time the murders took place.
Although Sarah was told that the house
where the tragedies occurred was vacant when she signed her lease, it
turns out that Ryan is actually living there, ostensibly fixing the
place up so he can sell it. After rebuffing the unwanted advances of
rich and arrogant local boy, Elissa meets Ryan for herself when he
offers her a ride home. Ryan is clearly a damaged soul, but his
bad-boy charisma and generally nice demeanor begin to win Sarah over.
But Ryan has some dark and potentially dangerous family secrets that
may put an end to any budding romance.
Despite the grindhouse-esque title, HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET
isn't so much a horror film as it is a thriller. For about the first
two thirds of its running time, it does a good job developing its
characters and building suspense and tension slowly but surely. The
overall feel is reminiscent of the sort of films that were influenced
by Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO,
wherein horror didn't come from the supernatural or some mad
scientist's lab, but was born out of the family and the subconscious.
In particular, it recalls some of the films of Curtis Harrington like
WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO?
And WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN,
and James Kelley's THE BEAST IN THE CELLAR.
While
the setup isn't anything exceptional, it is effective and engrossing.
Thieriot may not have quite the presence his role demands, but Shue
and Lawrence are in fine form. Gil Bellows also does a nice turn as a
local police officer thinks Ryan has gotten a raw deal from the
community, most of whom blame him for driving down the property
values. Director Mark Tonderai also does a nice job incorporating
Freudian symbolism into his film, with bad things rising from the
subconscious/subbasement, generally right around the time one of the
main characters is feeling sexually aroused.
Things
take a turn towards the cheesy and predictable in the final act,
though. Granted, part of the fun in movies like this comes from
recognizing the genre tropes, but at some point it's generally a good
idea to put some kind of fresh spin on the old clichés.
Instead, Tonderai hits every note you'd expect in just the way you'd
expect him to hit it while expecting us to be surprised. I don't want
to give away any spoilers, so I'll just say that the film's final
“shock” is only a surprise to those who haven't been paying
attention. It also recalls the highly memorable final shot in one of
the cheesiest slasher films of the eighties, but I can say no more
without giving too much away for those who might still want to see
this.
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