House at the End of the Street, Nearly too Generic for Words.

What's worse than a bad movie? One so generic and boring that you forget about it as soon as the end credits roll. Thus is how it went with House at the End of the Street.

Pre-Watching Thoughts

Somehow, "House at the End of the Street" sounds like it wants me to believe it's like "Last House on the Left." Okay. If that's your schtick, I'm possibly interested.

So how do they compare?
I could read into them both and say that they (thematically) deal with, "the horror next door." Or that they deal with "regular, every day people" being pushed so far that they do something horrible. They both feature an element of "violence against young women." But all that esoteric reaching is really the extent of it.

Post-Watch Thoughts

Overall, this movie felt more like The Stepfather (or, more recently, Disturbia.) It's one of those standard, PG13 "horror" flicks that hit screens, lure in some kids who have little real experience with horror, and then fades away.

It's only, possible saving graces are:

a few, pretty good, gore moments
some pretty good cinematography
a nod to Sleepaway Camp
a nearly 70's quality final girl
okay acting (except for Gil Bellows who played the least believable cop OF ALL TIME.)

I'm actually surprised that this movie hasn't gotten more traction as it stars the girl from The Hunger Games (Jennifer Lawrence) and that pre-teen age bracket seems like the prime target for this movie.

And, unlike me to say, I almost feel bad for Nolan Funk (one of the deviants from Deadgirl - review here) turning up, yet again, as a rape-y high school boy. Only 24 and he's already typecast as a morally corrupt teenager. Looks like Michael Madsen may have a successor some day.

Anyway.

Wrap up time.

I have, certainly, subjected myself to worse movies that this one but, I'm already having a hard time remembering why I even care.

You can watch the House at the End of The Street Trailer here:

Comments

The Witch (2015)

You know the drill - there's ALWAYS spoilers. Don't want the movie ruined for you, come back after you've seen it. Also - I'm still without an editor - typos and bad grammar await you! I keep hoping that the cultural obsession with zombies will end; literally every other damn movie that comes 'round seems to feature some sort of shambling, undead being bent on devouring the weak flesh of regular humans. Once upon a time, zombies have have been used as a metaphor for the blind consumerism created by our capitalist society, or the perceived depletion of resources by immigrants, or even the ravages of time and disease on our frail bodies. Now it seems that the deeper social commentary has been lost as audiences mindlessly consume "zombie fiction" in an attempt to keep up with trends. ( How very meta - a film buddy of mine commented on this assessment! ) All of this is just a sideways rant, leading up to my actual point: it seems that zombie may actually...

Mother!

Alright friends and readers–this one is probably doubly filled with typos and grammar errors because I wrote it while angry. Good luck and happy reading. There are unpopular opinions in every realm. As a film student, you can truly strike a nerve when you say things like, "I fucking hate the self-indulgence of independent films and the way people idolize them." Or, you know, "Low lighting and slow pacing does not a good movie make." Or whatever. You can of course, objectively, understand how this happens. When you are creating art–when you are outside the system so to speak–you are free to explore things (subjects, techniques, etc.) that may need to be addressed and that freedom can become intoxicating and go to one's head. While it may seem only right or only fair to respect and accept each creative endeavor that every artist undertakes, it is unreasonable to believe that the world will remain forever patient with the self-obsession artists have. Th...

The Babadook

Spoilers and typos! Enjoy. We often look back nostalgically on childhood, envious of the joy we felt and the boundless imaginations we possessed. How conveniently we forget the other side of that coin: as children, we experience a depth of terror our adult selves continually try to recreate for cathartic entertainment. When we try to bring those childhood fears to life on the screen, we often end up with movies about "things that go bump in the night," which is a somewhat superficial approach. While it does provide an opportunity for a supernatural experience, it ignores the root of our fear: the unknown . As children, we lack life experience. We lack nuance. We lack understanding. Not knowing creates in us fear. Yes, we fear what lurks in the darkness but we also fear the adult world because we do not understand how it works. The Babadook works to exploit both those fears. The short story: a widowed mother of a young boy experiences a mental breakdown and tries to...

i'm kael's ghost

Search This Blog