‘House at End of Street’ has twists, turns | Movie Review

Despite my disappointment in ‘The Apparition,’ I decided to see ‘The House at the End of the Street,’ another new horror film. However, my experience watching it was much different, primarily because ‘The House at the End of the Street’ is not a paranormal film.

Despite my disappointment in ‘The Apparition,’ I decided to see ‘The House at the End of the Street,’ another new horror film. However, my experience watching it was much different, primarily because ‘The House at the End of the Street’ is not a paranormal film.

Instead, it’s about a teenage girl named Elissa, who moves to a small town with her single mother. The house they rent is next to the house at the end of the street, which happened to be the site of a suspicious double murder during which a young girl murdered her parents then ran off into the forest.

The newcomers soon learn the house is now occupied by Ryan, the avoided and timid brother of the murderer, played by Max Thieriot, who was out of town during the incident. Before long, Elissa befriends Ryan and develops a romantic relationship with him despite her mother’s concern. As Ryan’s dark secrets begin surfacing, Elissa finds her relationship with him is much more dangerous and twisted than she had ever anticipated.

The movie did not begin very strongly, and midway through the film the mainly teenage audience was laughing more than cringing. Nonetheless, by the end of the movie I was writhing and resisting the urge to jump out of my seat while listening to people around me squeal.

Individual scenes in the movie were frequently predictable, but the storyline was shocking up to the very last scene. The plot twisted and had red herrings that made you falsely believe you knew what was happening when something completely different was going on.

I was interested in seeing this movie mainly because Jennifer Lawrence was starring as the main character, Elissa. She had impressed me in her role as Katniss Everdeen in the first “Hunger Games” film, and I was hoping she would excel in a horror film as well. She did very well, even though her character was different and somewhat less likable.

One of the thingsI disliked about the film was the excess shaking and jerking of the camera. But the terrifying ending was definitely the climax of the film, and the unpredictable plot had significant parallels to Alfred Hitchcock’s classics.

Overall I thought the “House at the End of the Street” was an entertaining, and thrilling horror film.

 

Aran Kirschenmann, 16, is a contributing writer for the Bellevue Reporter and a Junior at Bellevue High School.