If you want a film with split personalities, try the long-winded and long titled The House at the End of the Street. Cool teenager Elissa (a rightfully aloft Jennifer Lawrence) and her mother Elizabeth Shue have moved to a new town and into a secluded house tucked away in the woods. Their nearest neighbour happens to be the home where a young girl brutally murdered her parents years ago. When Elissa takes a fancy to the cute and quiet boy next door, who’s the massacre’s only surviving son, she falls victim to an unseen danger and a fractured, even dizzying tone. What starts with a standard horror premise then earnestly flourishes into teen romance before nose-diving into psychological thriller. It’s a scattered approach to filmmaking that confusingly drops subplots and backstory indiscriminately. Watch at your own risk.
This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2012.
watched this movie, unfortunately got lost somewhere in the middle, and was never able to catch up. sigh.