Filmland - The House at the End of the Street

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going

This Friday marks the premiere of Darren Aronofsky’s latest opus to surrealist quasi-horror Mother!  The film promises to be another bizarre and terrifying offering from Aronofsky, who has built his career on similar works like Pi and Black Swan, but it also seems like something of a return piece for Jennifer Lawrence.  I’m hard-pressed to think of an actor that embodies the kind of rise and fall we only really see in New Hollywood like Lawrence.  

First emerging onto the critical radar in 2010 with Winter’s Bone she managed to claw her way into the realm of true movie star thanks to starring roles in X-Men: First Class and The Hunger Games.  However, her fame was not really to last as almost immediately after 2013 everyone started getting a lot sicker of her. 

Partly it was roles, I don’t think Silver Linings Playbook or American Hustle really did her any favors, also the Hunger Games series abruptly dropped in influence and importance after the second film.  Really though, it was Passengers that sapped the public interest in her, partially from the content but mostly it’s because this seems to be where we all soured on her projected persona as America’s platonic crush/bff.  

Since then she’s rolled back a ton on her public image and Mother! looks to be taking her style of films in a radically new direction…well, maybe not entirely new.  Yes, back in 2010 before anyone really knew who she was Jennifer Lawrence made another horror film and we’re going to look at it today with The House at the End of the Street. 

I’m honestly shocked what a bizarre production history and predictive role in pop culture House at the End of the Street actually has, given it’s a forgotten horror film notable mainly because its star got famous.  Despite being released in 2012 the film started its production life back in 2003 but didn’t see actual forward movement till 2010.  

I’m fairly certain when the producers got Jennifer Lawrence onboard for the picture they had no idea who she even was outside of maybe knowing her from Winter’s Bone but even then that film had only been out a month when production started.  It’s sort of a fitting comparison though as House at the End of the Street is much less of a standard horror movie and more of a thriller.  In fact, I’d actually argue that House at the End of the Street’s style of story is the progenitor of EVERY small town mystery show from the past 5 years. 

The set-up is that Jennifer Lawrence is a teenage girl who recently moved into a house in a small town with her mom.  Together they’re getting the house real cheap because it’s right down the road from a house where the daughter went crazy and murdered her parents.  The only person living in the house at the end of the street now is the family’s son, who may or may not be all there.  As the film goes on high school drama ensues, small-town secrets are uncovered, and it turns out the real truth of the house at the end of the street is far darker and sleazier than anyone ever guessed. 

If that description felt a little stock and generic to you it’s because it’s become that way.  Over the past several years this format of “sleazy small-town secrets” has become the go-to structure for dramas across television from Slasher to Bates Motel to Riverdale.  The format obviously started with Twin Peaks but that show was also had way more comedic elements and an eye toward the metaphysical.  

The modern iteration of this idea as a sleaze and cheese dressing down of television’s conception of small-town America as a quirky oasis comes more from the 2004 hit Desperate Housewives.  Even though it premiered a year after House at the End of the Street began its long production I suspect the show was a pretty major influence on the film. 

The other major trend House at the End of the Street ties to was the brief craze for highly polished, adult-oriented, socially conscious thrillers that also started in 2012.  Girl with the Dragon Tattoo mainly kicked this off but gained steam with stuff like Gone Girl, Prisoners, Nightcrawler, and Foxcatcher.  House at the End of the Street came out at the same time as Dragon Tattoo but ultimately it’s a bit too apolitical to really come up as a contemporary of the others, also it’s a bit too “made for TV’ quality. 

That’s probably the most enjoyable aspect of the film, it’s a lot like binging a B-level TV show you don’t exactly love but it does the job.  I’m actually not sure the film wouldn’t be better off if it was a TV show.  The small town mystery set-up feels like it could use either more time to be developed or more aspects to the core mystery.  

We don’t really get enough of a sense of the town beyond the kid in the murder house, Jennifer Lawrence, and the local sheriff.  There aren’t any red herrings as to what’s going on and in fact, the film flat out shows you the truth pretty early on.  I will grant that there’s a pretty solid twist in the third act as to who the real monster is but it’s not really enough to raise it above 2 ½ stars. 

As for Jennifer Lawrence, it’s interesting to see her slotted into a much grimier flick than she usually makes but I can’t say she really stands out all that much.  Like I’ll grant the film is certainly better than the tedious slog of American Hustle, the offensive romcom pandering of Silver Lining’s Playbook, or the creepy “romance as abuse” of Passenger but none of that is to say it’s exactly great in its own right.  Lawrence does a fine job with the material but she feels a lot like a TV actor here, someone you might see headlining a CW or CBS drama, not exactly the future movie star stuff she’s associated with. 

Overall I’m not sure that all the weird connections to the movie trends and how we started making TV can really elevate House at the End of the Street but it’s also not a movie I regret watching.  You can do a lot worse, especially coming from a transitional year like 2010-2012.  This movie easily could’ve ended up a 2000s style horror movie that mistakes being cruel for being scary but they manage to avoid that and never really stray too far into unbelievable logic.  

There’s even kind of a happy ending to it, which is rare for a horror flick.  Look the 2010s have been an inordinately good decade for horror so House at the End of the Street definitely ranks low on the ladder for this decade but if you’re curious or a Jennifer Lawrence fan I can at least say you won’t be bored or angry with it and maybe you’ll be entertained. 

If you liked this article, please like us on 

Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going