So here we are with another horror movie starring a new hot Hollywood starlet. This time we have Jennifer Lawrence checking off another one of the mandatory things on the Female Hollywood superstar list by leading her own horror film. Well what movie is Lawrence trying to scare our collective pants off in? Well it’s House At The End of the Street, also known because of the constant media promotion as #HATES. HATES seems like a remake of an old 80s horror movie but for once it’s not a tasteless remake of some old cult favorite. Hooray for us!!
Elissa (Lawrence) moves with her mother Sarah(the awesome Elisabeth Shue) to a nice suburban town from Chicago. The
two seem to have a struggling relationship but are trying to start again in a new place.
The house they now live in is next to a house where a young girl murdered her
parents and disappeared. The house is now taken care of and lived in by the
mysterious son Ryan(Max Thierot). Ryan is treated as a pariah by the others in the town, which piques Elissa's interest after she was cold to him at first. She comes around, though, because of his quiet and meek nature. But things slowly change after an altercation
with Ryan and some of the teenage boys in town.
It's here that the movie begins trying to smack you in the face with
every editing trick in the book. Change the focus and the depth then
let’s posturize the image then let’s flicker. It lets you know in the
beginning that this movie is more about flash than substance. The
filmmakers seemed to care more about making sure Lawrence was shot well than making a compelling story to get real scares, thrills and jumps. A
lot of this movie is paint-by-numbers stuff.You know exactly what is happening
long before it actually does. It's like they made the movie so the audience could talk at the screen.
The acting is pretty cartoonishly simple in terms of
character and arcs. Elizabeth Shue is fun as a mother who can't relate to her daughter due to her own past. At times it felt like some weird
dark continuation of the character in The
Adventures of Babysitting.
Max Thieriot does one of the best jobs of puppy dog
eyes by a young actor in years. He seems so meek and so needy you can never understand why the whole town hates.
This movie is really kind of bad and not going to be
enjoyable unless you’re a teenager. Or if you're really dying to see a comedy because as a comedy it's golden. The film ends up like a played out version of Psycho, and there's a really weird attempt to portray the younger generation as morally superior to the older ones. This is one you should just sit out. Do
yourself a solid and check out Dredd, or go see The Master
and get your culture game up. In the end you’ll thank yourself and this review.
If you really want to see a sweated up Jennifer Lawrence just stare at the poster a lot. It will be more fulfilling.
