House at the End of the Street (2012)

Jennifer Lawrence is probably the most popular star of the year. This is thanks in no small part to the enormous success of her biggest film, The Hunger Games, earlier this year. Prior to landing such a blockbuster role, she had appeared in the critically-aclaimed Winter's Bone, which got her an Oscar nod, and she had a failry small part in the dissapointing X-Men: First Class. Then there was this thing called House at the End of the Street, an impossibly bland "thriller" that takes the undeniable talent of Miss Lawrence and does absolutely nothing with it. The story begins with the fairly typical mother and daughter moving into a new house right outside a creepy forest across from which sits a house where a little girl once killed her parents. Yes, characters go out in the woods for literally no good reason (And nothing happens anyway.), and, yes, they open doors when they hear a strange noise and go into dark places they don't belong. This is that kind of movie.

The first time I saw Jennifer Lawrence was in Winter's Bone and I remember being so surprised by how powerful the performance was (She was seventeen at the time.) and that this was someone to keep an eye out for. After that, she apparently got the knack of landing spots in big-budget movies that get her a lot of attention, but don't allow her to grow at all. She did a very good job in The Hunger Games, but the character was so flat that it took away any chance of making a real impression. Even in this movie, she performs admirably, but what a waste. Directed by Mark Tonderai, House at the End of the Street fails where even PG-13 rated horror movies have often succeeded: it is not scary in the slightest. I'm usually pretty easy on suspense movies, because all they are really required to do is be frightening to the best of their ability. That's it, yet this movie slumps around in some sort of scare-deprived coma. All the elements that could have made for some frightening moments are there, but instead of using them for even the most silly jumps, the movie would rather prolong its increasingly boring story. At only ninety minutes, it drags and stumbles its feet, not knowing where to go or what to do. Almost anybody could have replaced Tonderai and made a more exciting picture. This is not rocket science.

Despite being a complete bust as any kind of entertainment, the movie will do well at the box office. Originally set to be released in April, it was saved for the fall season to bring in more Halloween-ready horro fans and cash in on the slight connection to The Hunger Games. Nobody will like it, because the trailers before the movie were more alarming than it was, and yet it will play for weeks. Bernie, one of the better movies this year, played for seven days at my theater before closing.

3/10