La casa de al lado

When a teenager and her mother move to a little town, the girl finds out that an accident took place in the house at the end of the street. She ends up befriending the sole survivor of the accident.

This film has its fair share of chilling moments and Lawrence often elevates the sub-par material... Along with Shue, the dynamic of these two actresses makes the majority of the film enjoyable. The film even has some unpredictable twists that it will even have you actively rooting for the villain and against the victims at one point.

Although it's fairly routine, House at the End of the Street is what it is: a PG-13 scare-fest with more psychological terror than blood and guts, and should satisfy-not repulse-young genre fans and is smarter than most films of the genre, even with some fairly predictable plot turns.

This is an above average horror movie.

First the good points: The cast is A list - after all 2 Oscar winning actresses as daughter and mother - Jennifer Lawrence and Elisabeth Shue (who hasn't aged much). Max Thieriot (now of Bates Motel) is their next door neighbour who lives in a house where his parents were murdered. The acting is good and there is some build up of sympathy with the characters in the story.

It's not supernatural so it's not too implausible. Doesn't have too many shock tactics. I'm kind of sick of the recent supernatural horrors with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz and the one with Katie Holmes and Bailee Madison. It's not too slasher like too. No violence that doesn't advance the plot.

It's got some faults: Firstly the closeup photography is a bit too close up. Can't see the whole face. A bit jerky too.

There is a twist of course which is not totally unpredictable.

Overall kind of enjoyed it.

In case you close your eyes every time Hollywood is mentioned, you might not know that Jennifer Lawrence was in The (hugely profitable) Hunger Games. She's currently Tinseltown's darling and, judging by this film, can sell anything.

The House at the End of the Street is about a teenage girl and her mother, who move into a house next to one where some murders were committed a while back. The teenage boy who witnessed said killings still lives there. Let the creepiness commence.

There is nothing 'supernatural' about this film, it's a sort of horror/thriller with teenage leads. And that's the most important part. Whereas Twilight was a vampire story for teens and The Hunger Games was a Battle Royale/Running Man for teens. The House at the End of the Street is a horror/thriller for teens. I'm sure plenty of 15+ people will enjoy it too, but I'm going to stick my neck out and guess that its primary fanbase will be around the 15 years of age mark.

I've seen a lot of these times of horror/thrillers. Perhaps that's my problem. I know every scare and twist going (and can therefore predict them a mile off). However, if I hadn't watched many of these sorts of films, I'm sure I would enjoy it much, much more. Basically, to seasoned and cynical cinema-goers such as myself, this film offers nothing new. It conforms to every cliché going, yet it was pretty damn successful, proving that Jennifer Lawrence is one hell of a box office draw. Fair play to it for finding an audience - I just don't think many people will get much out of this is (a) they have seen plenty of these type of films before and (b) if they're not in the 'Twilight generation.' Oh, and don't get me started on the actual NAME of the film. Even fans of the film must admit that whatever Hollywood writer picked it was having a really slack and lazy day. Seriously...

This movie was a pleasant surprise to me because I thought it was going to be more of a "horror" movie...I wouldn't call it that, I'd call it a terrific suspense thriller with good twists here and there. I liked the casting and the storyline. The actors did a good job, esp. the young college student male lead. This is a story that could have actually happened, imo. The music was a big part of the movie, too. Good soundtrack that, while I was aware of it, it did not take away from the scenes but built up my anxiety! It was like another character. Definitely worth seeing for all the right reasons. Very entertaining and kept my attention throughout. All this without "blood & guts" galore - made me think of the old Alfred Hitchcock-type thrillers that depended more on the viewer's anticipation and imagination. Lastly, I thought I had the plot figured out, but I was surprised at how wrong I was. Smiled on my way out of the theater.

If watching HatEotS has taught me anything (taught me again, actually) is that many times a film's worst enemy could be the buzz around it. Had it not been for all the talk about it, I might have had lowered expectations and therefore a smaller sense of disappointment.

As the Horror freak that I am, I've always loved Psychological Thriller/Horror films with a sophisticated twist towards the end. This film makes an attempt on having such a twist, but personally, for me, it didn't work.

Let's start off with the good things: the acting was very good, especially by Max Thieriot as Ryan. The way he talked, the look in his eyes, everything was simply perfect for the role. Jennifer Lawrence wasn't bad either, but sadly the best part about her acting was her not being an eyesore, not at all. Great job also by Elisbabeth Shue as a teenagers's mother!

As for the story - I find it difficult to pinpoint my problem with it. The build up seemed sufficient and the twist was surprising enough, and kept up getting deeper and more evolved. Perhaps it's the difficulty to fully grasp and comprehend what had happened happened that took some of the excitement away. I was too busy figuring out one detail when the next hit. So perhaps other viewers will enjoy it more.

All in all, watching this has been a fun experience, though not overly. I can't say "don't watch it!", nor can I recommend it too enthusiastically. If you don't expect too much - you could be in for a treat.