{2jtab: Movie Review}

House at the End of the Street (otherwise known as 101 Generic Minutes) is a bad career location for Jennifer Lawrence.  She’s too talented of an actress to get caught up in a supposed suburban horror film that is neither scary nor any good.  A haunted house this is not.  The twists and turns through each of it dull hallway are all routine.  Psycho killers are hard to pull off and require a bit of smarts in order to tease and twist its audience effectively.  House at the End of the Street is nowhere you’ll want to be for very long.

The good news is that the by-the-numbers film was originally filmed way back in 2010 and, having waited to see how popular she would become in The Hunger Games, was finally released late last year.  It’s a smart move on Relativity’s part to capitalize on their star’s fame like that, but its bad news for Lawrence, who can’t afford to make another decision like this one without having a few more well-received films to her filmography.

The film – neither a reboot nor original – was dropped on unsuspecting audiences like the bomb it is and received only a handful of positive notes.  Obviously, this review will not be one of those. Rest assured, a scantily clad Lawrence is the only reason to even entertain any notion of seeing this wincing nonsense and, unfortunately, she’s as lost as Mark Tonderai’s direction.

Four years after a disturbed daughter kills her mother and father, Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) and her daughter Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) move in the neighborhood.  Yet, the house where the murders occurred still stands and is home to the only remaining survivor of the family: Ryan (Max Thieriot).  Of course, they can see the “haunted” house from their front porch but are told not to worry about Ryan.  He’s as gentle as a lamb.  He’s not, though.  He’s hiding a deep and dark secret.

But you, having seen a million horror films like this, already know his secret.  Only the fools in the film never suspect.  And maybe some other teenager that is unfamiliar with the wicked ways of weak horror.  Screenwriter David Loucka (Dream House) builds this house out of twiggy stock shocks that only serves to burn his creation down in lazy orange flame.  You’ll soon be moving from the end of the street and heading on down the road.

Unfortunately, House at the End of the Street is piss-poorly constructed teenage entertainment at its flimsiest.

{2jtab: Film Details}

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and terror, thematic elements, language, some teen partying and brief drug material.
Runtime: 101 mins.
Director: Mark Tonderai
Writer: David Loucka
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence; Max Thieriot; Elizabeth Shue; Eva Link; Nolan Gerard Funk
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Fear reaches out... for the girl next door.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Honey, sometimes people can't be fixed."
Distributor: Relativity Media
Official Site: www.bodyhunt.jp
Release Date: September 21, 2012
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: January 8, 2013

Synopsis: Newly divorced Sarah and her daughter Elissa find the house of their dreams in a small, upscale, rural town. But when startling and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret.

{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}

Component Grades Movie Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray Experience

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - January 8, 2013
Screen Formats: 2.40:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); Digital copy (on disc); DVD copy
Region Encoding: Locked to region A

House at the End of the Street seeps onto Blu-ray with an exacting 1080p/VC-1 encoded transfer that, through the magic of Hi-Def blueprints, stays true to the filmmakers’ hammer and nail intentions. Lawrence and Shue look incredible, thanks to a variety of filters and some minor filmmaker-initiated DNR.  Skintones are beautifully saturated, primary colors pop, blacks are deep and foreboding, and detail ranges from passable to satisfying. While fine textures are sometimes lost, edges remain clean and refined throughout the presentation.  The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track isn’t intense but manages to pull audiences in with fantastic immersions to the frontal assault of crisp dialogue.  This is a solid-looking release from Twentieth Century Fox/Relativity Media.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• None

Special Features:

This blu-ray release, complete with a DVD and Digital Copy of the film, gives new meaning to the term bare-boned.  One vapid featurette with interviews from cast and crew is supplied for anyone interested in how the film was made.  My advice?  Don’t even bother.

• Journey Into Terror: Inside House at the End of the Street (10 min)
• Theatrical Trailer

{2jtab: Trailer}

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