PG-13 horror movies are nothing new and probably won't be going away anytime soon. Some horror fans bemoan the lack of hard-R stories filled with gore and blood and weighty acts of violence (it seems like the upcoming Evil Dead remake will fill that void though) but the fact is that a good story does much more to elevate a film rather than free reign to shock through gore. The problem though with most PG-13 horror movies, including House at the End of the Street, is a lack of most anything else resembling a horror movie. Like last year's The Possession, this film exists, not as a sobering look at small town prejudices or the foolishness of unmitigated trust, but merely as a way to pander to teenagers looking for something to do on a Friday night. In other words, the mother-daughter pairing of Elisabeth Shue and Jennifer Lawrence is quite nice but there is little else of note on display.
Apparently House has been in development for some time with a decent turnover of cast and crew. This shows in spades as HATES (the nonsensical promotional acronym) is a jumbled mess of good ideas that are either too watered down to be effective or completely dropped to introduce another fleeting plot point. Trying to flee their shaky past, Lawrence and Shue rent a secluded house in a state park that should be much more expensive if not for the double murder that occurred next door. The townsfolk relay the story of a disturbed girl, Carrie Anne, who kills her parents in the middle of the night before allegedly drowning and the other child Ryan, who still lives in the house. The uncaring neighbors call him names, mock his tragedy, and want to burn his house down to raise their property values. Elissa (Lawrence), being a rebellious yet tender hearted teenager, befriends Ryan in spite of everyone else's concerns.
The budding friendship between Elissa and Ryan is the heart of the story as she is described as constantly trying to 'fix' people and he is estranged from the world after his parents' murder. But since this is a 'horror' movie, it is easy to make the assumption that he has secrets to hide. While the core is interesting enough with good performances from Lawrence and Max Thieriot, the script by David Loucka sabotages itself with a lack of characterization outside of the two leads and rendering any surprises meaningless as the final destination of the film is easy to spot after the first act. Sadly enough, Elisabeth Shue is wasted until the finale as she bemoans her daughter's actions to the lone inept cop with little else to do. Relative newcomer Mark Tonderai as director tries to equate the requisite shaky shots and crane swoops as unease but it looks as unremarkable as the story insists.
As I've been surprised by tame horror before, I'm not about to automatically write off anything with a more audience friendly rating. But since the majority of PG-13 'horror' films only succeed in taking established stories and distilling any suspense out of them for a quick buck, I think its time to establish a new sub-genre for these films to avoid the ire of horror fans. I'm open to suggestions on that.
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