The story starts out with Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) and her mother Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) moving into a new house that happens to have a great view of the home where a double homicide took place four years earlier. They, along with their new neighbors, expect the house to be vacant after the gruesome murder which involved the adolescent Carrie Ann killing her parents while they slept and then disappearing into the woods where she allegedly drowned in a pond – despite a body never being found. Needless to say Elissa and her mother are beyond surprised when they find out that the son of the murdered couple, Ryan Jacobson (Max Thieriot), is still living in the creepy home. Then one night while walking home Elissa is introduced to Ryan when she is caught walking home in the rain and he offers to give her a ride. Despite her better judgment, she gets into the car where she begins to interrogate him about his family and that fateful night. Elissa’s anxieties are quelled as she discovers that Ryan is just a gentle, albeit troubled, soul coping with the loss of his family and trying to fix up his childhood home so that he can move away.
Jennifer Lawrence in “House at the End of the Street.” © 2012 – Relativity Media.
Elissa begins to have feelings for Ryan and the two begin a sweet little relationship despite the bad feeling that Elissa’s mother has about Ryan. Elissa rebels against her mother’s instincts and insists that Ryan is not the neighborhood whacko as neighborhood legend has it. Elissa even begins to think that she can bring Ryan out of his depression and turn him into a normal eighteen-year-old boy. Things seem to be going well with Elissa and her new boyfriend until she finds out that Ryan is actually harboring his murderous sister in the basement of the haunted home. So the sister didn’t die after killing her parents and Elissa’s new boyfriend simply wants to protect his little sister and hang onto the only family that he has left. That’s totally normal right? Then, just as we the audience are thinking “Don’t be stupid, Elissa” and want to shout this out loud, the movie takes an unbelievable twist that frightens and terrifies. The best part is that I, a self-proclaimed horror movie junkie, was not able to predict the wicked ride that this movie ends up taking viewers on.
Out of respect for fellow horror movie fans, I cannot give anymore away about this film. I want you to go see this movie and experience it for yourself. Though you may be able to argue that the story is somewhat far-fetched, that seems to be characteristic of modern-day-horror movies. I actually do not mind this. As long as there are enough moments that catch me off guard and scare me in a horror film, I am forgiving of any of the movie’s shortcomings. I enjoyed House at the End of the Street as much as last year’s Insidious, and think you will too.
