A Look Inside ‘House at the End of the Street’

“House at the End of the Street” is an American horror film starring Elizabeth Shue, Jennifer Lawrence and Max Thierot and directed by Mark Tonderai. It is set in Pennsylvania, although it was mostly filmed in Ottawa, Canada. This film has a running time of 101 minutes, and its dialogue is entirely in English. The rating of this film is PG-13.

Release Dates

The original release date for this film was February 3, 2012, but it was later rescheduled to April 2012 and then to August 21, 2012. The reason for the changes in release dates was probably to prevent it from competing with other horror films by Relativity Media, the film’s distributor. A novel based on the screenplay was released on August 21, 2012 to serve as a tie-in for the film.

Plot

Sarah Cassidy (Elisabeth Shue) is a newly divorced mother trying to get a fresh start in life. She and her daughter Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) move to a nice house in a small town in rural Pennsylvania. Sarah and Elissa begin to experience some unexplainable events that lead them to discover the town’s chilling secret. Years earlier, a girl in the house next door killed her parents while they were asleep and then disappeared. Her brother Ryan Jacobson (Max Thierot) survived the massacre and stills lives in the house. Elissa befriends Ryan against Sarah’s wishes, and they are all drawn into a dangerous mystery.

Writers

The writers for “House at the End of the Street” are David Loucka and Jonathan Mostow. Mostow wrote the original short story, from which Loucka developed the screenplay. Mostow also wrote the novelization of the film from the screenplay.

Loucka’s first major successes as a screenwriter were comedies such as “The Dream Team” in 1989 and “Eddie” from 1996. However, he is currently best known for psychological thrillers such as the “The Ring” in 2002 and “Dream House” in 2011.

Mostow is both a director and writer and often performs both duties for the same film. He got his start in documentaries and music videos before making the 1989 thriller “Beverly Hills Bodysnatchers” and the 1991 action drama “Flight of Black Angel.” Mostow’s first commercially successful film was the 1997 thriller “Breakdown” starring Kurt Russell. This was followed by the 2000 World War II film “U-571” and 2003 science fiction action film “Rise of the Machines.” He took a six-year hiatus from filmmaking before directing the 2009 science fiction action film “Surrogates.”

Producers

The producers for “House at the End of the Street” include Peter Block and Aaron Ryder. The main producer is Aaron Ryder, who approved Ottawa for the film after scouting locations for two months. Ryder primarily selected rural locations for the film, although one week of filming was spent at Algonquin College. Ryder’s producing credits include the 2001 comedy “The Mexican” starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. He also produced the 2000 psychological thriller “Memento” and the 2001 thriller “Donnie Darko.”

Peter Block is best known as the producer for the “Saw” series of horror films, which currently includes six films. He also produced the 2005 horror film “The Devil’s Rejects,” the 2008 action adventure film “Rambo 4,” and the 2009 horror film “Daybreakers.”

Actors

Jennifer Lawrence is best known as Katniss Everdeen, the lead character in the 2012 action film “The Hunger Games.” She also played Mystique in the 2011 superhero film “X-Men: First Class.” Lawrence starred in the 2010 drama “Winter’s Bone” as Ree Dolly. This role earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress at the age of 20, making her the second youngest actress ever to be nominated.

Elizabeth Shue is best known as Sera in the 1995 romantic drama “Leaving Las Vegas,” for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also played Jennifer Parker in the second and third films in the “Back to the Future” trilogy. Shue’s first role in film was Ali Mills in the 1989 martial arts film “The Karate Kid.”

Max Thierot’s first film was the 2004 family comedy “Catch That Kid,” when he was 16. He also starred in the 2005 comedy “The Pacifier,” which also starred Vin Diesel. Thierot’s first dramatic role was a Shepard farmer in the 2007 drama “The Astronaut Farmer,” and he also had a starring role in the 2007 comedy/drama “Nancy Drew.” Thierot’s first adult role was Michael Stewart in the 2009 erotic thriller “Chloe.” His last film before making “House at the End of the Street” was the 2011 drama “Foreverland.”

Watch the trailer here: “House at the End of the Street”