The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Director: Eli Roth
Starring: Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Owen Vaccaro, Kyle MacLachlan
Rating: PG
Runtime: 104 Minutes
Naturally, I am skeptical about PG horror, and its use in mainstream cinema. Some even moan about PG-13 horror movies, but I am not included in that group. I think horror if used effectively, has a place in any movie no matter genre or MPAA rating. So, has famed horror director, Eli Roth, created an all-ages horror movie (I love a question and answer format in a review)?
On the surface, The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a simple enough concept. Lewis (Vaccaro) is newly orphaned and has to move in with his warlock/wizard, Uncle Jonathan (Black). Jonathan lives in what most kids in town know as “that creepy house.” He doesn’t help matters by leaving a dozen jack-o-lanterns lit in his front yard year-round. Jonathan is usually accompanied by fellow witch/wizard, Florence (Blanchett), who lights up this film anytime she is on-screen. While Lewis is having trouble fitting in at school, Jonathan is having trouble tracking down a ticking clock in the walls of his house that was formerly inhabited by the great wizard, Isaac Izard (MacLachlan).
This movie is based on John Bellairs’ book of the same name. Eli Roth is not one for adapted screenplays, but here he is given a script that is already fleshed out and ready to shoot. I think he is quite successful here working in the Gothic and family-friendly medium. His pacing is fantastic, but Black and Blanchett are the stars of the show, and their chemistry carries this movie whenever it starts to slow down. The effects at work here are significant. They never seem overly done or too “silly” even though the target audience skews younger here.
Roth seems right at home applying what he has learned in his horror career to this PG family flick. I brought a 7-year-old and an 11-year-old with me to see this, and they proved to be a good test for the creepiness of this movie. A lot of people always ask if a movie is too much for their child and now I have to take into consideration if the movie is too juvenile for the teenagers of today. I think the age range of people who will enjoy this movie is incredibly broad and might be the biggest success of this film. Your child under 8 might want their eyes covered for certain scary moments, but rest assured they will leave with a smile.
There are pitfalls that these movies need to watch out for, and this movie managed to avoid most of them. It does suffer from an almost “too easy” of an ending when the stakes are literally the end of the world. I will forgive this movie for all of it because it was a fun horror-family movie and that line is so hard to walk and is so rarely successful. Directing and casting pull this movie up above a lot of the others in its niche genre. I highly recommend this film to you and/or your family.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Eli Roth pulls off a delicate balance of horror and family fun in this haunted house flick that I recommend you go see.
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Directing8
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Writing8
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Story8