HATES

What a wonderful gloomy Saturday! And to celebrate the fact that my next door neighbors with the small children who never stop crying are moving out today, I have selected to watch House At The End of the Street...aka HATES.

Released in 2012 and directed by Mark Tonderia this movie stars the wonderfully amazing Jennifer Lawrence and Max Thieriot (who I have honestly never heard of until this movie).

Basic premise of this movie is that there was a horrible accident in the house that the end of the street to which the only surviving person was the son. A few years later a mother and daughter move into the house right next door and they begin to learn about the terrible accident all the while the daughter begins to befriend the surviving son.

Perhaps this trailer will make it more interesting?

Honestly I remember when this movie came out and I automatically hated it on principal because it was an acronym, and having gone to a school that was an acronym I tend to detest most acronyms.

After looking this movie up on IMDB there really was not a whole lot of interesting trivia or facts. The only thing I found was that Elissa's phone, which was suppose to be an iPhone is really a 4th generation iPod Touch. Ooo, fancy AND exciting.

I have realized that this movie is a lot like a seven layer dip. As you progress your way through, you stumble upon more layers and surprisingly enough find out that it is not only tasty but interesting!

Jennifer Lawrence gives a stellar performance as Elissa. She is smart, asks the right questions, doesn't take anyone's crap and is a very strong female. Also, the girl can sing! Love her so much!

There are a few characters that you really route for during this movie and one of them is surprisingly enough the local sheriff. He is the only one who goes out of his way to defend Ryan, the kid who survived the family attacks. Normally in a movie such as this, the local law enforcement along with the citizens would either all rally around a character like him in sympathy or shun him completely with total hatred. The sheriff is smart, which is so refreshing because in a lot of horror movies they are just so freaking ignorant!

The movie is a bit slow to pick up, but when it does, hold on for the joy ride of suspense!

Now I will say that the movie could have been executed a bit better with a stronger plot. I was left wondering why was the family (the one that gets killed by the child) so messed up? Was the drug problem really it or was it just an illusion? I think you are left with more questions than answers here but over all it was not totally horrible.

IMDB gives HATES a 5.4 out of 10 stars. Rotten Tomatoes gives it an 11% with a 43% audience approval. I would like to give this one a 4, I really would but I just can not. So instead I will compromise and give it three skulls and a hand full of teeth. (out of five skulls of course). Check this one out on Netflix if you're in the mood for something suspenseful and not totally predictable. Or if you're just a huge Jennifer Lawrence fan.

Until Tomorrow!
Sleep tight and don't let the zombies bite!

- JD