I have to admit that I was less interested in House at the End of the Street as a movie than because it was directed by Mark Tonderai, who last I heard was interested in tackling the reboot of Marvel Studios’ Blade.

Though let’s look at the movie anyway.

House at the End of the Street stars Jennifer Lawrence (which typically would be reason enough for me not to see something), as the daughter of a single mother who decides to rent a house that also happens to be next to a residence where two people were killed by their daughter.

The murderer was never found, leading residents to believe that she’s out there somewhere as she becomes almost an urban myth.

The truth unfortunately is a bit more ludicrous, though I don’t know if that’s because of the story by Jonathan Mostow (U-571, Terminator: Rise of the Machines, Surrogates) or the screenplay by David Loucka.

Though what almost sinked this movie for me is the ending, which as I mention in my video, apes Brian DePalma’s Dressed To Kill (1980) way too closely for my liking though it’s not the ending in and of itself or even that it’s takes from a much better movie more than it doesn’t make much sense in context of everything that proceeded it.

That being said, it isn’t a bad movie and there’s little doubt Mark Tonderai knows how to shoot because this movie is a sepia-toned beauty. He has certain stylistic tendencies (the remarkable opening sequence in particular) that might lead you to believe that you’re going to see a movie that’s more visually innovative than it actually happened to be – and is perhaps better suited for a reboot of Dune than it is here.

That being said, I still don’t know if he has the chops to handle Blade, since there’s little here that’s as action-intensive as what would be necessary to handle the Daywalker.