# House at the End of the Street

House at the End of the Street is a 2012 American psychological thriller film directed by Mark Tonderai that stars Jennifer Lawrence. The film's plot revolves around a teenage girl, Elissa, who along with her newly divorced mother Sarah, moves to a new neighborhood only to discover that the house at the end of the street was the site of a gruesome double homicide committed by a 13-year-old girl named Carrie Anne who had disappeared without a trace four years prior. Elissa then starts a relationship with Carrie Anne's older brother Ryan, who lives in the same house, but nothing is as it appears to be.
Although filming had been completed in 2010, the film was not released until 2012 by Relativity Media. Despite a negative response from critics, the film was a moderate commercial success, grossing $44 million.

## Plot

Newly-divorced doctor Sarah Cassidy and her 17-year-old daughter Elissa move to a small, upscale suburb. They are disturbed to discover the house they are moving into is on the same street as the house in which a girl named Carrie-Anne Jacobson killed her parents four years prior. She fled and was never seen again, leaving her brother Ryan (Max Thieriot) as the sole survivor. Ryan now lives alone in the house and is hated by his neighbors; Bill Weaver, a local police officer, is his only supporter.
Elissa's relationship with her mother becomes rocky when she starts seeing Ryan against Sarah's wishes. Ryan confides in Elissa that Carrie-Anne fell from a swing when they were little; he was supposed to be watching her while their parents were getting high on drugs. The brain damage from the accident made her extremely aggressive, leading to their parents' murder. Ryan is revealed to be secretly taking care of a now-grown Carrie-Anne in a hidden room in the house. Carrie-Anne escapes and approaches a couple in a car while brandishing a kitchen knife. Ryan accidentally kills her while trying to hide her. Grieving, he goes to a diner, where he meets a kind waitress named Peggy Johns.
One night, a group of unruly high school boys pick a fight with him; he breaks one of their legs in self-defense and flees. Elissa drives to his house, finds tampons in the garbage, and discovers the secret room. She is attacked by Carrie-Anne, revealed to be Peggy. Ryan restrains "Carrie-Anne" as Elissa finds blue contact lenses and Peggy's wallet in the kitchen. Ryan has kidnapped Peggy and attempted to make her look like his sister. He knocks Elissa unconscious.
Elissa wakes tied to a chair. Ryan reveals that Carrie Anne didn't kill their parents. She had actually died during the accident on the swing set. It was Ryan who killed their parents after suffering years of abuse because they blamed him for his sister's death. The "Carrie Annes" he has been keeping in the basement were kidnapped women he made up to look just like his sister.
He decides to get rid of Peggy and make Elissa his new Carrie Anne. Officer Weaver arrives but Ryan stabs him to death. Elissa tries to escape in Ryan's car, but he knocks her out with chloroform and traps her in the car trunk with Peggy's body. Sarah arrives and is stabbed by Ryan. Elissa escapes and shoots Ryan with Weaver's gun. When he attempts to stab her, Sarah strikes him with a hammer.
Elissa and Sarah move out and Ryan is placed in a psychiatric ward. He begins to hear the voices of his deceased parents calling him Carrie-Anne. A flashback reveals a young Ryan about to blow out birthday candles while dressed in girl's clothing. His mother refers to him as Carrie Anne; he protests that he is Ryan. She violently slaps him across the face in response, insisting he is Carrie Anne.

## Cast

* Jennifer Lawrence as Elissa Cassidy
* Max Thieriot as Ryan Jacobson
** Bobby Osborne as Young Ryan
* Elisabeth Shue as Dr. Sarah Cassidy
* Gil Bellows as Officer Bill Weaver
* Eva Link as "Carrie Anne"
* Grace Tucker-Duguay as Carrie Anne Jacobson (flashbacks)
* Nolan Gerard Funk as Tyler Reynolds
* Allie MacDonald as Jillian
* Jordan Hayes as Peggy Johns
* Krista Bridges as Mary Jacobson (flashbacks)
* John Healy as Johnathon "John" Jacobson (flashbacks)

## Production

The film was originally announced in 2003 with Jonathan Mostow directing and Richard Kelly writing. The film went through development hell for seven years until production was revived in 2010 with Mark Tonderai directing and David Loucka writing, instead.
Principal photography and filming mostly took place at Algonquin College located in Ottawa, Ontario, in Metcalfe, Ontario and Carp, Ontario from August 2, 2010, until September 3, 2010.

## Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released in February 2012, but was moved to a September 2012 release. The film had its theatrical premiere in the United States on September 21, 2012, and was released in Canada on the same date. The film was not released theatrically in Sweden or Spain and was released direct-to-video on January 30, 2013, in Sweden and on August 28, 2013, in Spain.

### Novelization

A tie-in novelization of the movie was released on August 12, 2012, to accompany the movie by Little, Brown and Company.

### Home Media

House at the End of the Street was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on January 8, 2013.
The unrated cut was also released on January 8, 2013. The extended edition increased the length of certain scenes in the final cut by a few seconds and the amount of violence, blood, and gore was increased by a small amount.
The extended cut also included an additional twist, in which Bill Weaver was actually a close family friend of the Jacobsons and was aware of Carrie-Anne's fate, and he also knew about Ryan's abuse but did nothing to help him. On the day of Carrie-Anne's accident, he supplied John and Mary Jacobson with drugs and actually could have prevented Carrie-Anne's death if he had not sold them the drugs, as they had prevented John and Mary from heeding the cries of their only son, and he was then disowned as a close friend by John Jacobson.

## Reception
### Box office

The film debuted at number one at the US box office on its opening Friday and Saturday nights. In what was one of the tightest races in years for first place at the box-office weekend, the film finished the weekend at number two with $12.3 million, just less than a million behind End of Watch, which included takings from Thursday night through Monday morning, where that movie finished at number one, with $13.1 million. The film went on to gross over $44 million worldwide, from a budget of $6.9-10 million.

### Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 10% based on 68 reviews with an average rating of 3.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Poorly conceived, clumsily executed, and almost completely bereft of scares, House at the End of the Street strands its talented star in a film as bland as its title." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 31 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

### Awards

| Year | Award | Category | Recipients | Result |
| 2012 | Directors Guild of Canada | Best Sound Editing – Feature Film | Mark Gingras, John D. Smith, Katrijn Halliday, Tom Bjelic, James Robb, Dale Lennon | Nominated |
| 2013 | People's Choice Awards | Favorite Movie Actress (also for Silver Linings Playbook and The Hunger Games) | Jennifer Lawrence | Won |
| 2013 | MTV Movie Award | Best Scared-As-S**t Performance | Jennifer Lawrence | Nominated |
| 2013 | ASCAP Awards | Film Award | Theo Green | Won |