#HouseWithAClock Trailer Reviews (II)

Trailer reviews: The House with a Clock in it Walls

The director Eli Roth made his name with adults-only horror films like “Hostel,” but he’s setting out to scare a younger audience with “The House With a Clock in its Walls,” which has just released its first trailer.

As if the unseen ticking timepiece weren’t creepy enough, the home also features such haunted-house standbys as suits of armor, jack-o’-lanterns and a tentacled monster that pops out of a closet. “That’s safe?” Lewis asks. His uncle reassures him, “As long as it’s fed.”

Mr. Roth, whose recent reboot of “Death Wish” misfired at the box office, seems to have drawn visual inspiration from both Edward Gorey (who illustrated the 1973 book) and Steven Spielberg. The trailer opens with throwback logos for Universal Pictures and Mr. Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, homages to the filmmaker’s early classics like “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”

New York Times
March 27, 2018

 

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Eli Roth collaborating with Steven Spielberg‘s Amblin Entertainment is something that you’d think would never happen in a million years. One dives into the world of horrors beyond anyone’s imagination and the other explores the world of imagination. But with the right material, the two could be paired nicely. That’s what we are getting with Roth’s adaptation of The House with a Clock in Its Walls.

Honestly, this looks like a lot of fun. It’s got just the right amount of mystery, intrigue, fun, and spine-tingling creepiness. The “ticking” whispers that can be heard throughout the trailer just gave me the chills. And we get to see Cate Blanchett in yet another family friendly film, and this time she isn’t a vindictive evil stepmother, but an interesting next door neighbor who also happens to be a witch.

Geeks of Doom
March 27, 2018

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In the first chapter of John Bellairs’ strange and wonderful young-adult novel The House With a Clock in Its Walls, the protagonist, a ten-year-old boy named Lewis, stays up late reading the ninth volume of John L. Stoddard’s lectures, a late-19th century travelogue that he finds in his eccentric uncle’s library.

That passage captures bookish children’s fascination with horrible things, as well as their ability to set them aside—the peppermint patty is a great touch—but it also tells you something important about Bellairs’ project. 

Whether Bellairs didn’t have a copy of Stoddard at hand and misremembered the passage or deliberately altered it, the result is the same: he made his source material bloodier and ghastlier, confident children would come along for the ride. And they did, in droves.

Which brings us to the first trailer for Universal Pictures’ adaptation of the book, directed by Hostel’s Eli Roth. The previous adaptation, narrated by Vincent Price for his TV special Once Upon a Midnight Scary, set the bar very, very low, so it’s no surprise Roth looks to have filmed the definitive version of Bellairs’ novel. Giving this movie to a horror director was a great idea, the set design looks top notch, Jack Black and Cate Blanchett are in fine form, and it looks like Roth has nailed the puzzle-box aspect of the novel without making it look too video-gamey. And even in the trailer, it’s clear that there’s plenty of nightmare-fuel for kids, from dead-eyed dolls to the hand of glory.

But the scene in which Jack Black says, “You’re perfectly safe,” right before purple tentacles erupt from a door behind him and Lewis asks, “That’s safe?” in disbelief? That’s exactly the kind of broad, kid’s movie comedy The House With a Clock in Its Walls doesn’t need. Kids know when they’re being condescended to, and with a PG-13 rating, not many children young enough to appreciate that joke are going to see it anyway. We’ll find out in September what Roth learned from Bellairs, but let’s hope that line is an anomaly. Give the kids their purple-velvet plums spurting plum juice. Some of them are going to love it.

Slate
March 27, 2018