Eli Roth shows himself unafraid of chronic neck pain with The House With a Clock in Its Walls, pivoting from March’s tepidly received Death Wish remake to an Amblin film about an orphan adopted by his warlock uncle and inducted into an exciting new world of magic. Jack Black and Cate Blanchett topline what’s clearly intended to be a franchise starter, with Daddy’s Home tyke Owen Vaccaro as Lewis Barnavelt, the star of a series that started with John Bellairs’ 1973 book, on which this handsome exercise in nostalgia is based.
The movie is a throwback to studio fare like Hocus Pocus or Casper — it's anybody’s guess if Universal can entice parents to theaters when it opens Friday. But as a family film in that vein it largely succeeds, buoyed by Black’s typical exuberance, Blanchett’s typical slyness and a richly evocative rendering of a Rockwellian suburb sprinkled with goofer dust. Less interesting, as is the way with many audience-avatar YA protagonists (sorry, Harry), is the main character, and Vaccaro’s rather hyper-articulated performance doesn’t help.
The period of Hollywood filmmaking that Roth is most keenly paying homage to is not the '20s or even the '50s, but the '80s, and the film is as much about tipping the hat to Amblin classics like Back to the Future (as well as the work of Spielberg himself) as it is a pro forma paean to embracing one’s weirdness. The House With a Clock in Its Walls is most of all a child’s-eye view of a fractured family and its eventual reconstitution, in which a Holocaust survivor thwarts a plan to exterminate not just a race, but humanity itself.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a delight. As the first film from the revived Amblin brand, it stands alongside the “just for kids” classics of the 1980’s and 1990’s while refusing to merely homage or copy those generational classics. Based on a John Bellairs novel and adapted by Eric Kripke, this Eli Roth-directed fantasy expertly blends kid-sized scares with all-ages wonderment. The picture feels bigger than its (mostly) single-set location, although that single set (an expansive mansion on the outskirts of town) looks and feels like a cleaner version of Crimson Peak. But it understands that all the glorious production design in the world doesn’t mean much without an engaging cast of core characters.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls is the kind of flick that would be considered a generational classic had it opened in 1984. So the question is whether today’s kids, now saturated in unthinkably huge PG-13 fantasy actioners (and copious online entertainment), will appreciate the pint-sized thrills. My seven-year-old loved it (he covered his ears at the scary parts, laughed at the funny parts, etc.), and there is just as much entertainment value for the parents as their kids. This is a true all-ages movie, with the important caveat that it prioritizes the younger audiences (“your kid’s’ first horror movie”) over their nostalgic parents. I can’t speak for fans of the source novel, but I loved this one.
Eli Roth, the man behind the very adult Hostel, Cabin Fever, and Death Wish, directs here in what’s obviously a far cry from those hard R-rated movies. In fact, this is his first PG-rated movie, and it’s produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin, a company that once thrived on family-friendly, but slightly edgy movies like E.T., Gremlins, and Back to the Future. Those movies are obviously what Roth tries to channel here, but in doing so, he seems to go a little too far against his instincts. The House with a Clock in Its Wall feels a bit like Amblin Lite, a further watered down version of those ‘80s classics.
You’ve seen Amblin movies before, so you know how this works. And those moments, coming at the end of The House With a Clock In Its Walls, really shine in a way the rest of the movie doesn’t. That, in turn, makes them a little sad because they’re proof this concept and team could have made something magical. Instead, it’s just a little too flat and forgettable.
The movie is a throwback to studio fare like Hocus Pocus or Casper — it's anybody’s guess if Universal can entice parents to theaters when it opens Friday. But as a family film in that vein it largely succeeds, buoyed by Black’s typical exuberance, Blanchett’s typical slyness and a richly evocative rendering of a Rockwellian suburb sprinkled with goofer dust. Less interesting, as is the way with many audience-avatar YA protagonists (sorry, Harry), is the main character, and Vaccaro’s rather hyper-articulated performance doesn’t help.
The period of Hollywood filmmaking that Roth is most keenly paying homage to is not the '20s or even the '50s, but the '80s, and the film is as much about tipping the hat to Amblin classics like Back to the Future (as well as the work of Spielberg himself) as it is a pro forma paean to embracing one’s weirdness. The House With a Clock in Its Walls is most of all a child’s-eye view of a fractured family and its eventual reconstitution, in which a Holocaust survivor thwarts a plan to exterminate not just a race, but humanity itself.
Harry Windsor
The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a delight. As the first film from the revived Amblin brand, it stands alongside the “just for kids” classics of the 1980’s and 1990’s while refusing to merely homage or copy those generational classics. Based on a John Bellairs novel and adapted by Eric Kripke, this Eli Roth-directed fantasy expertly blends kid-sized scares with all-ages wonderment. The picture feels bigger than its (mostly) single-set location, although that single set (an expansive mansion on the outskirts of town) looks and feels like a cleaner version of Crimson Peak. But it understands that all the glorious production design in the world doesn’t mean much without an engaging cast of core characters.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls is the kind of flick that would be considered a generational classic had it opened in 1984. So the question is whether today’s kids, now saturated in unthinkably huge PG-13 fantasy actioners (and copious online entertainment), will appreciate the pint-sized thrills. My seven-year-old loved it (he covered his ears at the scary parts, laughed at the funny parts, etc.), and there is just as much entertainment value for the parents as their kids. This is a true all-ages movie, with the important caveat that it prioritizes the younger audiences (“your kid’s’ first horror movie”) over their nostalgic parents. I can’t speak for fans of the source novel, but I loved this one.
Scott Mendelson
Eli Roth, the man behind the very adult Hostel, Cabin Fever, and Death Wish, directs here in what’s obviously a far cry from those hard R-rated movies. In fact, this is his first PG-rated movie, and it’s produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin, a company that once thrived on family-friendly, but slightly edgy movies like E.T., Gremlins, and Back to the Future. Those movies are obviously what Roth tries to channel here, but in doing so, he seems to go a little too far against his instincts. The House with a Clock in Its Wall feels a bit like Amblin Lite, a further watered down version of those ‘80s classics.
You’ve seen Amblin movies before, so you know how this works. And those moments, coming at the end of The House With a Clock In Its Walls, really shine in a way the rest of the movie doesn’t. That, in turn, makes them a little sad because they’re proof this concept and team could have made something magical. Instead, it’s just a little too flat and forgettable.
Germain Lussier
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