This is an above average horror movie.

First the good points: The cast is A list - after all 2 Oscar winning actresses as daughter and mother - Jennifer Lawrence and Elisabeth Shue (who hasn't aged much). Max Thieriot (now of Bates Motel) is their next door neighbour who lives in a house where his parents were murdered. The acting is good and there is some build up of sympathy with the characters in the story.

It's not supernatural so it's not too implausible. Doesn't have too many shock tactics. I'm kind of sick of the recent supernatural horrors with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz and the one with Katie Holmes and Bailee Madison. It's not too slasher like too. No violence that doesn't advance the plot.

It's got some faults: Firstly the closeup photography is a bit too close up. Can't see the whole face. A bit jerky too.

There is a twist of course which is not totally unpredictable.

Overall kind of enjoyed it.

Elissa and her mother move into a rented accommodation, which is surprisingly cheap due to the fact that a little girl murdered her parents and ran away at the titular location.

They learn that the son, Ryan, still lives there alone and plans to renovate the house and sell it.

All the townsfolk despise Ryan for no good reason and Elissa strikes a friendship with Ryan despite her Mothers doubts.

But is Ryan all that nice, and whats in his basement? Obviously released to make money thanks to Lawrences fame garnered from The Hunger Games, I wasn't looking forward to this in the slightest, but I was surprised.

I hadn't seen any trailers for the film, and purposely knew nothing about it.

For the most part of the film, it kept me uneasy, with an acute sense of dread throughout the film. For once I was thinking 'where could this go?' And then halfway through the second act, it clicks, but this is thanks to the film makers just being lazy.

It's not a horror film, and although there are a lot of jump scares, it's all down to over use of orchestral music, and the film homaging other classic movies (there is one scene at the end that reminded me of Silence of the Lambs, but it was effective).

The main cast are great, but support is just your awful typecast frat boys and geeks who add nothing to the film.

Lawrence proves that winters bone was no one trick pony, she really excels with the material, and although it goes into Pacific Heights/Fear/YUnlawful Entry/Single White Female mode during the finale, she manages to make the film a little bit better than it should be.

There is a little twist at the end, but you half expected it.

My advice is try not to read anything about this film, because if I had, I wouldn't have had enjoyed it half as much as I did knowing nothing about it.

HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET has potential as a taut thriller with a small cast, but unfortunately it has the same problems as other PG-13 fare like DISTURBIA. There's a glossy, safe Hollywood feel to the whole thing which sanitises it; it's as if you can watch and be reassured (despite the scares) that it's never going to be too nasty and that there will be a happy ending once it's all done and dusted.

The would-be mystery plot sees Jennifer Lawrence and her mother Elisabeth Shue moving into a rural property where they discover some brutal murders were committed at a neighbouring house. Eventually, Lawrence befriends the brother of the girl who committed the murders, but it all becomes very convoluted and frankly unbelievable, copying too many films that have come before. I'm disappointed that this was written by one-time director Jonathan Mostow, who directed some nice movies before his talent seemed to fall apart.

The much talked-about Lawrence isn't really a draw in this film, as her acting is average at best. I mean, she's not bad, but it's hard to know how much of her sassy, slightly obnoxious character is actual acting and how much is really her. Shue is disappointing as the histrionic mother after her solid role in PIRANHA 3D, although much of that is down to the writing on her character. Max Thieriot bags the only really sympathetic character but the writers blow that before the end, leaving this tale predictable and rather uninteresting.