The house with a clock in its walls – a review

Based on the first book of the Lewis Barnave novels this movie follows Lewis as he meets his eccentric uncle Jonathan (Jack Black) and – very purple-  next door neighbour miss Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett). Together they fight a dormant evil lurking in the house with a clock in its walls.

Jack Black is rather gifted at getting involved in Halloween movies for the whole family. Goosebumps a few years ago and now The house with a clock in the walls.

I would include I still know what you last summer and
‘that’ scene from the Jackal –but I’m not right in the head.

THWACITW fits neatly next to Goosebumps as an all out family horror extravaganza. Though, some people online find it ‘too scary’ for the little ones.

Too scary?

Is the movie too scary to take the little children to? I can’t really judge. My childhood was comprised of Skeksis (The dark crystal), rat slaughters (The secret of Nimh), murdered families (The Ewoks adventure: the battle for Endor), Head-removing witches (Return to Oz) and that damned horse in The neverending story.

Plus: Are you afraid of the dark, Goosebumps and Tales from the crypt.

Trust me when I tell you that –when I reached my teens- I could handle everything the world wide web tried to throw at me when that first started.

Having that said; I did recently watch Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle.
Certainly a good movie.
But also a difficult movie to find an audience for.
I think this review accurately puts my thoughts to words (Link).

So I can’t judge. All I can say is that THWACITW, to me, wasn’t scary per se (except for that baby). The fearful stuff is to be expected but (it is) always toned down so the audience won’t suffer too greatly. Moreover, from the get-go this movie holds out the promise that everything will be alright in the end –and it will be.

Children need a little bit of fear I guess. There will always be witches hovering over their bed or a monster under it no matter what movie they see.

Too quirky?

Cate Blanchett is currently having a blast with her career going all over the place genre-wise. One minute she’s Thor’s evil sister, then she’s nicking jewellery with Danny Ocean’s sister and now she’s wand-waving fresh out of Hogwarts. The actress wanted to have some fun and who can blame her.

Fun THWACITW is for the two adult actors. The screenplay is filled to the brim with witty bantering between Miss Zimmerman and Jonathan Barnavelt. From the moment you first lay eyes on this odd couple you know that they are the best of friends (maybe even more since miss Zimmerman’s age has been reduced considerably for this movie) as they fire insult after insult at each other with the biggest grins.

Acting wise, however, this isn’t a very challenging movie. There are only a few scenes that require the actors to broaden their range. The majority is just reacting to things and giving each other space to act (something Black sometimes forgets - but that's his charm).

The main role of Lewis is for Owen Vaccaro. I assume that THWACITW was made with the possibility of a franchise in mind, and with him as the main actor I can see that happen.

Now, in 2018 that’s actually rare.

Remember when the movie landscape was bombarded with all those teen-adult movies;

one after the other hoping that at least one would stick. That wasn’t even that long ago.

He isn’t too skilled in the craft of acting yet (neither was Dan Radcliffe in the first Potter-movies) but he certainly gives it his all. One hilarious overacted scene near the end proved that much to me; he feels right at home in this quirky part.

Does this clock tick?

Because that’s one of the main reasons I liked this movie; it feels tailor made for me. I like strange (dark) humour, automatons, gothic houses, old books, magic and a dash of terror. There’s a reason Sleuth is my all time favourite movie.

So THWACITW resonates with me. The question, however, is does it resonate with the rest of the world? Time will tell.

Because that’s the most unpredictable thing about the American movie business: the audience. The movie producers can’t always tell which movie will be a success and which won’t. That’s why we get sequels and remakes all the time: originality (even an adaptation) is financially dangerous.

I, however, have faith that THWACITW will be successful enough to play on Halloween for years to come –even as a possible franchise starter for that matter. The groundwork has been laid out by the Harry Potter-movies and the ongoing revival of gothic horror. If there is one possible bump in the road it would be that the audience might find this movie ‘too safe’ – too much following the lightning-scared-boy-wizard template.

Luckily we have Eli Roth to nudge THWACITW in a marvellously unexpected direction without ever losing track of what kind of story he is telling.

Eli Roth directing a children’s movie?

Now this one came out of the left field. But it could work. After all Michael Scorsese made one of the best children’s movies of the last decade: Hugo. Even without killing poor Joe Pesci over and over again.

I’m not a big fan of Roth’s movies. I like the original Hostal for its originality and the willingness to ‘go there’. But after the novelty of this new genre wore off so did his movies. He needed to reinvent himself as a teller of other kinds of stories. And, with THWACITW he did marvellously.

A leopard can’t change its spots (as the saying goes) so, of course, there has to be some genuine spooks and scares in the movie. But THWACITW –to me- knows perfectly well how to balance it. Every fright is downplayed with a laugh. Dramatic scenes don’t overtake the screentime. Just enough to give the movie a heart without making it pretentious.

Storytelling for children is –as the movie actually (unwittingly) spotlights- not about the words on the page but the way you tell it.

If you stretch scenes too long or over-dramatise scenes kids will lose interest –and kids are honest.

Roth gets this balance right. With visual flair (and some exquisite set design) he directs the camera through this magical household where everything can move and nothing is what it seems (and some things might try to grab you). He can’t help himself to put some genuine scare in here and there. But, then again, he’s like me: we were never the same after Atrax.

The clock stops (and starts).

The house with a clock in its walls is a quirky fun filled fantasy horror for the whole family. Some parents might find this movie too scary. Maybe they are right. But, then again, when the best children’s movies of the 2000 are Coralline (no certainty for a happy ending), The Iron Giant (A nuclear missile launched), Hugo and Harry Potter (how many died?) maybe it’s time to accept that darkness is an essential part of a child’s life.

This movie delivers the darkness in such a charming humorous way that –I for one- can’t wait for the franchise to start. I want to see what kind of pickle Jonathan, Lewis and Florence get themselves into next time. Tick-tock.