The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018)
Directed by Eli Roth
When ten-year-old Lewis is suddenly orphaned, he is sent to live with his Uncle Jonathan in a creaky (and creepy) old mansion with a mysterious ticking noise that emanates from the walls. Upon discovering that his uncle is a warlock, Lewis begins learning magic, but when he rebelliously resurrects an evil warlock he must find the secret of the house and save the world from destruction.
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Based on the 1973 novel by John Bellairs, who came to specialize in young adult gothic and supernatural mystery stories, it evokes both the live-action Disney films of the 1970s, including Escape to Witch Mountain (1975), Return From Witch Mountain (1978), and The Watcher in the Woods(1980), and the successive series of 1980s suburban fantastic movies—Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985), Explorers (1985), and The Monster Squad (1987)—most of which were either produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment (which produced House) or were inspired by them.
For the most part, Roth is interested in channelling the visuals and atmosphere of an Amblin classic from the 1980s, such as Gremlins or The Goonies , though he never manages to summon up the same emotional charm.
Roth adapts his style well in his attempts to capture the charm and warmth of his inspiration, the 1980s Amblin classics like The Goonies and Gremlins .
Looking back, Amblin Entertainment — that Steven Spielberg-hatched shingle responsible for such films as “Gremlins” and “The Goonies” — may as well have defined the concept of movie magic for a generation, only to see it watered down by all the computer-generated juvenile thrill rides that followed.
Roth and Amblin may have been aiming to make The House With a Clock In Its Walls a return to the Spielberg classics of the ’80s, but it’s missing the sense of adventure, memorable characters, and the imagination that made movies like E.T. and The Goonies so beloved.
An odd and weird combination from the start, and hoping to be a nostalgic throwback to the realms of “Back To The Future” and “Casper” with a spice of “Jumanji” meets “Goosebumps” - Roth’s ‘The House with a Clock in its Walls” gets less interesting the more you dig deeper.
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.
Roth and screenwriter Erik Kripke (TV's Supernatural , Timeless ) also offer up plenty of allusions to another '80s hit – be it the opening clock scene, or the movie playing at the local cinema, this has Back to the Future homage written all over it.
In case we haven’t got the point, Roth’s 1955 set fantasy contains multiple allusions to Robert Zemeckis’s Back to the Future, pitching his fantasy as a film full of wonder and mischief, built on the relationship between a kid and his older, eccentric mentor.
Jon Hutman‘s production design is appropriately gothic, creating settings that invoke The Addams Family , A Series of Unfortunate Events and even Back to the Future .
The film is directed by Eli Roth, whose films Hostel and its sequel put him in the first rank of "torture porn" makers – which could be a problem, but it seems that he seized the chance to embrace the PG world because it meant working with Amblin, the company responsible for Spielberg's classic, ET , along with Gremlins , Back to the Future and many more.
As if director Eli Roth hoped borrowing concepts from the likes of the Harry Potter films, Lemony Snicket , and Goosebumps would suffice, as opposed to creating something mildly original instead, House… at once fails as a scary tale for the young audience he’s clearly aiming for and as an enjoyable romp for the adults who will go along rather begrudgingly.
Which, combined with the rotund presence of Jack Black and the fact it’s based on a kids’ novel (by John Bellairs), suggests The House With A Clock In Its Walls might be little more than a Goosebumps doppelgänger.
Based on the novel by John Bellairs, this comic horror fantasy will initially remind viewers of another Jack Black family scarefest, Goosebumps , as it skilfully mixes humour and slick CGI with thrills as Lewis uncovers the secrets of both his uncle and his new home.
The recent Goosebumps revival is as close to this in spirit as anything in recent memory and, as with that film, it’s a reminder that Black is really great at a lot of things, including this.
It puts recent efforts like 2015’s Goosebumps (which incidentally also starred Jack Black, the erstwhile headliner here) to shame while at the same time reminding me of past favorites like Gremlins , Adventures in Babysitting , The Witches and even that first adventure of everyone’s favorite boy wizard Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone .
"House" has decent scares for a kid's flick, and an adventurous spirit reminiscent of "Monster House" or a chapter in the "Goosebumps" franchise.
"House" has decent scares for a kid's flick, and an adventurous spirit reminiscent of "Monster House" or a chapter in the "Goosebumps" franchise.
The fact that Amblin Entertainment is involved with this adaptation feels like an ideal situation, as Roth’s work in the film feels perfectly at home with some of the notable fantastical movies that helped cement the production shingle’s legacy throughout the 1980s—films like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Goonies, Gremlins, Casper , and even Monster House immediately came to mind when I was watching their newest production.
Sus ruidos, rechinidos, habitaciones, laberínticos espacios y hasta mobiliario viviente, harán que los espectadores evoquen casas como la de Monster House (2006) o el palacio de La Bella y la Bestia (1991).
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In an era when movies made with children in mind play it too safe, this one harkens back to a time and tone similar to 1984's "Gremlins," 1985's "Return to Oz," and, perhaps most surprising of all, Bob Balaban's 1989 pitch-black suburban satire "Parents."
But House with a Clock has more in common with early Tim Burton movies (think a less overtly comedic Beetlejuice and a less explicitly tragic Edward Scissorhands ) than it does with the sentimental Spielberg framework, opting for mild scares and an extravagant exploration of the macabre over anything resembling grounded terror.
At any rate, by resurrecting this Voldemort Lite, Lewis triggers the obligatory showdown in the house’s basement on the eve of an eclipse — all of which feels formulaic in the extreme and more than a little derivative of better Tim Burton movies, most notably “Beetlejuice.”
You know the ones: Hocus Pocus , Casper, Beetlejuice …the list goes on.
Roth’s PG-rated movie — I know, what a concept — is like A Series of Unfortunate Events meets Goosebumps and Harry Potter , only without bringing anything new or surprising to its witchy, haunted house narrative.
Here, the protagonist is an overly book-smart boy, and his wards are eccentric oddballs – not too far removed from the familiar setups seen in Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” “Jumanji,” “Inkheart,” “A Monster Calls,” and, of course, the Harry Potter yarns – to name just a very few of the countless properties that tackle such subjects with a helping of witchcraft.
Jon Hutman‘s production design is appropriately gothic, creating settings that invoke The Addams Family , A Series of Unfortunate Events and even Back to the Future .
This might be a weird comparison to make, but the finale for The House with a Clock in Its Walls also gave me The Frighteners vibes, and that just tickled my proverbial fancy.
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It puts recent efforts like 2015’s Goosebumps (which incidentally also starred Jack Black, the erstwhile headliner here) to shame while at the same time reminding me of past favorites like Gremlins , Adventures in Babysitting , The Witches and even that first adventure of everyone’s favorite boy wizard Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone .
Since seeing it, I can’t help but wonder what a version directed by Guillermo del Toro would look like, an expert horror filmmaker who can also uniquely relate to kids of traumatized childhoods — just imagine how awesome a PG-version of Crimson Peak would be.