A (not so) scary movie whole family can enjoy
Jack Black, Cate Blanchett and Eli Roth sound less like the top talent in a movie than the start to a bad joke — so they walk into this haunted house, see, and ...
But it’s the actual team behind The House with a Clock in Its Walls, adapted from the 1973 young-adult mystery novel by John Bellairs. Roth, the director who gave us Cabin Fever, Hostel and the Death Wish remake, tones down the gore for his first PG-rated outing.
Black stars as Jonathan Barnavelt, a warlock with good intentions but only so-so skills. He is next-door neighbour to Blanchett’s character, Florence Zimmerman, a witch who spends so much time at his place that they are forced to explain to Jonathan’s newly arrived, recently orphaned nephew Lewis (Owen Vaccaro), that there’s nothing kissy-kissy going on.
The story takes place in the fictional town of Zebedee, Mich., in the actual year of 1955, though not all the dialogue is periodappropriate — pretty sure no one was saying “24/7” back then unless they were discussing football scores. Lewis, wearing aviator goggles like his favourite TV superhero, arrives at Uncle Jonathan’s sprawling mansion, which looks like a global explorer sold it to an art collector who sold it to a horologist who sold it to Black, with no one bothering to clear out their stuff.
Jonathan has little in the way of child-rearing skills — he tells Lewis that he can eat chocolatechip cookies for dinner and go to bed whenever he likes. In fact, the only rule is not to open the scary-looking cabinet on the main floor. You’ll never guess what happens next.
The set design is amazing — those cookies look freaking awesome — and after a suitable few scenes of drinking it all in, Lewis convinces his uncle to let him try his hand at some spells and incantations. But there are sinister forces afoot. The titular chronometer, hidden within the building by a previous occupant, is a nefarious timepiece; an alarming clock, if you will. And why is Lewis being visited by the ghost of his mother? But the frights should be tame enough for seasoned 10-year-olds — there are more hop- and skipscares than full-on jump-scares.
The film walks a fine line here, delivering enough frightening moments to qualify as a thrillercomedy, while also creating enough drama and character development to let adult chaperones feel they’re watching an actual movie. (Though this adult’s second-biggest shock was hearing Blanchett, a radiant 49-year-old, referred to as a “shrivelled, old prune.” First biggest was learning the Oscar winner was even in this movie.)
The House with a Clock in its Walls is the first of two kidfriendly horrors this season, with Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween opening Oct. 12. Word is that Black is not in that one, after appearing as author R.L. Stine in the original. So if you want to see him battling demonic evil, with a cookie in one hand and a spell book in the other, treat yourself to this trick.