7. House at the End of the Street
A thoroughly awful and unpleasant horror film, one that attempts to affect its unlucky audience by trading in abuse, sadism, and general human misery. House at the End of the Street bears neither a hint of intelligence nor a smattering of subtext to justify its ugly, cynical nature, while the horrendous script, amateurish production, and wildly unappealing characters prevent any single moment from shining through as entertaining. At its very best, the film is tolerable. At its worst, it is offensive, a nasty experience that brutalizes the audience without an ounce of substance. The lone silver lining? Jennifer Lawrence, now star of one of Hollywood’s biggest film franchises and a frontrunner for this year’s Best Actress Oscar, is far too famous and respected to ever star in drivel like this again. Good for her. She, like the rest of us, deserves better than House at the End of the Street.
6. The Words
For much of its runtime, The Words plays like the cinematic equivalent of the notice every college syllabus contains about plagiarism. The one that says copying someone else’s work is an unspeakably wicked crime, one that should never be performed under any circumstances and will irreparably shatter one’s life, career, and mental health. Even if the point is a fair one, the film, like the syllabus message, relates this concept with such staggering ineptitude, such dreadfully poor writing and overblown, arrogant, repellently self-important melodrama, that one finds oneself thinking plagiarized content, of any sort, would undoubtedly be more compelling than this wretched material one has been handed.
Or to put it in less figurative terms: The Words is an absolutely terrible movie from top to bottom, one so bad it compelled me to write a seven-page long review just to express my incredulity. The film is certainly not worth that level of attention, but what can I say? I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment.
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