‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls’ delivers genuine frights and laughs

Posted on September 28, 2018

By MARK VIOLA

Like myself, my best friend through much of my school days was a voracious reader. Although there are plenty of books I read that he didn’t, and vice versa, it’s rare that we didn’t at least talk about them. So I was surprised when he messaged me about his excitement (and trepidation) over an adaptation of “The House with a Clock in Its Walls,” a 1973 book by author John Bellairs I had never heard of before.

I then saw the trailer for the movie, which stars Jack Black (“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”) and Cate Blanchett (“Thor: Ragnarok”). It intrigued me, but that was more due to his interest than because of the actual trailer. Sure, it looked fine, but I didn’t have any vested interest in the source material.

At the time, I also didn’t know it was directed by Eli Roth, none of whose films I have seen, because of their shocking levels of violence and gore. Still, his appearance only served to pique my interest for the film.

Having now seen it, I have to say it is quite enjoyable, presenting a fun mystery, interesting characters, plenty of laughs and more frights and thrills than you typically find in scary movies targeting youth. Sure there are a few jump scares (although not nearly as many as you might expect), but where the film really succeeds is in creating a sense of danger in both the ordinary and the strange. This eventually builds to a high level of tension as we begin to believe that our heroes are not guaranteed victory, something really hard to accomplish in most kids’ movies.

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