The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018) review

The House with a Clock in Its Walls, an adaptation of author John Bellairs’ best-selling novel of the same name from 1973, is one of those films that is quite fascinating primarily because of who’s directing it. Sometimes you have a film that is directed by someone who isn’t usually known for making films that are either from a specific genre or geared towards a specific audience. Some notable examples of this include 2011’s Hugo, a rare family-friendly affair from the legendary Martin Scorsese, or when the Russo Brothers effectively transitioned from comedies to the superhero genre when they were hired to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier. And that is very much the case with this film, which is the first PG-rated directorial effort from Eli Roth. For the past decade, the New England native director has mainly been known for his work on horror films that more than deserve their R rating. In fact, films like 2005’s Hostel, its 2007 sequel Hostel: Part II, and 2015’s The Green Inferno have been noted as playing a huge part in the development of the rather infamous genre of horror films that have colloquially been referred to as ‘torture porn’. With that in mind, it’s admittedly rather weird to now see him working on a film that’s geared towards the type of crowd who really shouldn’t be watching any of his other films. But to his credit, Roth does manage to craft an enjoyable family-friendly fantasy horror flick that benefits greatly from its three leads and shows that he can certainly be more than just a director who’s known for graphically violent horror films.

  

Following the death of his parents in a car crash, ten-year-old bookworm Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) is sent to live with his friendly uncle Jonathan (Jack Black) in a small town in Michigan. Once there, he is brought to Jonathan’s ‘ancient’ house where he also meets his uncle’s eccentric neighbor, Florence Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett). Soon enough, Lewis starts noticing a few oddities about his uncle’s house. Despite claims from his neighbors and classmates that the house is haunted, Lewis eventually learns that Jonathan is a warlock AKA a practitioner of magic. After some coaxing, Jonathan agrees to train his nephew with the help of Florence, who’s also quite skilled in magic as a witch, and to their surprise, Lewis quickly manages to become quite adept at casting spells. Along the way, though, Lewis also learns about the darkest secret behind his uncle’s house. Specifically, he learns that the house was previously owned by a more sinister warlock, Isaac Izard (Kyle MacLachlan), who happened to be an old friend/partner of Jonathan’s. One night, Isaac cast a powerful spell that ended up killing him but also created a mysterious ticking clock that was hidden somewhere within the house itself. Unsure of what will happen when the clock’s ticking counts down to one, Lewis, Jonathan, and Florence must band together to ensure that whatever Isaac planned won’t come to fruition.

All in all, Roth does quite a solid job when it comes to his first film geared towards younger audiences. It allows him to play with a lot of the horror elements that he’s familiar with while never delving into any of the more extreme parts of his other films. This results in a breezily paced fantasy flick that boasts a lot of quirky gothic visuals and a nice light-hearted tone that produces a lot of solid humor amidst only a few bits of juvenile family film humor. And while the writing does have a few narrative cracks here and there (e.g. a finale that’s a tad bit anticlimactic), the story is still solid despite it being rather predictable. Ultimately, though, the biggest selling point of this film is its trio of leads. General newcomer Owen Vaccaro (though, really, calling him a ‘newcomer’ is a bit of a stretch given that he did star as one of Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg’s kids in Daddy’s Home and its sequel) does an excellent job in the lead role of Lewis, working quite well off his more experienced co-stars. On that note, Jack Black and Cate Blanchett are also quite excellent, especially in terms of their comedic banter. Black, of course, brings his usual youthful enthusiasm to the table while Blanchett works as a great foil for him as the more sarcastic Florence, who gets one of the more interesting character arcs in the film revolving around an incident from her past that has effectively hindered her magic. As for Kyle MacLachlan as the main antagonist Isaac Izard, admittedly his screen-time is mostly limited to the third act, but he does make the most out of it. Unfortunately, the other villain in the film, Isaac’s wife Selena (Renee Elise Goldsberry), is heavily underutilized. Not only is Goldsberry dealt with the same situation as MacLachlan by having most of her screen-time limited to the finale, but her character isn’t even properly introduced until that very point.  

Ultimately, though, this film is a prime example of how just because a director is known for doing one kind of film doesn’t mean that they can’t step out of their wheelhouse to do something different. Despite a few narrative shortcomings, The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a nice addition to the genre of family-friendly fantasy horror films that has spawned numerous classics such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, and Gremlins. In fact, Gremlins is an appropriate reference in this case because one thing that I forgot to mention in the intro was that this was produced by Steven Spielberg’s production company, Amblin Entertainment. With that in mind, this does come off as the kind of family film that Spielberg was well-known for in the 80’s, right down to it having a kid as the main protagonist who goes on a fantastical adventure in a seemingly normal town. And while this may not reach the same heights as the films that have inspired it, it does work well thanks in large part to its delightful visual style and the terrific lead trio of Owen Vaccaro, Jack Black, and Cate Blanchett. As such, I wouldn’t mind seeing a follow-up with the same main characters involved. This is, after all, a film that was based on the first installment of a series that went on to have 11 more novels. Obviously, this film isn’t going to go on to have that many follow-ups regardless if a sequel ever gets made but, I don’t know, maybe one or two sequels if everyone involved was open to returning.

Rating: 3.5/5