The House with a Clock in Its Walls Review

The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a fun albeit tonally inconsistent horror adventure film. This movie is about a young boy named Lewis who moves into his Uncle's house after his parent's death. His life is turned upside down once he learns his uncle is a warlock. Owen Vaccaro gives a good performance. He sells the sense of naiveté and wonder enough for us to care about him. Jack Black gives a fantastic performance. He is not doing anything new here, but he remains entertaining nonetheless. Cate Blanchett gives a great performance. All the scenes of her and Black just talking are easily the film’s best. Kyle MacLachlan and Sunny Suljic also give good performances in smaller roles. Eli Roth did a great job directing. He manages to bring a creepy, but still fun tone to the film. The script is overall good, but has plenty of problems. The dialogue between Black and Blanchett is hysterical and we are given enough backstory that we care about them. The overall adventure story here is also well told and interesting. However, in the second half, the tone shifts around constantly. One moment will be potty humor and the next moment will involve a demon and cursed rituals. It does not mesh very well at all. The visual effects are a mixed bag. Overall they are quite good, but a few moments are terrible. At 105 minutes the movie runs a little too long. The first act drags on forever with almost nothing happening. The second and third acts do pick up though. Overall The House with a Clock in Its Walls is heavily flawed and tonally inconsistent. However, I do still think it’s a fun horror adventure for families with tweens and up.

6/10