For a director with a flair for the horror genre, the PG rated The House with a Clock in Its Walls might not appear to be the obvious choice for his next film, but surprisingly, Eli Roth – he of Cabin Fever and Hostel – proves that horror isn’t the only genre he’s mastered, adding kids film to his palate.
Based upon the 1973 juvenile novel of the same name, written by John Bellairs and illustrated by Edward Gorey, the movie stars Owen Vaccaro as Lewis Barnavelt, a young 10-year-old kid who feels out of place in the world. With the passing of his parents he becomes an orphan, and is taken in by his mother’s brother Jonathan, a powerful warlock played by Jack Black. Pop trivia fans will know that Black sung the bonus track I Am the Warlock on Dave Grohls’ 2003 Probot album and here he inhabits the body and soul of lonesome magician Jonathan, playing a bickering, sniping Spencer Tracy to Cate Blanchett’s spiky and equally barbed Florence Zimmerman, a powerful witch who is essentially the girl next door. If house points were given for insults traded, Gryffindor would not be winning the house cup this year.
It’s testament to Blanchett’s ever-growing ability to play disparate characters that after the skin-tight leather-clad destruction wrought by Hera in Thor: Ragnarok, seeing her here as an older, buttoned up spinster Florence Zimmerman doesn’t feel at all out of place. Jonathan and Florence evoke that classic 1940’s fast taking, barb-bunging style, set against the backdrop of a house that is every bit as scary and unexpected as any cabin or hostel Roth might have set up shop in the past, especially with the titular clock hiding in its walls.
Pitted against this unlikely family unit is Kyle MacLachlan as Isaac Izard, the former partner of Jonathan Barnavelt who is attempting to bring doomsday to the world and kill everyone in it. He was stopped, but young Lewis’ attempts to fit in and impress the kids at his new school – and his clearly prodigious talents at wizardry – bring Izard back to life, putting life as we know it at risk.
At its heart it’s mostly a spooky kids’ film by numbers, but the film has a charm; the cast appear to be having fun and Owen Vaccaro is an engaging young lead. With Halloween on the way, and the remake of that classic John Carpenter masterpiece on the horizon ready to satisfy the grown-ups, you can take a delightful score by composer Owen Barr, mix it up in a giant carnivorous pumpkin’s head and have an easy afternoon watch, for kids of all ages.
THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: ELI ROTH / SCREENPLAY: ERIC KRIPLE / STARRING: JACK BLACK, CATE BLANCHETT, OWEN VACCARO, KYLE MACLACHLAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
