The House With a Clock in Its Walls Review

From the director of violent horror films like Hostel and The Green Inferno comes something completely unexpected – a charming fantasy film that the whole family can enjoy.

In 1955 Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) is a 10-year-old who has lost his parents in a car accident and moves in with his eccentric uncle Jonathan (Jack Black) in New  Zebedee, Michigan. Lewis soon finds out his uncle is a warlock and he trains the boy along with his neighbour, Florence Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett). However, it wouldn’t be a fantasy film without a threat and The House With a Clock in Its Walls comes in the form of the titular clock and a book that Jonathan locks in a cupboard which Lewis is not allowed to open.

The House With a Clock in Its Walls was produced by Amblin Partners, Steven Spielberg’s production company and the film does have a Spielberg quality to it – the film has a period setting, focuses on a child suffering from grief who becomes key to big venues. It is a film filled with childlike wonder and awe and it a wonderful throwback to an ’80s family film.

Eli Roth is a director who has made controversial horror films – his Hostel films help to give birth to the mid-to-late noughties torture porn movement; Slovakia was insulted by the first Hostel film and his films have been seen as exploitative. So it is a huge surprise that Roth made a film like this and shows he is more than capable to move away from his horror niche.

The House With a Clock in Its Walls also has a Harry Potter vibe to it which is ironic because the novel The House With a Clock in Its Walls is based on was written before the Harry Potter series. Like Harry Potter The House With a Clock in Its Walls focuses on a young orphan who finds out that he can learn magic and lives in an otherworldly location – although The House With a Clock in Its Walls is a smaller scale film because there are only three magic users and the setting is a big house, not a castle. The House With a Clock in Its Walls has a rich amount of world building like that anyone could learn magic but they need a spark to truly use magic, that there is a wider world involving a magical university and there are creatures beyond humans in the magical world.

The film has a distinct trait – its humour.  Jack Black is a reliable comedian and the chemistry he had with Cate Blanchett was fantastic. They played friends who showed their love for each other through insults – they had a great banter with each other and their witty jabs got a lot of laughs. Because of the film being targeted towards children there is a fair amount of child-friendly slapstick and I did chuckle at some of these moments.

There is a something deeper in the relationship between the three main characters – they are all damaged in some way. Jonathan is well-meaning who takes his nephew under his wing even though he has no clue how to raise a child; Lewis is suffering from grief and just wants his mum back and even though Mrs. Zimmermann is the smartest witch the characters know she is unable to cast spells properly. They are an unconventional family unit.

The weakest element of the film was its special effects. The film was made on a $42 million budget and even though the setting was limited it was still meant to be a special effect heavy film. The CGI was too obvious but this problem can be overlooked due to the quality of the rest of the film.

The House With a Clock in Its Walls is a breezy little film and even though it was given a 12A rating in the UK it is safe viewing for children below that age. It was a pleasant delight and even it is only a modest hit at the box-office it will be a success as home entertainment.