‘The House With a Clock In Its Walls’ review: Horror icon Eli Roth takes a stab at his first PG film
Based on the 1973 young adult fantasy novel by John Bellairs and illustrated by Edward Gorey, ‘The House With a Clock In Its Walls’ is a goofy semi-kid friendly film helmed by one of Hollywood's most popular horror film directors, Eli Roth. The story takes place in New Zebedee, Michigan in 1955 and is about a young boy named Lewis (played by the wide-eyed Owen Vaccaro) who is orphaned after a car crash and goes to live with his cooky uncle Jonathan Barnavelt (played by Jack Black). A one-time stage magician, Jonathan lives in the creepiest house in town that everyone presumes is haunted.
After finding out his uncle is actually a warlock, Owen begs to learn the tricks of the trade. With the help of their neighbor Florence Zimmermann (played by the delightful Cate Blanchett), the three witchy outcasts form a tight bond, but there is danger on the way. Throughout the film, Jonathan and Florence are trying to hide their fear and paranoia of the clock that’s in the wall of the house, put there by its last owner to torture them (played by a very creepy and very dead Kyle MacLachlan). After Owen’s powers grow he makes the mistake of a lifetime, resuscitating the dead. What follows is a race to not just save themselves, but all of humanity.