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| Credit: Pixabay.com |
Before director Eli Roth adapted it to film, the closest that John Bellair’s YA novel, The House With a Clock In Its Walls, came to a movie was as a short film featured in a made-for-TV Halloween special. That was back in the ‘70s, not too long after the book had released. Entitled Once Upon a Midnight Scary, it was an hour-long anthology featuring three short films, the last being “The House With a Clock In Its Walls”, narrated by Vincent Price who encouraged young viewers to read the books these films were based on. That encouragement definitely worked with me. I saw it when I was around 9 and read House With a Clock when I was about 25. Okay, so that encouragement didn’t work the first time but did work the second time, when I saw the Vincent Price special on VHS. I’ve read the book at least twice and loved it. So when September’s release of the big screen adaptation was announced back in the summer I was like “Yeah! Finally!” Well, I saw The House With a Clock In Its Walls a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t disappointed. However, viewers, such as myself, who have read the novel may not be as impressed with the terror the film offers as those who haven’t read it. Even so, it still offers plenty of suspense and awe.
House With a
Clock released on good timing. It premiered in theatres at the
end of September, just in time for the Halloween season and is very
Halloween-ish like the book while it doesn’t limit itself to the
theme and so is perfect viewing and reading for anytime of the year.
As far as story goes, the movie, overall, stays faithful to the book.
Lewis moves in with his Uncle Johnathan after his parents have passed
away and soon discovers a deadly secret in his uncle’s creepy but
fascinating mansion. The secret is connected with a strange, loud
ticking of a clock that is hidden somewhere in the house and that his
uncle and their neighbour and friend Mrs. Zimmerman are desperately
trying to uncover. However, after Lewis gets a hold of a necromancy
book he accidently raises from the dead the evil husband and wife
magicians, Isaac and Selena
(“Serenna” in the novel) Izard, who had hidden the clock and now
try to drive Johnathan and Lewis out of the house. But Johnathan,
Lewis and Mrs. Zimmerman won’t give up without a fight, literally.
Jack Black plays
his role as Johnathan Barnavelt really good and comes across as the
eccentric that the character does in the book. Owen Vacarro who plays
Lewis isn’t bad but the development of the character in the movie
could have been made with a better emotional connection to the
audience like it is in the novel. Cate Blanchett plays good the part
of Mrs. Zimmerman especially in relation to Johnathan with the
light-hearted humour of condescending remarks the two characters toss
back and forth to each other which is also shown in the book.
Unlike in the novel,
Isaac Izard plays a larger and more present role in the film than his
wife, Selena, does. In the book, the emphasis was the other way
around between these two characters. Even though he is out-right
menacing in his haggard features, in this film Selena isn’t that
menacing in her appearance like she is in the book. She is much
younger than he (or at least appears to be, witches can disguise
themselves, right?) and made up to meet society’s standards of
beauty but, still, she is just as evil in her actions and demeanor as
she is in the novel. (Think Wilhelmina in ABC’s Ugly Betty,
if you ever watched that sitcom, only more occultic.)
An addition to the
movie is that Lewis is trained as a wizard by his uncle much more
than he is in the book. Maybe this was added to compete with the
Harry Potter films and their more recent brainchild, Fantastic
Beasts. Even so, this addition to Lewis’s character
works.
As I said, people
who have read the novel won’t be as struck by the frightful scenes
as much as those who haven’t read it. Still, the movie as a whole
mesmerises. Both the surrealism of Johnathan’s house and the magic
that it holds, such as changing images in stained glass windows and a
living chair, will amuse audiences. Also the black magic of the
Izards will do the same and hold viewers in suspense. The Izards even
take their magic further than they do in the book when they launch a
horde of monsters against the good magicians.
A few elements in
the movie may make it questionable whether it’s suitable for family
viewing. Some of the crude humour is a little overdone although it
doesn’t ruin the rest of the film like with too many movies made
for younger audiences. However, as in the book, the occult is
referenced a lot which may make this film not suitable for children
under the age of 8. It’s hard to say because only parents know
their own kids best. Or they should.
I have to admit, not
even the movie adaptation of The House With a Clock In
Its Walls with it’s awe-inspiring special effects and
fantastical, gothic settings can do justice to the book. The book had
more going on in it and looks further into the characters’ lives
and psychs than the movie. In fact, compared to the book, the events
of the movie are kind of rushed. But, overall, the big screen
adaptation interprets the novel well and still amuses and offers
plenty of suspense. I hope to see a sequel since the book had two of
them. But I also hope this movie will encourage kids and even adults
who have not read the novel to read it.
Until next time . . .
Coming Soon to Amazon!
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