Base off the novel of the same name written by John Bellairs, The House with a Clock in its Walls directed by Eli Roth, tells the story of Lewis Barnavelt, a recent orphan who moves to the town of New Zebedee, Michigan live with his mysterious Uncle Jonathan. As it turns out Lewis discovers that there are witches and warlocks (his uncle being one of them) and that such an individual by the name of Isaac plotted to bring about the end of the world. He constructed a clock that he hid within the walls of the house where Lewis now resides. This clock eternally ticks as it attempts to bring the world into a ‘magical alignment’ of which it (the world) can then be destroyed.
The House with a Clock in its Walls was but the first in a series of books (eleven to be exact) so it’s no wonder that a studio would hope it catches on where it can then facilitate a fruitful series of adaptations. Eli Roth strikes me as an odd choice, but then he has been making a push in recent years to produce more…standard fare. So, who knows.
The film, which stars Jack Black as Jonathan Barnavelt, Lewis’s uncle, and Cate Blanchette as the neighborly witch next door was written by Eric Kripke (The creator of the TV series Supernatural) and is produced by Amblin Entertainemnt. All this strongly suggest that we aren’t looking at any Hostel/The Green Inferno type of shenanigans in this movie…which is a blessing as I never could get into torture porn.
Hmmm…looks like a funky cross between Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Perhaps I’ll spare an Audible credit and have a listen to the first book. I’m most curious to see if Roth can pull this off. You had my curiosity Eli, now you have my attention.
The House with a Clock in its Walls Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Kyle MacLachlan and Owen Vaccaro haunts theaters September 21, 2018.
