'House at the End of the Street' Director and Star Tease Plot Twists and Parental Love

When dealing with the thriller genre, discussing a film can be a challenge because there's an underlying responsibility to not spoil the various twists a movie will endure. Out this Friday, House at The End of The Street starring Hunger Games superstar Jennifer Lawrence, is no exception. "When I watch a film like this, I don't want to know what's going to happen. I want to experience it all as it's happening,” says #HATES co-star and scene-stealer, Max Thieriot. “It's hard cause there's only so much I can say. You have to hide the secrets and not reveal too much.”

Shot a few years before Lawrence's well-deserved catapult onto Hollywood's A-list, the movie focuses on 17 year-old Elissa (Lawrence), who moves into a huge house in a small town with her semi responsible and potentially alcoholic mother Sarah (Elisabeth Shue). Despite knowledge that the house next door was the scene of a gruesome murder (a couple was killed by their deranged daughter), they attempt to settle into their new surroundings despite an assortment of difficult and entitled neighbors. When Elissa befriends Ryan (Thieriot), the outcast boy who still lives in the house his parents were murdered, their budding relationship is complicated by secrets from his family's devastating and dangerous past.

"The film is about parent's love and how it can help or hinder us become the person who we are," says director Mark Tonderai. After the birth of his first child, Tonderai gravitated towards projects because of their themes, not their potential for shifting plots. "Being a parent is what attracted me to this film," he admits. "It's about relationships between moms and daughters. The mom is trying to take inventory in her daughter's life, but can't cause she's becoming a woman. So it's that kind of civil war between the two, the tension."

The casting of two very capable actresses definitely helped create an interesting mother-daughter dynamic. "With Elizabeth and Jennifer, they've both been nominated for Academy Awards," he says. "You're talking about the top 5% of actors on the planet and you realize just how good these people are." With Shue's respectable resume lending support (her Oscar nod came in 1995 thanks to Leaving Las Vegas), Lawrence was at the time a wild card that ultimately paid off. "I saw her in Winter's Bone in London. She wasn't even nominated for the Academy yet and I knew she was the girl. She’s an extraordinary actress and can be as good as she wants to be," he recalls. "You need actors that are really good because (the movie’s) such a preposterous situation that unless they believe it, you're sunk."

With a nuanced vulnerability and layered intensity, Max Thieriot also impresses with his complex turn as Ryan. "I wanted him to be compassionate, affectionate and somebody who Elissa would be willing to approach and form a relationship with," admits Thieriot. "Mark helped me a lot. We went into all sorts of character development and research to put together what made Ryan tick." Tonderai's belief in his young actor was so strong that he credits Thieriot with the ultimate compliment. "Max is a phenomenal actor and a really good kid. For me, he steals the show. It's such a hard part and he keeps it together."

The connection between Ryan and Elissa was also important in achieving a pace different from other thrillers. "Anybody can put people in horrific situations, but if we could make the audience fall in love with (the characters) and then put them in horrific situations, then it's going to really hurt." With little rehearsal time, the two actors forged an off-screen bond thanks to their low key filming location. "We spent a lot of time together,” says Thieriot. “We didn't know anyone in Ottawa and became a tight knit family. It just makes everything come off as being so much more real."

With thrillers and horror flicks flooding the cinema as the season shifts to fall releases, don’t let any preconceived notions keep you from checking out #HATES. "You hear the title and think, 'I've seen this before'. You hear the hook and it's still, 'Oh I've seen this before'," states Tonderai. "So I tried to play on your prejudices of what you're expecting of the film." Adds Thieriot, “I’ve read enough scripts now, where most of the time I can see (what's next). But this one, I was legitimately surprised and impressed by what happened. I was blown back.”

House at The End of The Street will haunt theaters Friday, September 21st.