The End of Oak Street

The students are beginning to trickle back into our college town, which will swell the population by 50% in about a week. But it’s still mostly natives, and we tend toward the nerdy, so I wasn’t surprised to see quite a few people at the theater. Lots of families and single geeks like myself, and it truly enhanced the experience – especially when the guy behind me screamed like a girl at one of the deaths. We all giggled quietly, respectfully, until I turned to the mom next to me and muttered, “Guess he didn’t see the trailer.” Yes, that death is shown in the trailer and is a fairly significant spoiler, so be aware if you intend to see the movie. I was surprised how much that affected my perception of the movie, every time that character had a line or a scene.

And I have to shoutout the trailers and even an advertisement this time. Mazda has a mini horror movie, there’s a Santa Claus film with the tagline “Big Nick Energy”, and Insidious 2 made a lot of people stifle a scream.

In a slightly yellow toned, massively wholesome suburban landscape, there is a rowdy and well attended block party going on. There is food and games and introductions to characters and their issues. Mom and dad are quietly fighting, as noted by their concerned teenage kids. The son’s biggest danger is the neighborhood bully, and the daughter is oddly disconcerted by her best girlfriend’s overt romance with a boyfriend. About that time the slow plunge into weirdness begins with a series of brief, intense flashes of light and odd things showing up, like ancient plants and three foot piles of crap. Until one night the flash is BIG, and it doesn’t take long to notice there are unbelievable, gigantic creatures roaming the neighborhood, eating the cats and people, and crushing everything they step on.

One of several cognitive dissonance [CD] events for me and this movie is the title, which for some reason continues to conflate with the old Twilight Zone episode The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street. There is an unexplained, bright light to begin that story as well, though there are no actual monsters. Another CD was the feeling you get that you’re not in a present time, though nothing is overtly mentioned right away – kinda like It Follows. I noted the type of clothes and hair styles, taking pictures with a Polaroid (which shoots out a full sized picture from the camera), the idea that teenagers can do anything without a cell phone, then moving on to using typewriters to write books on real paper. We eventually find out it’s 1982, but at the beginning it’s a little jarring. It’s fascinating to me that it’s a bit unnerving to find yourself watching a movie set when you were a teenager and thinking it’s a wee bit creepy.

The hook for the film, separating a small, modern space from the rest of the world, is not a new concept. The book 1632 does roughly the same thing, as does the tv series Under the Dome. This time, though, they throw the neighborhood back a whole lot further. There is a Tremors moment that made me smile because it’s a callback and also a sly sapphic nod. The whole Land of the Lost feel is sure to generate some nostalgia, and is lightyears better than the movie remake from 2009.

I was concerned about the dinosaurs before the movie even started. I know the T-Rex and Stegosaurus didn’t exist at the same time, but the two do show up together. Unless, the filmmakers wanted us to look that up and discover the Herrerasaurus, which has a similar look to the Rex. Of course I looked it up. That’s where I learned the giant snake, a Titanoboa, really existed but again not with the Stegosaurus. The filmmakers did include rough feathering on some of the dinos, and a bit of fur to make it seem like they were being historically accurate, but I’m sure there will be a lot of disappointed little boys and older lesbians who find themselves watching a Dinosaur Most Wanted List of dangers instead of historical accuracy.

The thing is, I didn’t mind much. This is not a terribly serious film, (Suburban dinosaurs, people!) except for all the munching on people, so I found it easy to let the anachronisms go. The dinos that are on screen are so beautifully done that I found it easy to suspend disbelief and enjoy the heck out of it. ILM did a great job of making the dinos completely believable and both scary and funny as needed. One moment of anthropomorphizing them took me out of the film for a moment, shame on them for that, though it’s a more important scene that you might think. There is also good stunt work and great set decoration. Casually passing a totally steel automobile mashed like a balled up piece of paper does a lot to enhance the feeling of danger in the increasingly apocalyptic landscape. And may I just add that seeing how well Anne Hathaway shoots a rifle is something I didn’t know I needed.

All the actors are completely serious, which of course better sells the horror aspect of discovering you are SO DOOMED. I also enjoyed the idea that on the next screen down the hall, Anne Hathaway is playing Oscar level Homeric drama in The Odyssey. Ewan McGregor nails the nebbishy dad, and the teen siblings played by Maisy Stella (Nashville) and Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth) are both super good.

The trailer made me feel like the movie would be essentially a zombie setup, only with dinosaurs. What I got was something even better, and a whole lot of fun. I asked around as everyone was filing out, and that was the word that came up every time. This is a fun movie that is beautifully written, acted and produced. It will make you laugh and maybe jump a few times, and get you on the edge of your seat. I feel like it has the makings of a cult classic but I don’t know how long it will play in the theater, so I urge you to consider going to see it.

Triggers: a lot of not terribly gory but nonetheless icky and disturbing deaths, a fantastically gigantic snake

Available: in theaters only

LINKS:

• The End of Oak Street – Official Website
• The End of Oak Street – IMDB
• The End of Oak Street – Wikipedia

CFR: In Addition

Huh.

I am totally shocked that Cranky saw this movie much less liked it. I am intrigued.