The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Short description
After losing his parents, ten-year-old Lewis Barnavelt goes to live with his uncle Jonathan in an old mansion where a strange ticking sound comes from inside the walls. Lewis soon learns that his uncle is a warlock and that the neighbours include a witch, Florence Zimmerman. The ticking belongs to a clock hidden somewhere in the house, and it is counting down to something terrible. When Lewis does something he should not have, a dangerous figure from the house's past returns, and the boy has to help find the clock and stop what it will bring about.
The film was directed by Eli Roth, working here from a screenplay by Eric Kripke, and it stands between Knock Knock and Death Wish in Roth's filmography. Jack Black plays Jonathan, Cate Blanchett plays Florence, Owen Vaccaro plays Lewis, and Kyle MacLachlan appears as Isaac Izard. It is a family-oriented fantasy with comic and horror elements, made for a budget of 42 million USD and released in September 2018.
The film returned 132 million USD worldwide, well above its production cost. Reception was moderate: on IMDb it holds 6.1/10 from 59,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.3/10 from 2,365 votes, with a film critics' rating of 6/10 from 219 reviews, so audiences and critics landed in much the same place.
What's left behind the scenes
- The fictional house with the clock is based on a real mansion located in Marshall, Michigan, the hometown of John Bellairs (1938-1991), whose novel the film is based on. Marshall served as the prototype for the town of New Zebidee, where many of the writer's books take place.
- Some of the drawings in the magic book that Jack Black's character shows Owen Vaccaro's character are elements of a Rorschach inkblot test – a personality test that includes evaluating the subject's reaction to ambiguous inkblots, first published in 1921 by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922).
- In the pumpkin scene, all the pumpkin pulp had to be digitally recolored a brighter orange, as otherwise it resembled the color of blood too much.
- The original novel (1973) by John Bellairs (1938-1991) is set between August 1948 and April 1949, while the film's plot takes place in 1955.
- The house is based on a real mansion located in Marshall, Michigan, the hometown of John Bellairs, the author the film is based on. Marshall served as the prototype for the town of New-Zebedee, where many of the writer's books take place.
- In the scene where Kate Blanchett's character tells the character played by Owen Vaccaro about losing her magic and loved ones, her hand with a tattoo is shown, signifying that she was once in a concentration camp.
- Some of the drawings in the magic book are Rorschach test elements.
- In the pumpkin scene, all of the pumpkin pulp had to be recolored to a more orange hue in post-production, as it resembled blood too much.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
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