House at the End of the Street (2012)
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| Available at Amazon. |
Four years later, a newly divorced woman, Sarah (Elisabeth Shue), and her daughter Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) find the house of their dreams in a small upscale town. But when startling events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret. As told by the neighbors: months earlier, in the house next door, a girl named Carrie-Ann killed her parents in their beds and disappeared, leaving only a brother, Ryan (Max Thieriot), as the sole survivor. Carrie-Ann ran into the woods after the double murder, and, though her body was never found, it was believed that she drowned. Ryan now lives alone in the house; the neighborhood hates him because his house drives down their property values. They want to purchase his house and demolish it, but Ryan won't sell. Weaver (Gil Bellows), a local police officer, appears to be Ryan's only supporter.
Against the wishes of Sarah, Elissa and Ryan begin a relationship. He tells her that he accidentally injured Carrie-Ann while they were swinging one day, giving her brain damage and making her extremely aggressive. For his safety, Ryan was sent away to take care of a sickly aunt and did not return home until after the murders. It is revealed to the viewer that Ryan has secretly been taking care of a woman who appears to be Carrie-Ann in a hidden room. Carrie-Ann escapes the room on two occasions and appears to attempt to attack Elissa. During the second escape attempt, Ryan accidentally kills Carrie-Ann while trying to hide her from some students. In his grief, he visits a diner where a student waitress attempts to comfort him.
While visiting Elissa’s battle of the bands, several high school students vandalize Ryan’s car and attack him. In defense, Ryan breaks Tyler's (Nolan Gerard Funk) ankle and runs home. The remaining students decide to burn his house down. Elissa stops the fire but, while inside, finds Ryan's secret room. She is attacked by Carrie-Ann as Ryan arrives home. At this moment, it is revealed that the current Carrie-Ann is actually the student from the diner, held captive and made to look like Carrie-Ann.
In order to keep Carrie-Ann secret, Ryan knocks Elissa out and ties her to a chair. He reveals that Carrie-Ann actually died during the swing accident but that he still needed Carrie-Ann in his life. It is also revealed that when the accident happened, Weaver was in a three-way drug session with Ryan and Carrie-Ann's parents. Ryan's father informs Weaver that he is now a "witness" to what happened and indirectly tells Weaver to "take care" of Ryan, which is why Weaver appears very sympathetic to Ryan compared to the townspeople. He knocks out the student and says he will make Elissa his new Carrie-Ann. It becomes apparent that the first "Carrie-Ann" rather was another victim attempting to escape from Ryan. When Weaver arrives, Ryan says Elissa isn't there, but Weaver hears her phone ring inside. In a scuffle with Ryan, Weaver is stabbed to death. Elissa escapes but is chloroformed by Ryan and thrown into the trunk of his car. When she awakes, she finds the second "Carrie-Ann" (from the diner) in the trunk and escapes. Sarah arrives at the house and hears Elissa's screams, but is stabbed by Ryan. During a struggle, Ryan is shot several times by Elissa using Weaver's gun and is then knocked out by Sarah.
Elissa and Sarah move out, and Ryan is shown in a mental hospital. To explain how he became disturbed, a flashback reveals that after the death of Carrie-Ann, Ryan's parents forced him to act as Carrie-Ann and abused him if he refused. This final twist provides the explanation for why we saw a long haired person in a night-dress kill the parents at the start: Ryan was in fact the killer we saw at the beginning, dressed as Carrie-Ann.
