the house with a clock in its walls book series

Even better than the eerie atmosphere is the writing. The movie does an excellent job of capturing that Addams Family meets Disney’s Haunted Mansion vibe and providing a pseudo-Gothic horror aesthetic geared towards children. Even though the comic relief regularly breaks the tension, this will be cold comfort if your easily frightened child has nightmares for a week.

The story gets much darker when the plot turns to necromancy, with the associated creepy corpse returning to life, and a recounting of a meeting with an actual demon (Azazel, Prince of Hell, to be precise). There are also several jump scares, ominous graveyard scenes, possessed jack o’ lanterns, and a statue with a devil’s face which comes to life. Jonathan’s residence is filled with ticking clocks, animal and human skulls and body parts, freaky fairground animatronics, and disquieting dolls. This film provides a lot of scary fun but it is definitely too frightening for young or sensitive children. Zimmerman is a witch, and buried somewhere in the bowels of the house is a clock, ticking inexorably down to…what? Lewis uncovers the secrets of the house as he learns to be a warlock himself. But soon, Lewis discovers that the house and his uncle may be even stranger than they seemed on the surface. Lewis struggles to adapt to his new surroundings: Uncle Jonathan has no rules (save one: do not open the mysterious cabinet!) and fitting in at his new school proves challenging for the quiet, bookish boy who reads dictionaries recreationally.

Next-door neighbor Florence Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett) is a frequent visitor to the home and has a relationship with Jonathan that is marked by insulting repartee and friendship in equal measure. Following the death of his parents, 10-year-old protagonist Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) moves in with his eccentric uncle Jonathan (Jack Black) in his mysterious mansion. Based on the 1973 novel of the same name by John Bellairs, The House with a Clock in Its Walls introduces audiences to a spooky home full of magic, secrets, and more chocolate chip cookies than you might expect.

The house with a clock in its walls book series