PREMISE
A family bands together to navigate their new surroundings after a cosmic event transports their suburban neighborhood to someplace unknown.
THE GOOD STUFF
ANNE F****** HATHAWAY- Anne Hathaway is in five movies this year just in case you didn’t know. In 2026 thus far, she has been in movies in which she:
*Played what may be her signature character (The devil wears Prada 2)
*Played literal royalty (The Odyssey)
*Played a pop star which did require her to both sing while also doing dance routines (mother Mary)
*Plays a woman with a brain injury (verity)
And then there’s this, which is about as close to a Sarah Connor-ish kind of a character that I’ve seen her play. More so than any other movie she’s done this year, Hathaway has ALL of the emotiinal heavy lifting in this film. Though she’s not in every shot of the film I would say she’s probably in about 95% of them, and this role turns out to be a lot more physical than either of the roles that have been previously mentioned. (VERITY has not been released as of this posting, so I may be wrong about that) Through these five 2026 performances, Hathaway is readily proving herself to quite possibly the most versatile performer in movies right now regardless of gender.
The Horror– There really does need to be an in-depth discussion about what horror movies truly are. There are some that are going to come away from this film not understanding that it’s a horror film because there are dinosaurs here. But the horror is not about what the monsters are, it’s not what the rating of the film is, and it’s not the gore content either. Horror films (imo) are defined by menacingly portraying violent or potentially violent situations in a manner that give uneasiness to the audience. That’s what this film does. There’s always something behind a corner, something in the shadows, something in some vast area that’s masked by foliage, or rain, or whatever. This film does all of the good things that horror movies do, and should be acknowledged as such.
THE BAD STUFF
EWAN MCGREGOR– For reasons that are absolutely inexplicable, the one character of this film with the least amount of stuff to do is the male lead of this film that is being played by Ewan f****** McGregor of all people. As opposed to the Anne Hathaway character that actually has a full-blown character Arc, McGregor’s character has absolutely none. He stays absolutely one note throughout this story, adds nothing to the action, and the one scene where we could have seen some kind of emotional shift, they drown out the dialogue to cut to other people reaction to the conversation that his character is having. What gives? Aside from the physicality of the character this man has nothing to do.
THE UGLY STUFF
THE “Why”– For those who are unaware, there are five W’s that a writer must detail in order to tell a compelling story: who, what, where, when, and why. Sounds simple, but it really isn’t all the time.
When it comes to this film The “who”, “when”, and the “where” are detailed specifically, and that’s good. The “what” is rolled out in a satisfactory way, and that’s good too……But when it come to the “why”…..
If your horror film happens to be something like “Friday the 13th part 25″, then you don’t need to tell me why the events of the story are happening the way they are. However, a film like this needs exposition front and center. (and not as the background noise in the beginning of the film without covering its own bases)
It needs world building, we need to know why things work the way they work, and how the good guys can overcome the obstacles without creating plot holes. And unfortunately, there are plot holes and continuity errors APLENTY in this film. Really f****** bad plot holes that could have easily been explained with about 20 minutes more of needed screen time.
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The only thing holding this film back from having a stellar review is the absolute mess that is the third act of this film. And I must say, amidst all of the good theatrical crowd-pleasing horror films that we’ve had this summer, all of them have the same problem: final acts ending with more questions than answers. Neither this, nor obsession, nor backrooms ever presented the idea that sequels were already greenlit and on the way. If there are, then this rant has very little validity in the long run, and I get that. But I do feel that as an audience, we do deserve to know more about the one wish willow in obsession, the furniture store in backrooms, and the… (as to not spoil things) Plot devices that show up at the end of oak Street.
This movie is fine. But this could have been 10 times better than what it is.Â
THE END OF OAK STREET is in theaters now
