The End of Oak Street (2026) review

Wildly entertaining. The trailers really don’t do justice to how fun, dangerous, and surprisingly intense this movie actually is. Glad I gave it a chance! What immediately captivated me was the visual texture. The film grain and occasional film artifacts give it this old school cinematic personality that I rarely see in modern movies. Love the double focus split diopter shots. I don’t see that much in modern cinema anymore. Love the usage of long lenses too, especially when it shifts attention from the foreground to the background while the main subjects don’t even know what is happening behind them. Just pure visual language! The acting by Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway was good. They really sold me on the peril. Surprisingly bloody too! The score by Michael Giacchino feels like it has John Williams DNA, with its adventurous yet suspenseful sound. The production design also adds so much. It feels like an old school adventure movie that actually built environments instead of placing everyone inside an empty green screen. There is something satisfying about seeing actors and CG creatures seemingly occupying and reacting within the same physical space. It also has the vibe of E.T. (1982), with something weird happening in a small community (and 80s motif too). Somehow, it also gives me Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) vibes with the prehistoric era element, and of course Jurassic Park (1993) with its humongous dinosaurs. The creature CGI is good. The way the light interacts with their bodies, and the texture of their skin and scales feel lifelike. So many close calls and jump scares. My wife is literally stressed out. Not many questions were answered, nor was much of the logic explained. Just pure entertainment.