The End Of Oak Street: An exceptional family movie that's better than Jurassic World ★★★★★
Every few years, a movie comes along that reminds us why we fell in love with cinema. The End of Oak Street is precisely that film and it's best dinosaur movie since Spielberg's original Jurassic Park
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Directed by: Marcus Vance
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Sterling K. Brown, Walker Scobell, Sadie Sink
Every few years, a movie comes along that reminds us why we fell in love with cinema in the first place. Playing now in VUE cinemas everywhere, The End of Oak Street is precisely that film—a relentless, heart-pounding, utterly joyful monster thriller that stands tall as the best dinosaur movie since Steven Spielberg’s original 1993 masterpiece, Jurassic Park.
The Story: Chaos Hits Suburbia
The film opens in the picture-perfect, tree-lined cul-de-sac of Oak Street, Oregon. Dr. Clara Finch (Anne Hathaway), a brilliant but burned-out paleobotanist, has retired to small-town quiet to raise her teenage daughter (Sadie Sink) and tech-obsessed son (Walker Scobell). That quiet vanishes overnight when a covert genetic shipment crashes into the dense woodland bordering the street, unleashing an unholy apex predator bred in total secrecy.
When a suburban neighborhood becomes an isolated hunting ground, the residents—led by Dr. Finch and local Sheriff Hayes (Sterling K. Brown)—are forced to survive the night using nothing more than grit, household gadgets, and raw instinct.
A Masterclass in Tension and Homage
What sets The End of Oak Street apart from modern CGI-heavy creature features is its supreme mastery of horror and suspense. It borrows the very best scary techniques from the pantheon of classic cinema:
The Suspense of Jaws: The film knows that what you don’t see is often terrifying. It builds dread through rustling treelines, shadowplay, and unseen horrors shifting just beyond the porch lights.
The Sharp Wit of Scream: The characters are smart, self-aware, and react to danger with realistic urgency, blending high stakes with razor-sharp meta-humor.
The Raw Terror of Jurassic Park: When the creature finally steps into the light, the sheer scale and visceral threat will leave your heart in your throat.
Where the film embraces familiar tropes, they never feel lazy—instead, they land as deeply affectionate, loving nods to 80s and 90s classics like The Goonies, E.T., and Stranger Things. Yet just when you think you have the formula mapped out, the screenplay pulls the rug out from under you with shocking twists, unexpected character turns, and genuine surprises that prove no one is entirely safe.
Visual Craftsmanship & Stellar Performances
Visually, the production is exceptional with special effects that are as good as they come. Cinematography choices lean heavily on lingering shots, sweeping long-distance frames, and wide composition rather than frantic jump-cuts. The camera stays fixed on the creeping darkness at the end of the road, giving the entire film the sweeping, nostalgic aesthetic of a classic 1980s Amblin feature.
At the centre of it all is Anne Hathaway, who delivers a absolute tour-de-force performance. Watching her flex her dramatic muscles in an action-horror setting is a total joy. She grounds the emotional core of the story with fierce maternal energy while clearly having the absolute time of her life going toe-to-toe with prehistoric nightmare beasts.
Hathaway swings seamlessly between harrowing emotional intensity and total badassery, crafting one of the most memorable horror heroines in recent memory.
The Final Verdict
From its blistering opening sequence to its breathless climax, The End of Oak Street hits every single mark. The pacing is relentless, the production design is immaculate, and the film strikes a rare, delicate balance: it is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, guaranteed to make you jump out of your seat, delightfully gross in all the right creature-feature ways, and completely unputdownable from start to finish.
Grab the biggest tub of popcorn you can find—you’ll be hooked from the very first frame. Perhaps the biggest film surprise of the year.
Get your tickets now via https://myvue.com or the free VUE app.
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