The End of Oak Street ★★★

The End of Oak Street builds slowly. It starts with a few flashes in the yard at night that young Brian Platt (Christian Convery) investigates after his beloved dog Starbuck starts barking. His parents Greg (Ewan McGregor) and Denise (Anne Hathaway) write it off as lightning, joking about it maybe being aliens. During the day, Denise, an aspiring novelist, brings her latest chapters to their neighbor and former novel editor Mrs. Huddleston (Anne Gee Byrd) who loves the book and the company. Mrs. Huddleston also draws Denise’s attention towards an odd plant growth in her yard, a plant the elderly widow hopes Denise can help her remove and identify, a task that sends Denise onto the Flowervale town library. It is all quaint and wholesome, building to the eventual reveal that, after another night with a mysterious flash and ear-piercing vibration, the little neighborhood the Platt family inhabits has changed. The earlier flash, the plant growth, and perhaps some other cracks in the familiar suburban facade were signs of something highly improbable: the neighborhood has been sent back in time and their once idyllic street is now inhabited by dinosaurs.

Director David Robert Mitchell, as he showed in It Follows, knows how to build suspense, frighten, and thrill the viewer. He does so consistently in The End of Oak Street, while also delivering perhaps the boldest scene in recent American film, a moment that both leaves one’s mouth agape and ratchets up the tension from then on, making dinosaurs not just something of wonder and awe but of bone-rattling and blood-curdling terror. Mitchell and cinematographer Michael Gioulakis work wonderfully together in building this suspense and excitement. Bold and thrilling tracking shots are a centerpiece, while The End of Oak Street frequently leans on split diopter, over-the-shoulder, deep focus, and slow pans to build suspense and often make the viewer want to yell out, “Behind you!” The precision and care with which Mitchell and Gioulakis move the camera and compose the shots makes The End of Oak Street into a lively and exciting film.

The score from Michael Giacchino is also crucial for this with the score having plenty of menace, mystery, and a playfulness that makes it as intense as it is wondrous. Together with Gioulakis’s cinematography, Giacchino’s score contributes to the feeling that The End of Oak Street is not just a film set in 1982, but a film from 1982. It is not blindly nostalgic, using its seemingly idyllic suburban setting as a chance to examine the secrets buried beneath quaint Americana, much in the same way that filmmakers such as Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper, and Steven Spielberg would. As a result, this feels less like a referential or derivative take on the sci-fi horror those filmmakers or companies like Amblin Entertainment produced, but like a contemporary, a long lost 1980s film only now getting released in 2026. Watching The End of Oak Street feels like getting the chance to experience films or shows like Gremlins, Poltergeist, The Twilight Zone, Invaders from Mars, The ‘Burbs, or Arachnophobia for the first time all over again.

With plenty of echoes to Spielberg’s portrayals of family turmoil, the Platt family is in a tough place. Denise and Greg are fighting more. Their kids Brian and Audrey (Maisy Stella) can tell. Money has been a problem after Greg lost his job, though he lies to Audrey that he still has one while taking calls as a pizza delivery driver. The situation they will find themselves in as they fight dinosaurs will test the very foundation of this family, one initially fraught with secrets and distance. As Greg lies about his employment, Denise lies about her nightly activities, hiding away in the basement to write her novel about a woman longing to escape her family. This incredible phenomenon of their street being transported back millions of years is a shock to the family’s system, a halting of the suburban malaise that has gripped them. It is like the boys finding the body in Stand by Me for Brian and Audrey, a moment that thrusts them into adulthood and forces them to confront their mortality, while this experience is one that forces Denise and Greg to confront this gulf that has grown between them.

The End of Oak Street shines in the small moments and details. The production design is excellent, bringing to life both the suburban look and feel of Oak Street and its dinosaur age counterparts. Both are lively ecosystems in their own right that the characters exist within. As the humans enjoy barbecues, the dinosaurs enjoy scavenging from trash cans, taking dips in inflatable pools, and mating. It is not all about kill or be killed, though the existence of the food chain is a looming threat. These are species that function like real animals, exemplifying the care with which The End of Oak Street develops its characters in every facet. For the humans, the background details are often essential with pictures on the wall or small side discussions communicating multitudes. This is especially true when it comes to the father-son dynamic. Mitchell has dedicated the film to his own late father, and the love and admiration Brian feels for his dad radiates through the screen. The small moment of Brian helping Greg remove the pizza shop sign from the car only for it to be a chance for Greg to let Brian know he knows about Brian smoking or as, in a great scene as the family discusses what has happened to them, Brian leaping to agree with his dad’s more optimistic and hopeful perspective. It is charming and affecting, a true portrayal of the hero-like perspective a young boy can take for his father.

So often the defining performance in The End of Oak Street is Anne Hathaway. There is a scene that stands out, shortly after the family has realized what has happened, where Audrey alerts the family that the basement has flooded. Denise races over, takes a look down, and realizes what is lost: her novel. Hathaway is so precise and brilliant in her portrayal of this emotional sense of loss, a closing of the door of her dreamed escape into a world beyond this home. Denise never breaks. She takes a deep breath, a quiet pause, and then shifts back into focus, trying to keep a straight face all while dying internally. This quiet shift, a parent’s needed compartmentalization of their own emotions, dreams, and hopes when they must focus on their children’s and family’s needs above their own, is so elegantly portrayed and in a way that never calls attention to its expression. It simply is shown, then The End of Oak Street moves on and begins ratcheting up the tension again. This quiet grace and human richness is found throughout the film, ensuring Oak Street and its inhabitants feel alive, a credit to the naturalistic writing and brilliant cast.

The End of Oak Street is also fascinatingly existential, taking a very Signs-esque approach to its situation. The aforementioned scene of Greg expressing some hope and optimism about their predicament comes amidst a larger discussion of how the Platt family will proceed. The scene, often shot through brilliant split diopter usage, is the Platts ruminating on what might have happened with the scientifically-inclined Audrey offering some interpretations. Denise is far more practical, a counter to Greg’s wide-eyed belief that “God will save them.” Akin to Signs, this is a film questioning if this is the end, the apocalypse, and a film that centers on how one will respond to such a crisis. These are films trying to make sense of the end, oscillating between needing to take action or sitting by in horror, watching through a window as something previously entirely unprecedented unfolds.

Perhaps one of the more challenging elements of The End of Oak Street is its finale. That aforementioned bold scene is somewhat undercut, at least at first blush, by a rather saccharine albeit emotionally affecting moment. There are some dark implications that can be interesting to muse over given the door that Mitchell unlocks, but are these implications enough to overcome the undercutting of the shock that scene creates? The End of Oak Street’s final notes can feel a bit rushed, undoubtedly bearing the marks of the film’s considerable and often turbulent production process with The End of Oak Street feeling like a film that is in search of a way to end, a pursuit it never quite nails. Some of its lack of assurance on this front is also felt in the usage of Starbuck. The family dog disappears early in the film, though Brian frequently brings him up. He is a good reason for the family to venture out from the home at first as they search for him, but once Starbuck re-appears, it becomes evident that The End of Oak Street is leaning on him as an easy emotional crutch and, in particular, has no idea how to use the dog in close contact with dinosaurs. Starbuck is best deployed at a distance and while one is relieved when the dog does not meet a bloody demise, Starbuck’s role here never quite feels in line with The End of Oak Street’s otherwise dark and occasionally mean inclinations.

The End of Oak Street does not merely emulate the 1980s science fiction horror and coming of age films that inspired it, but truly embodies their spirit, look, and feel. With a great score, cinematography, and production design, The End of Oak Street delivers terror, awe, and wonder with a lived-in quality thanks to the richness of its characters and the great performances of its cast, especially Anne Hathaway. Though its final act is a bit of a misstep despite its successful emotional pull, The End of Oak Street is a ton of fun, a film that makes dinosaurs truly scary and offers a look at a world of unknowable and exciting proportions.