House (1977)

Thanks for the memories!

Fresh and Exciting

The acting in this movie is really good.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Many are reluctant to give this movie the credibility it deserves but this film truly belongs in the horror movie canon right along side Jaws, The Shining, and Evil Dead 2. There is no other movie like this one. On technical surface level one might assume this movie is incompetent or overly ambitious but it all plays in the films favor once the tone is established. The film elaborates on characters but it does so artificially. It establishes their artificial personality and then it kills with artificial looking special effects. It is a funny movie, and intentionally so, but when when you're finished laughing the absurdist nihilistic dread of artificiality is left over and it becomes all the more memorable. Absolutely essential viewing for fans of Horror and interesting aesthetics.

I mean...I...I have no words. WHAT was this? Is it a secret masterpiece or does it sit in the exclusive "so bad it's good" zone? I honestly couldn't tell you after my first watch, I just couldn't. Reviewing this surreal experience would be like describing relativity in sign language, seemingly impossible. Alas, here I am attempting to detail the indescribable. Seven young girls travel to the countryside where they visit one of their aunties and stay in her residence. Unbeknown to them, they have actually stepped into a house that turns realism into fantasy. The story is incomprehensible, it makes no logical sense. The visual effects are downright atrocious to the point that it's actually hilarious. The editing of sequences is incredibly frantic. The acting is questionable and the narrative's tone is incredibly inconsistent. But, I don't know how, this film hypnotised me. Ôbayashi's direction was clear, both for viewers and Toho Studios. Experimentalism. Pushing the boundaries of what one can do with the art of filmmaking. Mixing horror, comedy and fantasy into a cauldron of frenetic energy to create something that is totally Japanese. A girl named Kung-Fu who consistently kicks and punches projectiles like an anime superhero, schoolgirls dancing and gleefully loving life, spellbound housing items attacking the group of girls and even long ominous smirks to the camera. You couldn't get anymore Japanese than "Hausuuuu". That, 70's visuals that one would find in an old 80's CD-I video game and the hilarious death sequences are all part of the appeal. Its charm is the fact that it never takes itself seriously, it doesn't try to be something metaphorical or meaningful. Just pure insane entertainment. Having said that...I honestly don't know what this was trying to be. It's so confused and purposefully "out there" that actually the outlandish segments detracted from the aesthetic appeal of the film itself. A masterpiece? Honestly I don't know, but what I do know is that I'm definitely watching it again!

It's easy to interpret Nobuhiko Obayashi's "Hausu" as a bizarre horror-fantasy. Let's face it: a bunch of teenage girls who go to a house that swallows each of them, how could anyone take that seriously? It sounds more like something that should star Bruce Campbell.Ah, but when you watch the interview with the director on the Criterion release, that's where it changes. You see, it's understood that the aunt died while waiting for her fiancé to return from WWII, so her spirit has stayed in the house and eats girls who enter. But the director has a more personal connection. He is from Hiroshima and survived the bombing, but he lost friends in the bombing. In that respect, the movie is an indictment of war and war's lasting effects.Of course, even if you don't realize that, the movie is still a fun romp. It's got some of the weirdest sequences imaginable. The sort of movie that you have to see to believe, and I have no doubt that you'll enjoy it.

The high-school vacation is coming and the student Oshare intends to spend the period with her father in his villa; however she finds that his girlfriend Kyouko will be with him and Oshare gives up going. Meanwhile her best friends will be camping with Keisuke Tôgôbut, but he has a problem and calls off the camping. Oshare writes a letter to her estranged aunt that lives in the country asking whether she could go with her friends Kunfû, Fanta, Gari, Makku, Merodî and Suîto to spend the summer vacation at her house. They are welcomed by Oshare's aunt but soon weird things happen since the aunt is a ghost and the house is haunted."Hausu" is a messy and annoying Japanese ghost story. The silly screenplay is irritating and the music score is awful. Hard to understand why some people consider this garbage cult. My vote is one (awful).Title (Brazil): "Hausu"