Discovering Films: House

So, I’ve stepped away from this for little under a year. I’ve decided to step back for one reason. I’ve watched one of the stranger films I’ll probably ever willingly see. This is a movie that I don’t think words can possibly describe the thoughts I have in my head right now, which will make writing this extremely difficult, for me, and probably more difficult for you to read. That hasn’t stopped me before though, so let’s talk about the 1977 Japanese “Horror” film House.

First let’s address the quotation marks around “Horror”. Calling this film a horror movie isn’t quite right, it’s certainly supernatural, and involves the systematic killing of young protagonists. None of this is played for tension. At no point are you likely to be at the edge of your seat, rooting for our heroines, or hoping for their demise, well, not in the normal slasher genre way. I get the feeling I’m not making a terrible amount of sense. Of course, this film revels in the contradiction of emotions that will play out before you. In one moment a character will be in terrible life threatening danger, the next this very odd montage of an old woman dancing in rafters and eating a hand will occur.

Director Nobuhiko Obayashi purposefully provides obvious visual effects. They are mean to provide a surrealism and fantastical nature to the proceedings. The film is a fantasy, in the truest sense of the word, not as in with elves and a pseudo medieval England, but fantastical. These are things that clearly are not real, cannot be real, and the film wastes no time trying to convince you they are real. But, they are happening, our characters encounter horrific, strange things that could never really exist. A comparison you can probably picture in your head pretty quickly. Evil Dead 2. Our hero has cut off his hand to fountains of blood and black goo. He’s going insane and the room in the cabin is literally coming alive and mocking him. It’s a dark horrific loss of sanity, mixed with over the top slapstick. You have that in your head? Good. Now, make that the entirety of the movie, and make it weirder, and a better budget. You might just have an idea of just how odd things will get in this film.

One last note on the special effects, they are creative as hell, how they manage to pull some stuff is particularly genius for 1977 film making and they deserve all the credit they can get. That’s all on that.

Next, well, it’s hard to really talk about anything more. The plot is straight forward, evil old woman in an evil house killing pretty young girls. And the acting is pretty good, especially considering the inexperience of all the teen heroines. The characters are pure archetypes, only referred to by nicknames, even by people who should have little to any reason to call them such. Gorgeous, Fantasy, Sweet, Kung Fu, Melody, Prof, and Mac, you can pretty easily guess what each of their defining trait is, and they never reach beyond that as character’s go. All that plays into the film as a whole, the fantasy archetypes of characters in this clearly fantastic setting.

Before leaving, let’s talk about the main theme. I’m not a music kind of person. But the moment I heard this theme play in the film, especially the piano parts, it struck a chord. I’ve heard this music before, not that I can tell you where, sadly. But further research has shown that it is an original track made for the film, so if I’ve heard it before, it’s probably from after this film was made. That side jaunt out of the way, the theme is one of the best of any horror film I’ve ever heard, and it’s stuck in my head. Go ahead and listen.

I almost left without saying this. I have no idea what to make of this film. It's unlike most anything I've ever seen, and I have no true comparison to make any kind of reasoned critique of it. I can only say it was captivating, that for 88 minutes were the most engrossing, time defying minutes I've ever had watching a film. This is an experience I am, honestly, the richer for having, and I'd truly recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in a surrealist Japanese film that is a mixture of comedy and horror, and some brilliant effects. Just don't really ask me to explain some of it, I'm still trying to figure it out.