House/ハウス (Hausu) (1977) - Ôbayashi's fantastical fantasy horror

♥♥♥♥♥

 

A highly detailed, evocative and dark manga-style poster for Nobuhiko Ôbayashi's House

A group of high school girls go on a vacation to the countryside in Japan, where they will stay at the house of an aunt of one of the girls. But at the house the girls start to disappear, and the aunt (and her cat and her house) behave ... unusually.

 

House is written and directed by Chiho Katsura (Haishi (1984)), based on a story by Chigumi Ôbayashi (Hitomi no naka no houmonsha (1977)), and directed by great Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiko Ôbayashi (Confession (1968)).

It is a very unusual and unconventional film: House is both a stylistically and technically ambitious work, which seems keen on using as large a wealth of effects and styles as possible. This will also make the experience too exhaustingly alien for some viewers' preferences, whereas us who also love Japanese film and culture in general have a field trip with the colorful, wild escapades.

The story is built on ideas from the director's pre-teen daughter. A small number of the many effects the film uses work less well, but House is still a gem that should be seen more than once. It is a rich and crazy film. - Hooray for Toho for financing this!

 

Watch a very short clip from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: In excess of 209k $ (2010 North American gross)

= Uncertain

[House was released 30 July (Japan) and runs 88 minutes. Toho had tasked Ôbayashi with making a script in the vein of Jaws (1975), looking to copy the film's massive success. Instead he got a lot of weird ideas from his preteen daughter, which he developed into a script. Reportedly no other director would make it, so Toho hired Ôbayashi again, betting that an incomprehensible film would possibly be lucrative, since they had recently flopped badly with many comprehensible films. Most of the actors were amateurs. Shooting took place in Toho's studio over the course of two months. The film reportedly got bad reviews in Japan but was a box office success. Regrettably numbers are not available to corroborate. The film is also listed as having had a US release in September 1977. It was re-released in 2010 in North America, grossing 209k $. Ôbayashi returned with Hitomi no naka no houmonsha (1977). House is fresh at 91 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of House?