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Dazzlingly dotty and out-of-this-world – welcome to Nobuhiko Obayashi’s (often hilarious) fantasy horror, soundtracked by Godiego (best known for Monkey!)…

Disappointed in her father’s news of a new stepmother, high school student Angel (Kimiko Ikegami) invites her friends to go and stay at her Aunts house. Only thing is, there’s more to her Aunt than meets the eye, and soon Angel and her equally subtly-named friends (Kung-fu, does kung-fu; Melody, plays piano; Fantasy, prone to an over active imagination; and so on) are getting bumped off in the craziest haunted house of them all.

Somewhere in the world of oddities and cult films, this prime example by director Nobuhiko Obayashi must reign supreme as perhaps one of the most misguided, inventive yet confusing example of the horror genre. Unsurprisingly since it’s original release in 1977 House has rarely been seen again, having hardly ever made it out of Japan and only recently surfacing mainly due to high-profile DVD releases by Masters Of Cinema in the UK and the upcoming DVD from Criterion in the US.

Which is exactly why you should track it down now!

An accomplished advertising director, Nobuhiko was engaged by Japanese studio Toho at a low point in the companies long history in order to connect with younger audiences. As such he was given carte blanche to do whatever he liked, and therein lies the problem. Rather than just experiment with a few imaginative ideas and something approaching a comprehendible plot, Nobuhiko approached the film like a student at an all-you-can-eat buffet: loading up his plate with both visual techniques he had learned over the years and new ones he wanted to try out, with no thought of whether they mixed together or not.

Often the effect is comic, sometimes bafflingly confusing, and even utterly in audible, such as over laying the soundtrack pieces until they reach a complete mess. Certainly at points this seems like a real precursor to the J-Horror films that became so popular at the beginning of the decade. A scene in a bathtub sees our lead almost enveloped in creepy black hair (very Ju-on: The Grudge!) and there are mysterious reflections in mirrors (as per Ring).

For the main part though there are far more decapitated heads rolling around laughing, disembodied fingers continuing to play piano, and so on. Very hard to take seriously, especially with a cast of ultra-camp clichéd school girls, straight out of the broadest of comedies. Sets are painted and stylised to look straight out of Gone With The Wind, complete with 70s fuzzy lenses and wind machines. It isn’t long before the surviving members of the cast are swimming around in a swimming pool of blood. What, did you really expect sense from a film where one of the characters ends up turning into a pile of bananas?

Even some of the more atmospheric elements are overly lightened by a twee soundtrack from Godiego, best known and loved for their work on the Monkey TV series a year later. (Personally I’d hoped some of their jazz fusion tendencies might have seen them enter Goblin territory, but alas no.) Eagle-eyed fans will spot the Anglo-Asian band even make a cameo appearance!

Perhaps the thing people most tend to pick up on is how it’s over-the-top style greatly echoes Sam Raimi’s later sequel (cum remake) Evil Dead II, and Peter Jackson equally excessive Brain Dead. Nobuhiko’s use of the ‘push-pull’ dolly shot that has become so much a trademark for Raimi brings a direct comparison, as do the gallons of blood.

Though it’s quite possible to believe that they must have seen this film, it’s interesting to place this with the context of the late 70s, when Wes Craven, George A. Romeo, Tobe Hooper, David Cronenberg had brought a minimalist, social poignancy to their work. At the time this film was being made, Raimi and his childhood friend Bruce Campbell first headed into the foliage to create the short Within The Woods, a direct predecessor of The Evil Dead.

Just like Raimi was doing with a far more limited budget, Nobuhiko was rebooting the haunted house genre, and looking to stylised, more theatrical demons that would also become so much a part of Italian horror, and it’s notable that Dario Argento’s highly preposterous (though – and I never thought I’d say this – more coherent!) Suspriria was released the same year as House. Such admiration of Italian work is not unsubstantiated, as Angel’s father tells her, in one of the funniest lines in the film, “(Sergio) Leone told me my scores are better than (Ennio) Morricone’s”.

(Mind you, it was also the same year as Star Wars too – maybe everyone was looking for larger than life escapism!)

That’s not to that there isn’t a social comment. Posters advertise that girls should ‘return to the countryside and get married’, a parody on a popular campaign of the time. Considering the fate of these young girls, maybe, just maybe – despite the obvious exploitive nature and the inevitable state of undress they endure – Nobuhiko was trying to say something?

House (Hausu) is available on DVD in the UK from Masters Of Cinema / Eureka Entertainment, and will be available in the US from

Related and associated posts

• Review of the year: 2010
• Goemon
• Monkey Magic released on DVD
• Monkey Magic
• Ashura
• The Grudge
• Ju-On: The Grudge
• Ditto The Story Of Film… again!
• Gantz
• Bluffer’s guide to… Takashi Miike
• Out today: Goemon and more
• Sleeping Bride
• Ju-On: White Ghost & Ju-On: Black Ghost
• In cinemas today: Ong Bak: The Beginning and Thirst
• Thirst
• Dororo
• The Machine Girl
• Magic Monkey, the original Monkey TV series soundtrack

This entry was published by Andy H on Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 at 10:00 am and is filed under Comedy, Films, Horror, Japan, Reviews, _Guilty Pleasures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.