2018 31 Days of Scary Movies – October 8 – House

Today’s film introduces two new categories

#Ghosts
and
#Cannibals

Today is October 8th

Today’s film is 1977’s House

Today’s film is also known as Hausu. It’s in Japanese so unless you’re fluent you’ll be watching with subtitles.

House is unlike any film I’ve seen before so I’m not exactly sure how to prepare you for it other than to list a few things I can describe.

It’s got a hippie feel/look to it, think Scooby-Doo meets post-war Japan.

It’s silly and playful, even cutsie at times and all that is either strange and out of place or it’s a genius juxtaposition to it’s spooky, dark and gruesome parts.

It’s confusing, quite confusing. If this film doesn’t leave you confused then you terrify me.

At times it’s surreal. Some of the sets are flat and stylized like the backdrop for an elementary school play, others are very deep and expansive but they’re all relatively plain and simple. And somehow it’s beautiful at times and on-whole.

The music box style song that plays relentlessly in the film will be stuck in your head. It starts out feeling like the perfect fit for the cute stuff but ends up fitting the dark stuff just as well!

The effects in House are a mix of simple (but smart) practical effects and low-budget 70s style green-screen effects. You’ll love them or you’ll hate them.

The pacing in the film isn’t what you’d expect for a horror film – it stays cute for a long time. So long that I was convinced I was watching the wrong film but don’t give up! Stick it out and you’ll be rewarded with the darker bits that wouldn’t be as good without the conditioning.

 

Trailer:

MPAA Rating: (not rated)

 

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