House (1977)

HOUSE (1977)

Dir: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi

4/31 #31daysofhorror

I would like to take a moment to formally apologize to everyone following our 31 Days Of Horror that may not have been ready for House (1977). Having said that, can we all appreciate the level of creativity and bats*t weirdness we just witnessed. We were watching the Criterion edition and there’s an interview with Ti West who pointed out something that we were thinking but unable to articulate. West discusses the fact that Ôbayashi uses every cinematic trick – in camera and in post – available to compose his experimental art horror film. And that is the film’s greatest achievement, the dedication to strangeness. We spent the film awestruck and jaw-dropped. I found myself paying such close attention because I had no idea where the film was going at all. Many films, you can guess the direction of the plot and even begin to guess the next lines of dialogue because to a degree it’s been done before. Nope, not here. I thought there’d be a haunted house, then I thought there’d be witches, then I thought I had lost my mind in the duration of the film.

Follow Fantasy, Gorgeous, Sweetie, Melody, Mac, Prof., and Kung Fu on their summer holiday. One they will never return from. You will be uncomfortable, astounded, aggravated, and completely broadsided by a confusing visual feast. Some of the best that cinema has to offer is challenging. And this is certainly challenging.