A three story house serves as the centerpiece of three stories. The first follows a poor family who are given a new home constructed by an enigmatic benefactor only to find out all too late that the house is still under construction and more a prison-like labyrinth than a home. The second follows a struggling developer who due to economic pressures, pest infestations, and miscommunications finds himself in an uphill battle to refurbish and showcase the home to potential buyers, only for two such potential buyers to become overly familiar with the house. The third follows a struggling landlord who tries to keep the house a float (literally) after a flood has driven off most of the tenets leaving only a collection of eccentric deadbeats as her last loyal tenets.
The House is a British stop-motion anthology film featuring three segments done by a different team of directors and animators. Produced at Nexus Studios for Netflix's streaming service, the film features a collection of tales surrounding the titular house that run the gamut from Edgar Allen Poe inspired gothic macabre, dark as black comedy, or even whimsical magic realism. While the stories vary in terms of quality, they form a mostly satisfying whole and create a weird but memorable experience.
The animation is well done with each animation team giving their segment their own visual identity while tying into the central linking device of the house. The segments are all visually appealing with their unique styles with the first segment's character designs and environments matching the bleak and depressing atmosphere created, while the other two shorts focus on anthropomorphic characters such as mice and cats who play their stories a bit more for humor (albeit quite dark).
The House sets the bar high for itself with its first story, And heard within, a lie is spun, playing itself as a gothic horror story where a family of lower class is given what seems like the deal of a lifetime as they come into possession a seemingly attractive house only for the grandiosity and opulence to be taken to ludicrous extremes that soon become horrific in nature and concept. It creates a solid feeling of creeping dread and has the air of if Poe had given his take on the Winchester Mystery House. While this opening segment is quite amazing, the following segments kind of pale in comparison to it. Not that they're bad or anything as there's still some solid work in the animation and artwork with the Fur Beetle dance and the final sequence delivering some truly amazing sights, but their stories didn't really resonate the way the first part did. The plots of the last two segments are also pretty similar with both dealing with a protagonist who is trying to rebuild the house (though one by unwilling obligation and the other doing so of their own volition) and also dealing with unwanted "guests" who curtail their plans (with one set malevolent and the other set benevolent). The segments have some really strong elements and themes but they never really reached the level of the first short (at least for me anyway).
The House is an ambitious stop-motion anthology with strong animation and memorable imagery. While it starts with its best story and continues with two okay stories, as a showcase for solid stop-motion animation that carries a sharp edge The House truly is home.
