House

House (Hausu) is a film directed by Nobuhiko Ôbayashi and stars a variety of young girls as they go on a chaperoned trip to one of the groups Aunt's. This aunt, however, seems to be more than she appears, as the group is slowly torn asunder (sometimes literally) by the house in a variety of ways.

This film is an embodiment of avant-garde when that was still a new thing. This film reminds me a lot of Jean Luc-Godards "The Weekend" in its experimental and non-linear cinematography. This film is wacky, with each shot almost bending ones mind. Film gradients, props, music, effects and so on are bombarding the viewer constantly, and make even the mundane seem incredible. The story here is mundane. A group of students go to a house and are accosted by the possessed abode, as the aunt turns out to be a witch. The creative part here is what happens visually. The characters were fun. Each one is a literal representation of a specific idea or thing. Nicknames like Gorgeous, Fantasy, Kung-Fu and so on abound, with each nickname being a representation of the person in question. These traits come back to bite them (sometimes literally). Piano's chow down on fingers, mattresses attack, mirrors possess, and much more. At one point, a man is turned into a pile of banana's!

This film is wacky in many ways. It possesses a wonderful style, contagious charm, and many fun and interesting elements. It is not pure horror, certainly coming through as a comedy. I had a brilliant time with this film, and look forward to watching this film again soon. What a ride! Highly recommended for those looking for something interesting and weird.

Oh my goodness, what at trippy, crazy, cheesy little movie this is. I don't think it has a single scene in it which doesn't have some type of campy, surreal special effect. Early on it seems like part Wes Anderson, part after-school special, part J-pop, part … I don't know, just 'out there', and certainly unique. It gets weirder and weirder as it goes. If you love the bizarre and the downright silly, movies which don't take themselves too seriously and are out to throw wild images at you, you'll probably love this film. Director Nobuhiko Obayashi has a real flair, and he's not out to make things look super-realistic, he's out to entertain. If you're looking for a ghost story, real drama, or horror, well, this isn't it. You never feel real tension, even as the cute little girls are attacked by mattresses, devoured by a piano, etc etc. For me I suppose I fell more in the latter camp, wishing the film had some balance in creating a film about the supernatural, but you can easily see why it has a bit of a cult attraction to it, and your mileage may vary.

Hausu is basically the most bizarre Haunted House movie I've ever seen. The story follows a group of girlfriends who head to the country for vacation. They go to one of the girl's Aunt's house to spend their time. But beknownst to all of them the Aunt isn't really who she says she is. And there's a cat named Snowflake that obviously has some issues. Girls begin experiencing the supernatural and things don't seem to be slowing up. Reading back what I just wrote kinda makes the movie seem not so interesting. Seems like just another haunted house flick. But if you pop in this flick, almost immediately you will realize you've never seen a film like this. Filmed in a lively, colorful way mixed with a fantastic soundtrack, the flick exceeds on all levels of production. Combine the production values with a children's movie feel, then combine that with some blood, violence and nudity, you get a very different hybrid genre of a flick. Hausu is a flick that all fans of unique horror or cinema for that matter should check out.

So Hausu was a film that I was really eager to check out for myself after hearing how incredibly weird it was supposed to be, and it certainly didn't disappoint in that regard, it was probably the most bizarre flick I had ever seen. It's about a young girl named Gorgeous who invites a group of her young friends to come along with her on a trip to her sinister aunt's house in the country, only what they don't learn until they get there is that the old place is haunted, and sweet old auntie is an evil spirit! It took a bit to get going but once it did it was packed with some seriously crazy stuff that had my jaw dropping, there's ghoulish disembodied heads that fly about and bite rear ends, a lot of silly slapstick that really goes back and forth between scary and a cutesy childlike tone of fantasy, a possessed white cat that in one scene hysterically meows the movie's theme tune, and there's a man-eating killer grand piano! I suppose back in the seventies and in Japan this may have been viewed as a sort of children's adventure, well then Roald Dahl eat ya friggin' heart out! It might be a bit too wildly offbeat for some to take but there's a lot of cheesy fun to be had here, along with genuinely dark moments aplenty, it made me kinda wish that more of out fantasy films could have been half as madly inventive in their approach. Too unsettlingly off-the-wall, cuckoo-clock nuts to be truly endearing and loveable, too lighthearted to properly be labelled as true horror, this twisted fairytale falls somewhere in the middle and exists in its own very strange little bubble that is both whimsical and occasional frightening, but whatever it is it sure makes for a fun little ride that gets progressively more insane as it goes on, and while I didn't love the entire thing it had enough great moments to be good and was quite charming overall, and I can certainly say that I've never seen another one quite like it, it's fun enough that I'd say it's a hidden gem that's worth a look at least once just so you can take in the experience of it for yourself, because this Hausu is well worth a visit! 🐱 🌈 💀

This movie is the directing debut for (the great) Nobuhiko Obayashi. He has directed commercials for television before he got into directing movies. This experience helped Obayashi learn many special effects used in TV commercials. It shows in this movie as almost every scene contains some sort of special visual effects.

In the mid '70s Toho studio was looking for fresh ideas for movies that would be a box office success. They've decided to use the then relative unknown Nobuhiko Obayashi to direct a movie with fresh new approach. Many of Toho's experienced staff expressed concerns over this because Obayashi never had experience of being an assistant director. Project manager for this movie then said "Us experienced directors aren't coming up with hit movies, so experience is not the criteria for making a successful movie. Lets allow this young director to make a movie to see if he knows more about what the audience really wants."

The original plot of this movie was written by the then 13 year old daughter of Obayashi himself.

The movie has a strange career as it was rediscovered by an Asian movie affectionado who had connections with Janus films (which is the parent company of the Criterion Collection) after being released in Japan over 30 years ago. It then made limited showings in theaters around the U.S.. Very unusual as not too many film gets a roadshow in another country 30 years after it was made.

Seven girls makes a plan to go on a vacation at one of the girl's aunts house in the country side. They don't suspect that the aunt died long time ago, and what inhabits the house is the apparition of the aunt that can remain young only by devouring the bodies of others.

The movie is a horror comedy with bit of erotic exploitation starring many actors who were teen idols at the time. When it was first released, Miki Jinbo who played the role of Kung Fu gathered the most votes by the young male audiences, as she kicked her way around the house wearing skimpy tank top and shorts.

This movie is very original in almost every way. Visuals are unusual as expressed earlier that Obayashi used many of the special effects he's learned while making TV commercials. Color is also very surreal as is the acting, but the movie has strange charm all its own, and not boring to watch. You can almost say that this is an artistic film that's also geared to entertain the audience.

In the end Toho studio got just what it was hoping to achieve - a box office smash hit. This movie also established the career of Obayashi as a bankable director. Obayashi went on to direct many other successful movies including the original "Girl who leaped through time".