Paperhouse

I was absolutely stunned while watching this fantasy/horror film. The original plot has Anna (an eleven year old girl with glandular fever) sketching the crude drawing of a house during the opening scene. As her fever worsens, she repetedly dreams of the same house on an open field. In her dreams the house is brilliantly lit and looks like a real child's drawing, which I found a rather frightening image. Anna dreams of adventures in the house with a boy named Marc, and these adventures turn more sinister as her illness becomes more serious. There seems to be a link between her illness and the evil she must confront in the house, but like many things in this movie, this is only hinted at.

In many ways I found this movie better than the book, Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr. Although the novel does contain some subtle horror, it is basically for children. However, the movie offers some real scares as well as an underlying atmosphere of suppressed horror. There is something unnerving in the scenes when Anna is exploring the empty house that is difficult to put your finger on.

Perhaps the reason this amazing film wasn't a huge commercial success was because it's difficult to determine it's intended audience. While the character of Anna might appeal to preteens, some scenes (in particular the one when the father tries to break into the house with a hammer) are far too intense for young children. Most adults will be put off by the plot, but if they're at all interested in child or dream psycology, or just want to see something different, I'd throughly reccomend it.

Paperhouse presents an intensely entertaining fantasy/horror story of a young school girl ,Ana, enduring an illness, and experiencing a compelling fantasy that occurs when she is in the throes of the fevers brought on by her malady. She draws a house on paper, inhabited by a boy, who is also ill, and events occur in her febrile dreams which she tries to control with subsequent drawings. We get a rich and detailed insight into the girl's character as she tries to cope with two worlds in which she has serious problems to resolve. I really enjoyed Paperhouse from start to finish.

The film moves quickly and maintains an intense sense of adventure, and even some level of horror, that erupts every time Ana lapses into her dreams. I would say that the only real flaw in it is that the director seemed not to know just how to end it all. I would have preferred a tighter resolution. Still Paperhouse is well worthwhile.

The little actress who starred, did an excellent job. I understand this was her only film; one of those ironies of filmdom that is difficult to understand. She was really good. I wish this film would be released on DVD in the USA. I managed to tape it from cable but I would love to have it on DVD. I recommend that you watch Paperhouse if you see it playing.

I just watched this remarkable 1988 film which somehow managed to escape my attention previously. It may have been the Vestron distribution that worked against it - the company went under, and the film was not released on a mass scale.

I have not seen a "horror" film which involved children that impressed me as much as this since "Curse of the Cat People." "The Innocents" has just been knocked out of second spot by my viewing of this stylish film that puts "The Other" and "The Others" to shame.

The film concerns young British teen Anna, who suffers fainting spells, and in her dreams visits the house which she had drawn on paper. As the dreams go on, she meets a young male teen named Mark, whom she had drawn in the window on paper. At first she couldn't get to visit his room - he tells her she has to go back and draw the stairs.

I won't reveal more of the plot, it would be doing the film a great disservice, even though most viewers will probably be one step ahead. That's not a negative in this case, as it enables one to be more attentive to the production design of Gemma Jackson and the direction of Bernard Rose, which combine to depict incredibly stark visuals - there's no cheating with splashes of color and hazy or overlit photography that are often erroneously used to indicate a dreamlike state.

Charlotte Burke will tear at your emotions as Anna, a shame she made this her solo acting experience. Elliott Spiers is equally impressive as Mark, but he only made one more film. Glenne Headly - a New London, Connecticut native, does remarkably well in her role as Anna's mother, her accent is impeccable. This one is not to be missed.

Anna (Charlotte Burke), who is just on the verge of puberty, begins to have strange dreams which start affecting her in real life--especially involving a boy named Mark (Elliott Spiers) who she meets in her dreams.

Very unusual fantasy with some truly terrifying moments. Despite the fact that this is about a teenage girl and has a PG-13 rating, this is NOT for children. Also, if you hate fantasies stay far away. But if you're game for something different this fits the bill.

Well directed by Bernard Rose with a just beautiful music score and a few nice, scary jolts. The only thing that prevents this from being a really great movie is Burke--she's not a very good actress (it's no surprise that this has been her only film) and it hurts the movie. However, everybody else is just great.

Spiers is very good as Mark; Glenne Headley (faking a British accent very well) is also very good as Anna's mother and Ben Cross is both frightening and sympathetic as Anna's father.

A sleeper hit when released in 1988, it's since faded away. That's too bad--it's really very good.

I would not call paperhouse a horror film but more like a PSYCHOLOGICAL FANTASY. This film is about a young schoolgirl who is drawing pictures of a house with a boy in it and she having dreams that are becoming real this is a really good PSYCHOLOGICAL film and somehow this film reminds of The Ring 2002 i mean the feeling to it has anyone notice it?? The acting was ok but not great had a good cast and thought the dad in the drawing was good and spooky abit. I am giving this film 9/10