House (1977)If I were to describe one movie as "groovy-spooky", it would be House (1977), directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. The story follows a septet of Japanese high school girls on holiday; their original plan was to accompany their teacher Mr. Togo (Kiyohiko Ozaki) to a camp, but as fate would have it, plans fall through, and one of the girls--Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami)--invites the others to visit her aunt (Yōko Minamida) in the country, after she broke off vacation plans with her father (Saho Sasazawa), due to his sudden invitation of her new-to-be stepmother, Ryoko (Haruko Wanibuchi). After they arrive at the house and meet Gorgeous' invalid aunt, unfortunate events occur and escalate into an out of control nightmare.
|
|
All seven girls have distinct characteristics that help to differentiate them in the film, since we get little to no exposition about any of them except Gorgeous, and maybe a little for Fantasy (Kumiko Oba). Fortunately, their names appropriately give us enough to latch onto to discern their personalities. Let's see...we have the aforementioned lovely Gorgeous, the daydreaming Fantasy, the musical Melody (Eriko Tanaka), the bookish Prof (Ai Matubara), the athletic Kung Fu (Miki Jinbo), the gentle Sweet (Masayo Miyako), and the food-obsessed Mac (Mieko Sato), short for "stomach". Like so many horror movies, they are picked off one by one, and in a fashion tied into their vices, innocent as they may be. In fact, while the movie is often very bloody, the violence is also often absurd and silly--one might describe House as the most genteel of slasher films. The actresses who play the girls are all very photogenic and convey a lot of dedication and enthusiasm for being generally superficial characters. This is because the girls were in fact models, cast from commercials directed by Obayashi during the waiting period to make the film. Obayashi had a history in directing advertisements and commercials, and that same quality beams forth from House, between an array of dissolves and wind effects, slow motion and chroma key. The result of such a smorgasbord of special effects is a dazzling fireworks show of vivid images that does more than tell a story--it pulls you into a fantasy world where logic is stretched to its limits (and perhaps past that) and the film has a dreamlike quality that sticks with you afterwards. Obayashi also employed Japanese rock band Godiego to compose and perform the catchy, often upbeat music for the film. And like a commercial endeavor, the film is filled with a vibrant array of sound and image that rolls past like a train carrying dreams.
While House is rich with lush visuals and a nonsensical story, it is often considered a "psychedelic" experience. While this may be true for some viewers, I've always been more intrigued by the idea that the story for House originally came from Obayashi's own young daughter, Chigumi, who when Nobuhiko asked for her input as to what would make a scary movie, the basic plot of House was the result of her reply--the idea being that something that cannot be easily understood and is comprised of terrors that seize on your basic fears are often the best. Thankfully, Nobuhiko took his daughter's advise, and the result is a movie both visceral and cartoonish--an oft-described comparison is "Scooby-Doo meets Dario Argento". House has become a kind of a contemporary cult hit; although the film was made almost forty years ago, it did not receive widespread international release until the last several years. Originally billed as the "B-Movie" to a double feature in Japan upon its initial release, the film became highly popular with younger crowds, which in and of itself comes as no surprise, since the film takes great strides to embrace a younger audience with colorful imagery and pop music. And while the film does have a clear villain, even that "villain" is sympathetic in light of the tragedies that brought her to preying upon young girls to fulfill her promise to the dead. Interestingly enough, there are a surprising few number of male characters in this movie--Gorgeous' film composer dad gets about a scene and a half, Mr. Togo is relegated to buffoonery, and the unnamed watermelon salesman, who comes across as a Renfield-esque shill for the dreaded house--that's about it. The film's empowered roles all go to women, between most of the girls, the enigmatic aunt who owns the house, or even Gorgeous' would-be stepmom, who desperately tries to form a relationship with the young girl. And while the film can be deadly and shocking at times, there exists this child-like innocence pervading the majority of the movie, an almost angelic quality which gives House such an unusual taste, like the combination of different flavors of jellybeans you never thought might go together until you tried it, then found you loved it and kept eating that same combination over and over...it's that kind of feeling.
Recommended for: Both fans of Japanese horror and playful, light-hearted films; though the two hardly seem contemporaneous in the same film, House defies logic (on so many counts) to make the impossible possible. Also, hope you like '70s-styled pop music.
While House is rich with lush visuals and a nonsensical story, it is often considered a "psychedelic" experience. While this may be true for some viewers, I've always been more intrigued by the idea that the story for House originally came from Obayashi's own young daughter, Chigumi, who when Nobuhiko asked for her input as to what would make a scary movie, the basic plot of House was the result of her reply--the idea being that something that cannot be easily understood and is comprised of terrors that seize on your basic fears are often the best. Thankfully, Nobuhiko took his daughter's advise, and the result is a movie both visceral and cartoonish--an oft-described comparison is "Scooby-Doo meets Dario Argento". House has become a kind of a contemporary cult hit; although the film was made almost forty years ago, it did not receive widespread international release until the last several years. Originally billed as the "B-Movie" to a double feature in Japan upon its initial release, the film became highly popular with younger crowds, which in and of itself comes as no surprise, since the film takes great strides to embrace a younger audience with colorful imagery and pop music. And while the film does have a clear villain, even that "villain" is sympathetic in light of the tragedies that brought her to preying upon young girls to fulfill her promise to the dead. Interestingly enough, there are a surprising few number of male characters in this movie--Gorgeous' film composer dad gets about a scene and a half, Mr. Togo is relegated to buffoonery, and the unnamed watermelon salesman, who comes across as a Renfield-esque shill for the dreaded house--that's about it. The film's empowered roles all go to women, between most of the girls, the enigmatic aunt who owns the house, or even Gorgeous' would-be stepmom, who desperately tries to form a relationship with the young girl. And while the film can be deadly and shocking at times, there exists this child-like innocence pervading the majority of the movie, an almost angelic quality which gives House such an unusual taste, like the combination of different flavors of jellybeans you never thought might go together until you tried it, then found you loved it and kept eating that same combination over and over...it's that kind of feeling.
Recommended for: Both fans of Japanese horror and playful, light-hearted films; though the two hardly seem contemporaneous in the same film, House defies logic (on so many counts) to make the impossible possible. Also, hope you like '70s-styled pop music.