2010-11-02

House (1977)

House aka Hausu (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977)


A little late for Halloween but who cares... House is still a must see film a day you are seing it doesn't really care... It ain't no Christmas movie and that's for sure. College is over for the summer and the girls are happy to go on vacation. But Gorgeous's dad is going in vacation with his new mistress abandoning Gorgeous for the summer. She decides to ask her aunt to stay at her house with her girlfriends. At the aunt's mansion the girls will meet the aunt and many extravagant experiences.

The first part of the film is unsettling, because it's shot with saturated colors and innocent girlish scenes that do not prevent from the madness that will follow. The tone of the film is so candy eye-popping that it kinda felt like you are watching a fairytale. Moreover, many elements of the plot tend to let you think that you are actually watching a fairytale. The stepmother that "steals" Gorgeous's place with her father that felt like an Oedipus Rex complex.
Another element of the plot, the coming of age of the girl as a woman, first represented with the outfits of college girls and later the woman clothes and then the many parts of naked women representing the passage to adulthood. And finally the loads of blood representing the menstruations of the young women depicted. The aunt represents how the older woman that can no longer have children and must destroy her younger opponents to conquer men. The white cat probably reprensents evil itself.
The visual treatment of the film is probably the one thing that betrays it. The effects are outdated and the flamboyant-saturated images reflects the late 1970's. Althought, it gives dynamic images of constant movement. After a while instead of preventing the viewer to get bored, it annoys him because he doen't has the time to fully appreciate the "mise-en-scène".
An issue that annoyed me was the fact that some girls disappear and they are forgotten in the story, as if we were jumping over those details of the movie.

In the whole, this is exhuberant film deserves to be watched by every Horror film lover out there. It is fresh, unique and tells a lot about horror story telling even if it has some flaws...

6 comments:

  1. Allo Michael,

    Hi there C. M. Dobson,

    October 27th marked the one year anniversary of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Club. Our gracious host and originator of this club, TheAnswerMVP2001, has put the club on Hiatus since July. Today, four months later, I am messaging you, as one of the original members of the club, to see if you are still interested in continuing the tradition of the 1001 Film club. Lets pick up where we left off, selecting films from the extensive 1001 Movies list for the club members to review, and also occasionally review the films that other members have selected.

    Long ago, I decided to make 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die the main focus of my website, and this club was a great way of reading what others had to say on the subject, and I miss it. I would be honoured if you would agree to continue our year-old tradition in the same fashion as TheAnswerMVP2001 ran it. I would be happy to host our discussions on my site at Filmsquish.com.

    Please let me know if this is something you'd like to continue. If we get enough people on board, I shall pick up the torch and keep it running.

    Please feel free to contact me through the contact form at www.Filmsquish.com

    J'ai hate d'avoir votre réplique!
    Squish

    ReplyDelete
  2. Merci de votre réplique. Mon format ne devrait pas changer trop-trop de celui de TheAnswer. J'ajouterai aussi tes vieux articles, comme TheAnswer à fait dana son site. J'enverrait des nouvelles prochainement!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Excellent! J'ai déjà hâte que l'on recommence!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bon! Tu a la chance! Laissez-moi te donner la version anglaise de mon invitation:

    The response back from Club members has been amazing!

    On the week of November 29th to December 5th, 2010, I will be hosting an good old fashioned Blog-A-Thon to re-inaugurate the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Blog Club.

    After months of waiting for it to start again, I decided to just host the Club myself, and I'd love to have you as a member once again. I am writing you today to invite you to contribute a post (or posters!), on the first film on the epic 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List, George Méliès' "A Trip To The Moon" (1902) aka "Le voyage dans la lune." Since you're an old club member, it would be great to see your contribution!

    One of the many great things about "A Trip To The Moon" is that this short film is available everywhere for viewing. I've put a couple links for you of the complete film at the bottom of the page.

    If you're interested, drop me a link or a line through my site (www.filmsquish.com), and feel free to spread the word!

    Un voyage dans la lune:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JDaOOw0MEE&feature=related
    Alternate link:
    http://www.archive.org/details/le_voyage_dans_la_luneE&feature=related
    http://www.archive.org/details/le_voyage_dans_la_lune

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good review Michael, this is a unique must see film, and I agree that there is a little too much going on in some parts, a bit like how I felt at the end of Zazie dans le Metro.

    ReplyDelete

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