NYAFF 09 Review: HOUSE

[Our thanks to Renzo Adler for the following review.]

While the setting of House may seem like cliché heaped upon cliché, if Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 movie is anything, it is unexpected. A Japanese horror movie about a group of girls going on a vacation only to befall the terrors of a haunted house, this is one of the older films at the New York Asian Film Fest, though it is also most certainly one of the most unique. To call this just a horror movie would be misleading and probably conjures up images of long haired specters seeking vengeance in some convoluted fashion, but House is far too whimsical for that.

A pastiche of horror and cinematic motifs spanning practically every genre throughout history, House has a visual style akin to a comic book store in the grips of an epileptic seizure while a cartoon is projected onto all of it. At one point the film is a school girl melodrama, only to switch to a Hong Kong style fight scene, then to a 1920’s silent film motif, a musical montage, and then it’s a candy colored danse macabre; constantly shifting its style and form in the most bizarre ways. Indeed the film’s style, visual gags, and characters are far more akin to manga by the likes of Go Nagai or Kazuo Umezu (in fact, director Obayashi did adapt Umezu’s Drifting Classroom to film) than traditional horror movies.

It’s a shame that House was never released in the states sooner, or people would realize it beat The Shining to the punch in the crazy haunted house genre (House, 1977 and Shining, 1980), though in some respects House has more in common with the 2008 Speed Racer film in the sense that House as a grasp on reality that is tenuous at best. The whole film is vibrant, light hearted, and jovial, though admittedly, confusing. The combination of strange occurrences and somewhat choppy special effects make many scenes disorienting, bordering on non-sensical, but at least things never get boring.

House has a very pop infused style, combined with an artistic sensibility that can be gleamed from Nobuhiko’s early short films, but the film always maintains a fun attitude and is never bitter or demanding of the viewer. Really folks, I am sorry for being unable to describe this film in more concrete terms, but it has to be seen to believed, this movie is that insane. House is simultaneously the ultimate homage to horror of yesteryear, while being its own strange beast at the same time. This is certainly not a movie for everyone, but if you are on this website and reading this review, then you are probably the right audience for it. I realize this may seem like a goofy film compared to some of the more serious entries to the NYAFF, but I implore you, see this movie!

PS: If you like this, try and track down Obayashi’s The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (1983)

Review by Renzo Adler