"Hausu" (House) is a mess, both a glorious and devastating one. Maybe I was left a little underwhelmed after hearing so much about it. But to actually sit down, be enthralled and then be pulled out of the movie so many times is sad. Because ultimately, the level of quality the movie successfully builds drops considerably. But when this movie shines, it really does.
Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. A schoolgirl travels with her six classmates to her ailing aunt's country home for the summertime vacation. When they arrive the atmosphere is strangely off putting, yet they are all welcomed with open arms. Upon the first night however, they come face to face with supernatural events as the girls are one by one, devoured by the home. Will they be able to solve the mystery of the house, and hopefully leave with their lives?
The first feature length movie for Obayashi, who was well known for directing many commercials with surreal visual styles at the time. Film company Toho wanted him to create a movie similar to "Jaws" (1975), as he then began writing the script based on the ideas his pre-teen daughter Chigumi Obayashi gave him. The script was green-lit but put on hold for two years, until Toho eventually yet Obayashi himself direct it. No one at Toho had faith in the production as they felt it would destroy their careers, and at the time they were tired of losing money. It was a box office success in Japan, yet received negative criticism and has only recently seen wide released in 2009. The film now enjoys a much more cult status, and is part of the prestigious "Criterion Collection".
Before I state what I truly love about this movie, I feel it best to explain the obvious shortcomings. The first 45 minutes are awful, and the actors do not convince (Only two of them had little to no acting experience). There's a lot of fun and energy to each of the girls, who are cleverly nicknamed after their unique quirks such as "Melody" and "Kung-Fu" etc. But the dialogue remains something to be desired, and definitely wasn't the aim of the production. What I do love about this movie is how largely experimental it remains through Chigumi's ideas such as being eaten by a piano, and crush by many futons. The special effect work is great, and was kept "rustic" enough to preserve the idea that a child made them. Extensive use of stop motion, blue screen, chroma effect, superimposing, painted skies and backgrounds all work to the films advantage and surprisingly great soundtrack.
Finally, the reason "Hausu" gets my seal of approval is the subtle incorporation of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. For a Japanese film-maker to even attempt such a feat would have been career suicide. Obayashi lost many of his childhood friends to the bomb, and wanted to create something for the next generation to reflect the chaos and macabre of it all. We see this new generation and a girl discuss how her aunt lost her fiancé to the War, as the image of the bomb appears on screen for 2 seconds (Described as "cotton candy"). A family picture is taken and the flash of a camera leads to destruction, becoming a reoccurring motif throughout the movie when light flashes from the eyes of a "fluffy" white cat "Snow-flake" (The codename for the bomb was "Little-boy"). You can see images of the bombs presence throughout the picture, but it's subtle inclusion is rather ingenious.
Final Verdict: "Hausu" is a difficult film to love. I didn't want to compare it to the later and greater haunted house movies such as "The Evil Dead" (1981), and a lot is definitely left to be desired. I do respect how well Nobuhiko Obayashi did so well when the odds where against him, but unfortunately the only reason to keep coming back is to see how frenetic the 2nd half of the movie is and nothing more. 7/10.
Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. A schoolgirl travels with her six classmates to her ailing aunt's country home for the summertime vacation. When they arrive the atmosphere is strangely off putting, yet they are all welcomed with open arms. Upon the first night however, they come face to face with supernatural events as the girls are one by one, devoured by the home. Will they be able to solve the mystery of the house, and hopefully leave with their lives?
The first feature length movie for Obayashi, who was well known for directing many commercials with surreal visual styles at the time. Film company Toho wanted him to create a movie similar to "Jaws" (1975), as he then began writing the script based on the ideas his pre-teen daughter Chigumi Obayashi gave him. The script was green-lit but put on hold for two years, until Toho eventually yet Obayashi himself direct it. No one at Toho had faith in the production as they felt it would destroy their careers, and at the time they were tired of losing money. It was a box office success in Japan, yet received negative criticism and has only recently seen wide released in 2009. The film now enjoys a much more cult status, and is part of the prestigious "Criterion Collection".
Before I state what I truly love about this movie, I feel it best to explain the obvious shortcomings. The first 45 minutes are awful, and the actors do not convince (Only two of them had little to no acting experience). There's a lot of fun and energy to each of the girls, who are cleverly nicknamed after their unique quirks such as "Melody" and "Kung-Fu" etc. But the dialogue remains something to be desired, and definitely wasn't the aim of the production. What I do love about this movie is how largely experimental it remains through Chigumi's ideas such as being eaten by a piano, and crush by many futons. The special effect work is great, and was kept "rustic" enough to preserve the idea that a child made them. Extensive use of stop motion, blue screen, chroma effect, superimposing, painted skies and backgrounds all work to the films advantage and surprisingly great soundtrack.
Finally, the reason "Hausu" gets my seal of approval is the subtle incorporation of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. For a Japanese film-maker to even attempt such a feat would have been career suicide. Obayashi lost many of his childhood friends to the bomb, and wanted to create something for the next generation to reflect the chaos and macabre of it all. We see this new generation and a girl discuss how her aunt lost her fiancé to the War, as the image of the bomb appears on screen for 2 seconds (Described as "cotton candy"). A family picture is taken and the flash of a camera leads to destruction, becoming a reoccurring motif throughout the movie when light flashes from the eyes of a "fluffy" white cat "Snow-flake" (The codename for the bomb was "Little-boy"). You can see images of the bombs presence throughout the picture, but it's subtle inclusion is rather ingenious.
Final Verdict: "Hausu" is a difficult film to love. I didn't want to compare it to the later and greater haunted house movies such as "The Evil Dead" (1981), and a lot is definitely left to be desired. I do respect how well Nobuhiko Obayashi did so well when the odds where against him, but unfortunately the only reason to keep coming back is to see how frenetic the 2nd half of the movie is and nothing more. 7/10.