Nobuhiko Obayashi's
House (also called Hausu) has been a cult film legend pretty much since its 1977 release in Japan. As director, Obayashi alchemizes the usual horror trappings (seven pretty young girls, each defined by one personality trait, visit a mysterious aunt who lives in a creepy house in the middle of nowhere) into a glorious, barely coherent, eminently watchable fever dream. The film has been
discussed by
those in the
know for some
time, but unless one knew who to ask, or lucked into the right festival, actually
seeing the movie outside of the
trailer or scenes on Youtube has been a bit of a difficult task. This particular injustice has officially been remedied, in a move for which very few people were calling out, but more might have if they'd known about it: House has been released on region 1 DVD and Blu-Ray
by no less an entity than the Criterion Collection, finally taking its rightful place in cinematic history alongside such films as
Rashomon,
The Seventh Seal, and Olivier's
Hamlet. Just in time for that Halloween party! Provided you not only want your guests to be entertained but also thoroughly bewildered and maybe slightly shellshocked.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER
on Oct 26, 2010 -
40 comments
