Visiting a relative can feel strange, because especially when the loved one you share is gone, the visit will inevitably bring up feelings of grief, nostalgia, and being stuck because of it. But no visit would be as strange as the 1977 cult horror classic House. It’s a classic not because it’s particularly scary– in fact, most of the time, the film is much more bizarre than terrifying– but because this grief manifests in the eccentric estate through unusually unrealistic, but undeniably stylish psychedelic visions that stem from the kind of nightmares one would get as a kid as well as the real-life devastation Nobuhiko Obayashi faced as a Hiroshima survivor. It’s because of these absurd images that House escapes explanation, yet still became Obayashi’s definitive work. Hausu is simply a film that you have to visit for yourself.
Synopsis
Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip to the countryside to visit her aunt at their ancestral house. She invites her six friends, Prof, Melody, Mac, Fantasy, Kung Fu, and Sweet, to join her. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.
Storyline
After her father introduces her to his new lover, a young woman nicknamed Gorgeous resolves to avoid her by visiting her aunt’s remote mansion in Karuizawa with six of her closest friends for the summer. Unfortunately for them, the house seems to be haunted.
TLDR
Cult classic for a REASON.
What stands out
The piano theme song. At first it just seemed like a lighthearted tune that could have been played from an ice cream truck to call in children, but as it repeats later on in the film, it gets creepier and creepier, especially with the fingers…
