This movie is great when it's at its craziest with scenes like the hilarious piano scene and whenever "kung fu" goes ape shit, but the rest drags it down significantly.
By virtue of having been written by director Nobuhiko Ōbayashi's 10-year-old daughter, and directed with an aesthetic more appropriate to anime and game shows, Hausu (House) is completely bananas, and without meaning to (because intent is something musty here), it manages to support several interpretations. To me, the witch's haunted house is like a haunted, post-WWII, post-Hiroshima Japan, holding on to a past that is long gone, and put in contrast with modern Japan, with its schoolgirls, weird TV, and sexual politics (as when its lesbian connotations are attacked/erased by supernatural elements). Its initial premise is right out of Miyazaki, even if the style are more like Yuri anime and Benny Hill, resolving into a third act that would have Dario Argento use Terry Gilliam's Monty Python animated collage techniques. None of my descriptions do it justice. It's bold film-making, breaking all the rules, a director's reel of trial and error. Worth seeing if you're at all interested in film even if the result is necessarily a mess. The only thing I didn't actually enjoy is the omnipresent score, which is noisome and disruptive.
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Comments 1 - 15 of 26
Pike
I have rarely seen anything so batshit. Loved it, obviously.sureup
This movie is great when it's at its craziest with scenes like the hilarious piano scene and whenever "kung fu" goes ape shit, but the rest drags it down significantly.Siskoid
By virtue of having been written by director Nobuhiko Ōbayashi's 10-year-old daughter, and directed with an aesthetic more appropriate to anime and game shows, Hausu (House) is completely bananas, and without meaning to (because intent is something musty here), it manages to support several interpretations. To me, the witch's haunted house is like a haunted, post-WWII, post-Hiroshima Japan, holding on to a past that is long gone, and put in contrast with modern Japan, with its schoolgirls, weird TV, and sexual politics (as when its lesbian connotations are attacked/erased by supernatural elements). Its initial premise is right out of Miyazaki, even if the style are more like Yuri anime and Benny Hill, resolving into a third act that would have Dario Argento use Terry Gilliam's Monty Python animated collage techniques. None of my descriptions do it justice. It's bold film-making, breaking all the rules, a director's reel of trial and error. Worth seeing if you're at all interested in film even if the result is necessarily a mess. The only thing I didn't actually enjoy is the omnipresent score, which is noisome and disruptive.Ivan0716
Epic WTFness.ThomasFTB
made to be bad? What are you basing that on, Raian-Kun?For one thing....the film isn't bad. In fact it's kind of amazing.
Torgo
No one's going to top this. Not even the Japanese themselves.catherinefrances
This film was so much FUN!Carota
best movie i've ever seendemagogo
I felt kinda indifferent throughout.Cmeola
One of the best movies I have ever seen.mi-16evil
Very reminiscent of Evil Dead II. Surreal and disturbingly enjoyable!TimA1030
Favorited because, of all the movies I've seen in my lifetime, it is not quite like anything I've experienced before.MilenaFlaherty
The weirdest feature-length film I've ever seen.Cassiodoro
Insane. I loved it. But i hate the cat.Princess_Of_Snails
I really had fun with this one. It makes for a great horror comedy. Definitely worth watching if you're into that sort of thing.Showing items 1 – 15 of 26