F YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE JAPANESE CULT SENSATION HOUSE, chances are you’ve heard about it from someone who has. House (a.k.a Hausu) was originally released in Japan in 1977 by Toho Studios to modest success, but has rarely been seen by international audiences – until the last couple
of years, when Janus Films began screening a restored print of the film through- out America. Fans have clamoured for more, and the Criterion Collection has fi- nally obliged, with a just-released DVD and Blu-ray special edition. House seems to have been made with every Japanese anime and horror flick cliché
in mind. A brightly coloured, highly theatrical set? Check. A cast of bubbly young fe- males? Check. Infectious pop tunes? Check. Gory dismemberment, random nude scenes, and killer ghost cats? Check, check, and check. It’s ostensibly about a group of city girls visiting the palatial mansion of an elderly aunt who are devoured one by one in increasingly creative ways by the possessed house. But to describe House in a brief synopsis doesn’t do justice to its creative insanity; its mix of fantasy, horror, sci-
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ence fiction, romance, and seishun eiga (youth flick) is partly a parody of those genres, but also at times genuinely disturbing. It’s the brilliant brainchild of Nobuhiko Obayashi, a director with a diverse array of
supernatural tales to his credit and a knack for doing things his own way, despite mak- ing films for the mainstream. Even today, he maintains a fierce independence; his stu- dio is an office in Tokyo with a staff comprised of his wife, daughter and son-in-law. After a career in ad and avant-garde work, Obayashi was commissioned by Toho
Studios – an unheard of move for the insular company – to helm a picture that would help resuscitate the moribund Japanese film industry. House didn’t quite accomplish that impossible task, but it did kick-start Obayashi’s career in eclectic feature films that mix genres, cultural commentary and an original aesthetic that reflects the direc- tor’s training in both commercial and experimental media. To commemorate the re- stored release of House, Rue Morgue called Japan to get the specs on this demented piece of real estate from the 72-year-old director.
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