 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. This is for the 1977 Japanese horror comedy film House now. This is a film. I'd heard a lot about from a few people Who kept saying hey, have you seen house? Have you seen that Japanese film house? It's nuts. It's crazy It's wacky and that's the thing like it is wacky. It is out there. It is crazy So this is one of those films I'm gonna have to rate in two ways one as a film as a whole and one as a kind of so bad It's good type film because I don't know a whole lot of people who aren't into like super into Horror films and wacky films that would watch this and be like I love that film, but I enjoyed it I had a good time with it. I'm glad I finally watch this film and in this review I'm gonna do the best I can to cover it because it's so wacky so crazy so left-field and out there That I have some ideas about what was at play here, but you know who really knows ultimately So obviously there will be spoilers because it's an older film. So just know that Directed by no behiko obayashi Who has 59 directing credits on IMDb so pretty prolific? I knew he did a lot of commercials in addition to that in fact a lot of the casting for this film came from commercials he was shooting and he would just take people from and be like Oh, you're doing a great job with this commercial. Do you want to be in this film house? So just some interesting info this was written by Chihokatsura who has 50 writing credits on IMDb some of them being porn or like a you know Softcore porn type films from Japan older ones, but also some other collaborations with obayashi for regular films and this was actually taken Taking from an idea from the daughter of obayashi And he really wanted to approach the script the story idea for the script that he that he had Katsura do From a a childhood view point because he kind of thought that his daughter had an interesting Way of looking at kind of like horror and things that you know scare her and her fears and everything Because like adulthood fear versus childhood fear kind of play out in very different ways so this film really is a visualization and a storytelling of kind of Certain fears that could be dealt with at a adult level But at a childhood level and kind of what that looks like and how it's kind of experienced from a childhood mind Or in this in this sense kind of teenager But yeah The film company toho who put this out had approached obayashi originally to make a film like Jaws Obviously, this is not really like Jaws Although maybe someone could find some ways how it is put it in the comments there. Let's do that So then he got that's when he got the idea. He got the script commissioners and everything so the script ended up sitting for two years because Toho couldn't actually find a director who would take it because all of them thought that the film was just or the script was just so Nonsensical that they just didn't want to touch it. They felt like you could really ruin someone's career to put a film like that out So in the end in you know, it sat for two years while it was sitting obayashi went out and he was doing a lot of Kind of marketing for the film and really pushing it even though it hadn't been made at that point and that included You know, they got it made into a manga They had like a radio drama done of it, which actually did pretty well And there was something else that they had I'd written it down. I'll get to it at some point Oh, yeah, and then they also released the soundtrack before they even did the film Which is you know, that's an interesting thing But I guess it's I guess it's good for marketing because it like starts some hype going But apparently that was working and people were getting kind of hyped up about it So then obayashi went to Toho and was like look no one's directing. Nobody wants to touch this. Let me do it You know, he advocated for a while and then eventually they said yeah, you know, just go ahead You can do it because no one else is gonna do it Upon release of the film. It was actually not favorably reviewed by critics But it did well in theaters and the audiences seemed to really enjoy the film now It then eventually got a release in the United States much later than 1997 in 2009 And it was better critically Reviewed in the United or in North America at that point Then it was in Japan initially, but you have to consider, you know, it's decades later So that's probably naturally gonna happen and you know, this film's on the criterion collection at this point And when I watched it I watched it on HBO. They grab a lot of criterion stuff So obviously it's very highly thought of in certain respects Um So obayashi kind of took some themes of the the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and put those into the film Mainly because he was from Hiroshima, he was born there and he lost like all his childhood friends to that atomic bombing Obviously, that's a terrible thing That was rolled into a lot of film from the older decades You know, it's not so much in Japanese film now But decades ago it was rolled in because that was a huge trauma obviously it was a tragedy it was a terrible thing and Yeah, it just kept showing up in film over and over and over again People know most that Godzilla kind of played off the you know nuclear weapon atomic fears And trauma basically of the whole country, but it shows up again in-house and obviously it has a very personal Angle from obayashi, so I thought that was really interesting to include Are you talked about that? He did not use storyboards obayashi did not use storyboards when he was shooting this and I think that kind of Contributed to what I was reading about the crew kind of feeling like the film was a little bit aimless And it was nonsensical like people had already said about the script and that it was kind of a waste of time And I think that when you don't have like a plan going into it with storyboards that kind of makes the crew feel more like We're just winging it like what are we doing here? So that was kind of the feel on the on the set apparently There was a big focus on nonsensical stuff in the film to make it feel more like the fears of the child's imagination This was what I was kind of talking about earlier about how you know the way that adults view fear and children view fear It's very different and that's very much a point of this film and on display in this film So with the events of the film the soundtrack immediately hits you as as its mix of songs that are very childlike and Remind you of childhood the way they're composed But also ones that are just like upbeat and fun and it's weird because things get mismatched within the film too Where it's like some things that are horror and could be horrific with the right music are actually done to like upbeat fun music So truly making it like this horror comedy Aspect to the film which I think works because it just keeps the film fun And the other thing is all the crazy stuff that keeps happening Obviously, I'll talk about some of the crazy things in the film that show up that I thought looked really good or played really well But I can't cover them all because it would take forever But if you want to put in the comments certain ones that you really enjoyed if I don't bring them up or you Just want to say yeah, you brought it up, but I love this one. Feel free to do that Seems like there's a bit of a commentary early on about how restrictive adulthood is and I think that's at play a little bit because it seems like It seems like there's kind of this idea of Adults being a little more shackled and kids being a little more free in the film And it's easiest and earliest seen with the teacher that the two girls and the initial two girls end up talking to Who is saying? Oh, you know She's kind of like opining about them being able to go on a vacation on summer vacation And she even comments at that same time about how she's getting married and they're kind of like, oh, you know Congratulations, she's like well, it's an arranged marriage like insinuating that like she's trapped in that She's not excited about that. She's not excited about the fact that she's still working She wishes she could be young like them and have summer vacation So I think part of why this film works is a reminder of of Fun and childhood and even though there's horror elements. It's still upbeat to a degree So I like that The backgrounds look pretty fake But they look good the way they're constructed you can tell they're fake and they feel fakie But I think it helps maintain this kind of whimsical ambiance and atmosphere for the film which I think plays really well with the whole childhood You know viewpoint of fear and the music being upbeat and interesting. So I like that There is no natural flow to events at least not early on in the film Well, I mean for the whole film pretty much it seems like it kind of abruptly jumps scenes it jumps abruptly with dialogue like people bring dialogue up that's just like out of nowhere and it seems like really choppy and fast So early on I was kind of like my head was like. Oh My gosh like slowed down like we're moving at a breakneck neck pace I felt like I was getting like whiplash from the movement of the story Now I will say that it settles down a bunch much later in the film when it starts to get along a little more horror driven Where the house is doing things and kind of consuming the girls So it slows down more and it's a little bit easier to kind of take things in and process at that point But early on it's just like boom boom boom boom boom and you're like what is going on Let's slow down real real quick here Do do do do there is a consistent practice early on it's doesn't do this as much later Although a little bit, but it was consistently doing this thing where they were transition From one shot to another shot, but leave a portion of the previous scene overlaying But transparent the new shot and in some instances it was cool in some instances. I was like what it's odd It doesn't it doesn't really work the instance that I thought it was really good and worked It was when they were kind of focusing on a skeleton at the house and then they transitioned to the next scene and but the skeleton like the somewhat See-through skeleton image was still there that looked cool But a lot of the other ways they used it. I was just like that's it's odd. It doesn't work so a Bunch of the music actually kind of sounds like jingles from a commercial I started thinking That more like upbeat stuff if you really pay attention, especially early on in the film It kind of sounds like commercial jingles I'd like the transition of the kids book today To the animated train when they first get on the train because they're gonna be going to that girl's aunt's house They show the kid kind of looking at this, you know children's book with illustration of a train And then they transitioned to like an animation of a train I thought that was a really cool transition really cool shot loved it And that's the thing like there's some really awesome visual things that happen in this film that I really really enjoyed That's just one of them one of many and that's one of the things I think I like most about the film like that's why I had fun watching it That's why I know I would watch it again is because the visuals are so interesting and cool The man and woman embracing and then the film burning looks really cool now That was one of those moments of bringing the atomic bombing into play where it was talking about the Aunt and her past about waiting for her lover to come back from serving in the war and he just didn't come back now It shows them embracing and then it's like burning the actual Footage is what it looked like that the actual physical film It's just like disintegrating because it's burning it looked really good and it's a very Good visual of them being destroyed. So I really did enjoy that Your first hint of horror coming is when the girls get to the gate of the house And the hawk just like flies past behind them screaming That's your first like a little bit of foreshadowing that things are about to go bad and the first potentially scary moment is when the Isn't cuz of the quick cuts and mismatch music. Sorry The first potentially scary moment is when they actually get into the house and the crystals fall from the chandelier Now it was potentially scary But the music and the quick cuts that they use with it make it not scary But it's this weird thing where like you realize that something's wrong and things are already happening And they should be scared, but they're not because the music tells you oh, it's different and the way they reacted and the quick cuts It just keeps things kind of moving in light and it's weird But it's interesting. It's its own thing The aunt talks to her furniture and appliances I thought that was kind of a funny thing But I also think that that kind of alludes to the idea that the house is basically alive Now the girls don't know that when she says when she tells them that she kind of talks to the furniture and appliances But it's this kind of thing It's like a wink to the audience in a way to let them know like the house is actually alive And that's why the aunt talks to it basically so I thought that was pretty cool. I Like when the one girl kicks a cabinet door off the wall I thought that was funny when they heard like a mouse or something like she's destroying the aunt's house like And there are a bunch of things like that that just happened where you're just like I don't think they would actually do that, but it's funny and it adds to the film. So I enjoyed it The watermelon scene one of my favorite scenes the watermelon that they pull out of the well Turning into a severed head and then biting the work one girl on the butt. It was just like Is it so random, but it looked funny and it looked good and the way it played out. I loved it The hair in the bath scene was pretty creepy I thought that was well executed when she was in the bath and like the black hair just like Crept up onto her back and onto her shoulder and then it went away. I mean, that's one of those now thought of as typical J horror Tropes happens a lot in the films. That's one of those visuals. I thought it looked good so I Wrote down so is the aunt a spirit or something since she's dancing with the skeleton and eating hand There was that first moment where you see the aunt is very weird Not just because she talks to the house But she was like dancing next to the skeleton in the house dancing and then it shows her sitting down and like eating a human hand So I think this gets to later on how the house and her are kind of consuming The youth like these girls and it kind of alludes to from some excerpts from her diary that they found later That she was saying there there are no more young females in the town And I think maybe that's because they had been to the house and then were consumed by her and the house Who I think are intertwined spiritually Because she's trying to prolong her life so that she can continue to wait for her lover Who she hasn't dealt with the idea that he's gone She's still sticking around and I guess to stay around it seems that she's become kind of evil and she's Feeding off the life of younger women to keep herself alive and keep herself around and the house is doing the same And it seems that kind of like the house is more consuming And then it's you know, kind of feeding into her spirit But at that moment where she's sitting at the table like eating a hand. I think that's she's Directly consuming as well It's a crazy scene The cat was in this a lot more than I assumed and the cat ended up being a much bigger part of the story obviously because it seems that The cat was kind of the conduit to get the girls. It was kind of the messenger It's like this evil familiar messenger to the aunt who was basically kind of a witch Who lured the kids into a degree and then the cat ends up being the key to kind of starting to destroy the house In the end which was interesting with like the picture of the cat on the wall And they break it and then there's all the blood flying out of the mouth of the cat I can't fully break that down. I can't fully understand that but That you know, the best I could figure is that the cat was kind of the key to breaking everything down and the cat was kind of Uh, was the way to bring the girls in because the cat, you know Went through the trip with them and every time you saw like the the green glint in the cat's eyes It was doing things within the house Uh, the whole mirror sequence is is really cool. I really enjoyed that one Especially when the girl's face starts falling apart like pieces of a broken mirror falling off And then there's just like a fire underneath which I think that was kind of a little bit of showing that you know the fears of becoming your parent because I think that was the girl who had lost her mother And so when she was looking in the mirror She was seeing her like her image turned into her mother And then it cracked actually the cat cracked it blanch And then her face starts cracking and then falling apart and there's fire under it Insinuating that you know like destruction of her when she was looking like her mother So I think that was kind of a a thing of like a fear of you know, having the same fate as your parent who you lost Um or maybe potentially an issue of trying to deal with the loss of the parent and and her still You know holding on because there is a portion earlier in the film where her father introduces a new woman and she goes on this This tear of like exing her father out of photos because she thinks that her father's betrayed Her and her mother because of bringing this woman in so I think that you know it connects But the mirror scene awesome The ghostly arm I thought was a really cool funny moment. That was the moment. I laughed out loud I think it's the only one I laughed out loud at where the girl's outside And then like the door opens and this arm comes out and is like going like this And you think it's like this ghost arm and the girl reacts as if it is But then she's like toilet paper, please because she sticks her head out I thought that was a really funny transition that that was probably my favorite joke in the film I I actually laughed The film the the film The film hits a tone change to being more horror and being more serious and kind of soaking that atmosphere in When the house locks the girls inside It's all kind of like funny games until the house locks them in and then it really does shift tone You know, it does kind of go back to the wacky It goes back to the funny in the comedy a little bit after that but not nearly as much It it seems it seems to want to Kind of stay more firmly in that horror aspect and make people feel it at that point of the story, which I think works It's good The scene of the piano eating the girl is another one of my favorite scenes. It looks awesome It looks so good And then the extra touch of the severed fingers on the keyboard like still playing Awesome, and I love like when she gets eaten into the piano and she's like back in the In the portion where the where the chords are that like her hand comes up and they're like attached to her hand Just visually it's an amazing scene and especially for back then in 1977 I think they pulled off some great stuff with this Um, I already talked about uh, oh So I already talked about blanch the cat kind of like being the key to this and being like an evil conduit But I think that's kind of interesting because it's the reverse of what cats typically are to japanese culture historically Because cats kind of insinuate um Typically positive things in general and good luck is another thing, you know, think about the uh, you know the waving cat the I forget what that's called, but the um the good luck cat that like waves It it's tied into good things and here in this film. It's the total opposite It kind of brings the girls along maybe with a false sense of good luck and a false sense of positive things to come But then it turns out Not at all. So I thought that was cool Uh, I already talked about that one. Oh, I like I like slash don't understand The whole thing with the bananas in the end and when mr. Togo almost gets to the house And he meets the guy with the watermelons. He's like, what do you like? He's like, I don't like watermelons I like bananas and then togo can't stop talking about he's like yelling about bananas when he gets into his car And then later it shows that he just turned into a giant pile of bananas I guess that's the comedy aspect coming back into the film, but it was really weird. It was craziness Yeah, so that's all I have to say about the events of the film. Uh, just some things to kind of wrap up The camera work Adds to the fun of the film and the light feeling of the film a lot of times Which I really like because it had a tendency a lot of times to kind of move in playful ways In addition to how they did some of the, you know, quicker cuts Um kind of kept it very light and playful like I was saying Um, so I kind of viewed this as the ant not being able to go on and staying in the house to wait for her love To come back from war and like I said, you know the whole consumption consuming the girls and the house and all that it's kind of this whole thing of I think she was a ghost at that point I'm not a hundred percent sure But it's this whole thing of like restless spirits and not being able to rest Because they have unfinished business She just keeps waiting Uh, ultimately this is about coming to terms with losing someone and working through the grief The house was keeping the ant trapped in a horror escape basically Because she refused to recognize that her lover wasn't coming back Now it seems that in the very end things are more positive and the house looks normal When the the girl I think it was gorgeous the girl Like I guess the spirit of her mother comes back and they're kind of face to face out on the front of The house and everything looks good. Everything looks normal at that part at that point Now the cat blanche is still around because she kind of like runs out at the end But it seems like things have turned things are better And because it's focusing on gorgeous and it seems that maybe she's kind of worked through things And accepted that her mom is no longer there Um, so that's kind of how I viewed that but maybe other people have different interpretations So go ahead and put that in the comments and we will certainly talk about that I am 100 opening open to talking about this film. So Like I said, I'm gonna have to rate this two ways. So just as a film in general in the pantheon of all film I'm gonna give it Still three stars, I think because there's a lot of visually Visually, there are a lot of things that were really well accomplished in this film. It keeps it fun It's very engaging to the audience You don't really feel like it's dragging at any point because things just keep happening There is a true point to it. There's that underlying theme So I'm gonna give it a three in general now as a so bad. It's good film I'm gonna bump it up to a four because it's crazy. It's engaging. It's fun. It's funny They're definitely things to laugh at intentionally and unintentionally with this film So, yeah, it's just a good time. So, uh, yeah, those are my feelings on the film Like I said, whatever comments you want down here. Let's get crazy talking about this film But do me a quick favor hit that subscribe button if you like this review or any review I've ever done or unboxings or live streams or whatever I really do appreciate that it means a lot to me personally And whenever I see a new subscriber come into my email because I get those notifications I feel a lot of gratitude. 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