Why you should watch Nobuhiko Obayashi’s “House”
Psychedelic horror melts with atomic absurdity in this 1977 gem.
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A cat vomiting blood; severed fingers playing the piano; the shattered face that masks an inferno: Masahiko Obayashi’s cult classic House is super-saturated with gob-smacking images. Its eighty seven minute running time is essentially one long WTF moment. This is cinema at its most demented, ridiculous, and meaningful.
The story is simple enough. A group of teenage girls decides to spend their summer holiday at the country home of the central character’s aunt. The house itself looks like the fever dream of a mid-tier gothic novelist and it isn’t long before things start to go badly wrong. One by one the girls are destroyed in a hilarious and disturbing collage of pure mayhem. This film is a pulpy mess and a psychedelic dish best served high.
BUT THERE’S MORE.
House is also a searing portrait of the lingering trauma of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Video essayist kogonada reveals the atomic horror at the heart of the film:
If fantasy is one reflection of the truth, House provides a very twisted mirror. Currently streaming on the Criterion Channel and Amazon Prime.
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One of my random lockdown viewing choices – fascinating and a bit bonkers – the visual effects are quite inventive with a great use of matte paintings and deliberately artificial art direction that add to the surreal visual quality of the film.