movie review: House

When Alan Palomo of Neon Indian came to Detroit on tour last year, someone showed him the psychedelic Japanese horror film House (or Hausu) and when they returned a few weeks ago, he mentioned on stage that it was an incredible movie and that it gave him fond memories of the city. I looked the film up the next day, and was immediately intrigued by the graphic cat poster which I know I'd seen somewhere before. Even further by the YouTube trailer of quirky camera tricks and surreal imagery.

Once getting the Blu-ray from Netflix, I cleared my schedule Monday night and sat in front of the TV ready to absorb whatever surreal story was about to unfold. The movie starts with a teenage girl on her last day of school before summer vacation. Excitement rides high as Gorgeous (yes, the characters are all named after their traits - an element that adds to the exaggerated nature of their roles) plans to separate from her friends and travel alone with her rich father who's returning from Italy. When she greets him, however, he has a surprise: a new mom. While the screen glows radiantly at her introduction, the sheer brilliance of her beauty isn't enough to win over Gorgeous, who can't believe her father is betraying his deceased wife. Refusing to travels with the two of them, she storms off to her room, where she is instantly transported to a world of peace and serenity where she pulls out a photograph of her mother and talks to it, informing her of the infidelity. She is reminded of her mother's sister, whom she had only met at her mother's funeral, and writes her a letter asking if she can spend the summer with her. The aunt has been waiting years for this day, and immediately extends an invitation, not only to Gorgeous, but to her schoolmates as well. The letter arrives with a white cat who mysteriously follows the girls back to the house on the hill...

Once inside, the girls take to various tasks, making the best of their individual talents. Each discovers their own brand of horror, however, as the house ensnares them in various traps. Their naivete is well-played out in traditional manga fashion, each of them refusing to believe the unbelievable. Surreal occurrences and strange disappearances lead up to Gorgeous, after stumbling upon her Aunt's private dressing room, being possessed. An excellent slow-motion sequence introduces the newly-possessed main character as she is surrounded by her friends, begging for comfort from the house's ever-present absurdities. Rather than reassure their safety, she leaves the house with a smile to search for their missing friends. The doors and windows promptly shut, trapping the remaining girls inside. As horror closes around them, they discover the Aunt's diary, which reveals that she died many years ago and haunts the house, waiting for young, un-married girls to feast on.