Hausu (House)

Well, that's it. I can quit now. I don't ever need to see any more movies, because I have now seen Nobuhiko Obayashi's Hausu.

I hesitate to even write about Hausu, because I can not do it justice. It's the kind of movie I want to show all of my friends, one at a time, because I want to have a reason to watch it in the presence of fresh eyes over and over again.

Hausu is a surreal, absurdist horror comedy from Japan made in the late 70's, experimental director Obayashi's first narrative film. The premise: Seven adorable Japanese girls with names that describe their personalities (Gorgeous, Fantasy, Kung Fu, Prof, Melody, Mac, and Sweet) go stay at Gorgeous' aunt's house for the summer. They are then consumed one by one by the house in equally funny and horrific ways. That's it!

Visually, I've never seen anything like it before. Obayashi uses a combination of collages, animation, and all sorts of wild practical effects to create a dreamlike world that slips treacherously into nightmare. And when I say dreamlike, I really mean it. Hausu really captures those dreams you have that start out nice and happy and something triggers in your mind that turns everything around. You get trapped in the weird dream's backwards logic, and it doesn't let you wake up.

Sorry this isn't one of my more well-thought-out reviews. I was really on a roll with the last few. The thing is, I really don't want to go into detail, because I don't want to ruin a thing for anyone. Even if I wanted to elucidate, I don't think I could. Not a moment went by that I wasn't flabbergasted by what I was seeing in front of me. In closing, if anybody wants to watch one of the weirdest movies ever made with me, let me know, because I'm totally up for it. A+ times a million!