Criterion Close-Up – Episode 54 – Hausu Party

We let our hair down for Halloween and celebrate the oddity that is Ôbayashi's House (1977).

We let our hair down for Halloween and celebrate the oddity that is Ôbayashi’s House (1977). Dave and Jessica join Mark and Aaron. We agree that House is the most random and the most bonkers “horror” film in existence. Rather than break it down thematically, we celebrate its weirdness by pointing out the WTF moments and the occasions that make us laugh. Warning: this episode has a lot of profanity.

About the film:

How to describe Nobuhiko Obayashi’s indescribable 1977 movie House (Hausu)? As a psychedelic ghost tale? A stream-of-consciousness bedtime story? An episode of Scooby-Doo as directed by Mario Bava? Any of the above will do for this hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt’s creaky country home and comes 5face-to-face with evil spirits, a demonic house cat, a bloodthirsty piano, and other ghoulish visions, all realized by Obayashi via mattes, animation, and collage effects. Equally absurd and nightmarish, House might have been beamed to Earth from some other planet. Never before available on home video in the United States, it’s one of the most exciting cult discoveries in years.

Buy The Films On Amazon:

Episode Links & Notes

Special Guests: Dave Eves and Jessica Ramos. You can follow Dave on Twitter.

1:10 – 1:00 – Reflections on our last House episode.

2:50 – Welcome Dave and Jessica!

7:50 – House

Criterion Close-Up 10: House and The Shining
kogonada’s Trick or Truth

Episode Credits

Mark Hurne: Twitter | Letterboxd
Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email

Next time on the podcast: Cronos