tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post3169491312582380078..comments2024-03-29T04:19:43.461-05:00Comments on F This Movie!: I'll Watch Anything: Mark Ahn Watches House (Hausu)Patrick Bromleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00771837625286775607noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post-50161840073051695862012-06-26T08:40:35.566-05:002012-06-26T08:40:35.566-05:00I totally agree that this would be a lot more fun ...I totally agree that this would be a lot more fun with an audience; even my confusion would be way more fun with other people. In struggling with trying to say something coherent about the movie, I didn't really write much about how fun it was. It's still a bit of a mess to me, but there was a sense of humor about everything, and even if the things that didn't make sense to me were still done with a knowing wink at the camera.Mark Ahnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post-52012708419780281462012-06-25T23:45:57.607-05:002012-06-25T23:45:57.607-05:00Here in NYC the IFC Center (and sometimes Landmark...Here in NYC the IFC Center (and sometimes Landmark Sunshine) show this practically every other weekend as a midnight show. Every time I've been to a midnight show at IFC of another movie the "House" line is always packed, so its gathering strength as a steady midnight cult crowd pleaser.J.M. Vargashttp://www.dvdverdict.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post-1587734283786244292012-06-25T23:38:31.255-05:002012-06-25T23:38:31.255-05:00You should see it with an audience. A while back, ...You should see it with an audience. A while back, the Brattle Theater in Cambridge (the OTHER happiest place on Earth) showed a restored print of HOUSE to a packed, er, house. The movie killed, as the crowd got more and more into it. One of the most exciting, energizing "shared experience" flicks I'd seen in a long time.Mac McEntirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04665675426679622487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post-32653574414097028452012-06-25T17:12:21.487-05:002012-06-25T17:12:21.487-05:00To me "House" stands tall as the perfect...To me "House" stands tall as the perfect example of a funhouse/rollercoaster flick. You can't look at Raimi's first two "Evil Dead" and not see how Sam copied/borrowed the intensity and some of wacky humor from "House" (along with the plot of another movie I hope to see this blogspot tackle, "Equinox... A Journey Into the Supernatural"). "House" is a genre filmmakers' 'how to' manual, the type of flick other filmmakers watch for inspiration. <br /><br />Yes, "House's" plot is non-sensical and OTT (though personally the monologue-to-the-camera right before the closing credits clarify that what you just watched had a lot more heart and soul than you might have thought; makes me teary-eyed every time I see it) but it has that lovable 70's just-because-CGI-hasn't-been-invented-yet-doesn't-mean-we're-not-going-to-try-our-best SFX work that is bursting at the seams with creativity and intensity. Having just watched "Damnation Alley" (the '77 post-apocalyptic road adventure movie "Star Wars" killed as Fox's golden child) I'm a sucker for any movie that at least tries to do ambitious stuff even though it lacks the technology or resources to fully implement its crazy-cool vision. In that way "House" succeeds in spades: I've seldom seen this movie and not felt winded just trying to keep up with its rapid-pace cuts, fast-as-shit dialogue and sheeer intensity. <br /><br />That Nobuhiko Obayashi goes out of his way to make sure the viewer notices how fake the backgrounds/backdrops are, how one-dimensional (with one exception) the girls are, how phony the physical props are, etc. only highlights how he then uses his editing/mise-en-scene to make <b>"House" the closest thing to a live-action anime movie I've seen</b> (with the Wachowski's "Speed Racer" movie second). As a semi-regular viewer of anime my entire life (they showed it on TV in El Salvador along with American and European cartoons) I can offer a POV to complement yours Mark (and maybe Patrick's) to explain "House's" craziness. <br /><br />In anime the story and characters matter (just like any other media) but the visuals are king. With the way anime shows have cuts, wipes, dissolves, and other effects throwing themselves into the story the animators/writers are trying to engage the viewer with a heightened emotion because the viewer is both seeing and feeling what is happening. When this 'anime visual' style is done without thought or willy-nilly you get Ang Lee's "Hulk" (or Ralph Bakshi's static-talking animated flicks without visual flair). But with "House" and "Speed Racer" (if you happen to connect to the emotion/story/character in them) or even the animated/experimental films by Richard Linklatter ("Waking Life" and "A Scanner Darkly") those visuals are a cinematic language all its own that has its own visceral impact on the viewers trained to recognize their enhancing of the plot/characters in the story. I respond to anime-type visuals (been conditioned to recognize them my entire life) but maybe someone who isn't can't and misses more than half the reason to see "House" to begin with. <br /><br />And, the same way some movie people can't accept the specific cinematic language that Robert Bresson (for example) uses to tell the stories he wants to tell (basically never-ending shots of people opening/closing doors and leaving/entering places), to not understand the movie language that "House" speaks is to simply overlook its virtues as the type of flick it is, not the type of movie you expected it to be (i.e. a scary horror movie). Plus, of course, "House" might just not be the type of 'horror' many horror fans even want to see. But man, everybody loves 'Charles Bronson Mandom' TV commercials, right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEqA84R0lYU. :-PJ.M. Vargashttp://www.dvdverdict.comnoreply@blogger.com