Hausu (House) (1977)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Reid V

  
  What the hell did I just watch?

• Ken S

  
  Weird, weird, weird. Like a girl gets eaten by a piano weird.

• Randy T

  
  How does one describe <i>House</i> to someone who has never seen it? Picture Sid & Marty Kroft - on acid - remaking <i>Susperia</i> - in Japan.

• Lewis C

  
  "Mac, you sure look tasty, being round and all." The acronym WTF was invented for House. I was warned beforehand that this movie was off the wall, but hey, 75% of the Japanese movies I've seen have been crazy. It started off as certainly a quirky movie, with… More
  "Mac, you sure look tasty, being round and all." The acronym WTF was invented for House. I was warned beforehand that this movie was off the wall, but hey, 75% of the Japanese movies I've seen have been crazy. It started off as certainly a quirky movie, with unconventional screen translations from scene to scene, wacky editing, bubbly Japanese school girls with names like Gorgeous (she's very pretty), Kung Fu (she knows Kung Fu), and Melody (in a shocking twist, she's musically inclined), and just loads of that particular kind of flavor that some Japanese movies have. Then the six main characters took a trip to visit one of their aunts at her home (the house of the title), and the horror aspect of the movie set in. What specific kind of horror? The kind that involves a severed head appearing and biting a girl on the butt, and then rubbing up against it. Stunningly, the movie only escalates from there. House is fun, but it's clearly insane. An affinity for the weird and zany is a must, or this will be a waste of time for you. This movie has creativity coming out of the wazoo. How many times have you seen someone viciously attacked by feather pillows and mattresses? The special effects are also great, especially for the seventies. This was probably the most psychedelic movie I've ever seen. Is House a frightening movie? No. But if you have the right kind of sense of humor for it, you'll have a ball getting together with like-minded friends and watching this. There's a lot of comedy, of both the intentional and unintentional varieties. It's all very tongue-in-cheek. Even the soundtrack is hilarious, if you pay attention to it. House gets a hearty recommendation from me. It's an entertaining, inventive spin on the haunted house formula, with a lot of uniquely Japanese craziness thrown into the mix. It's worth owning, in my opinion.

• Steve K

  
  I realize it has become trite to lavish praise on this film, but I say enjoy it for what it is. A total phantasmagorical experience, with the director utilizing every cinematic trick in his arsenal to tell the story. There's nothing else quite like it.

• Robert C

  
  I was so looking forward to this film and had heard only promising things about it. But sadly, it felt just a bit too schizophrenic to me. There are parts of it that I loved, but for the most part it felt like it was trying just a bit too hard. Definately worth seeing, but go… More
  I was so looking forward to this film and had heard only promising things about it. But sadly, it felt just a bit too schizophrenic to me. There are parts of it that I loved, but for the most part it felt like it was trying just a bit too hard. Definately worth seeing, but go in with an open mind.

• Jeff "

  
  Nobuhiko Obayashi nightmarish psychedelic horror film, is one of the strangest, most bizarre films that you will ever watch. To be honest, I don't exactly how to put into words a review for this film. Anyhow, The film surrounds a girl who visits her grandmother with a couple of… More
  Nobuhiko Obayashi nightmarish psychedelic horror film, is one of the strangest, most bizarre films that you will ever watch. To be honest, I don't exactly how to put into words a review for this film. Anyhow, The film surrounds a girl who visits her grandmother with a couple of her friends, only thing is, her grandmother has been dead for a few years, and the house that they are staying in is actually haunted. Crazy events start happening, and one by one they disappear. Like I've said before, this a very bizarre film that will definitely not appeal to everyone. At times the film is very silly and does feel childlike, but there are a few scenes that are quite chilling and may appeal to diehard Horror fans. However I do not believe that this is a masterpiece, and the film has been massively overhyped, calling it a masterful piece of horror cinema is a bit far fetch for me. I found the film to be strangely entertaining, an d yes, at times chilling, but overall the film was average for me. There were times where I simply asked myself what the fuck is going on? and if you view it, you might ask the same thing. I wouldn't go so far as to call this film a classic, but it is good, in its own strange way. But this film has a haunting psychedelic visionary style that will confuse some and alienate others. Either way, opinions on the film will be divided as this film is truly weird. Imagine Eraserhead directed by David Lynch, but take a few LSD tablets and this is the film that you get.

• Drew S

  
  I'm sure this probably says a lot more about me than it does about the movie, but I thought it was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

• Tim S

  
  Gets my vote for the most insane piece of celluloid ever created.

• danny d

  
  ive seen quite a few strange films in my life, but this may be the most bizarre film ever made. thoroughly entertaining and visually captivating, the film thrives on the absurd to bring out a charming quality that not everyone will enjoy. from monster pianos to demonic cats to… More
  ive seen quite a few strange films in my life, but this may be the most bizarre film ever made. thoroughly entertaining and visually captivating, the film thrives on the absurd to bring out a charming quality that not everyone will enjoy. from monster pianos to demonic cats to cannibals, this film has everything that you never thought youd see in a film. just a fun horror film.

• Greg S

  
  Seven schoolgirls are trapped in a haunted house. An insane, incredibly stylized film, perfect in its own way; a bit like EVIL DEAD II directed by David Lynch in the style of a Japanese Saturday morning children's TV show. Nobody forgets the scene where the piano eats Melody.… More
  Seven schoolgirls are trapped in a haunted house. An insane, incredibly stylized film, perfect in its own way; a bit like EVIL DEAD II directed by David Lynch in the style of a Japanese Saturday morning children's TV show. Nobody forgets the scene where the piano eats Melody. A recently rediscovered cult film that should have been recognized as a classic decades ago.

• Stephen M

  
  One of those movies with a hopelessly skewed Flixster rating, presumably because the only people who are taking the trouble to see it are those who are already predisposed to think it's wonderful. It may well be original, inventive and influential but it's also shrill and… More
  One of those movies with a hopelessly skewed Flixster rating, presumably because the only people who are taking the trouble to see it are those who are already predisposed to think it's wonderful. It may well be original, inventive and influential but it's also shrill and annoying from start to finish, a veritable migraine of a movie. Recommended to connoisseurs of the peculiar and those who prefer their comedy-horror to be unfunny and frightless; everybody else, file under 'weird but not wonderful'.

• Emily A

  
  It's such a great feeling when you see real, actual, genuine trash cinema. That's what this is! Be excited! It's not like the new, fake trash like Birdemic or Dead and Breakfast; the people who made this movie didn't know that they were making trash. Oh man, I… More
  It's such a great feeling when you see real, actual, genuine trash cinema. That's what this is! Be excited! It's not like the new, fake trash like Birdemic or Dead and Breakfast; the people who made this movie didn't know that they were making trash. Oh man, I barely even know where to start. It will be a very long time before I see another movie half as insane as this one. There are many moments that look like thy're taken from an experimental film. In fact, maybe this director, when he was dicking around with his camera and effects and whatnot, discovered some cool stuff and built this film around it. It's a horror movie, but it's so colourful. It's comedic, but the acting is so strange. It's gory, but there are, like, muscial numbers. <br/> <br/>This is going to sound strange, but a movie this bad is kind of timeless. In the sense that I don't think there was any time when a movie about a man-eating piano or schoolgirls with adjectives for names wouldn't be strange. Not only is this film extremely, extremely crazy, it's crazy in many different ways. It's trule remarkable. It uses paint-on-film effects, superimposition, stop-motion to tell its story (such that it i), and if the narrative doesn't make sense, there are a myriad of reasons why that could be. I am so glad I saw this movie. I was squealing about how stupid and great it was, and my friend was confused. "I thought you just said you thought it was stupid." Nono, mate. It can be both. Ever see Crank 2?

• Lafe F

  
  A messed-up Japanese haunted house movie from the 70's. When I checked out the trippy trailer - I had to see it! A happy singing giggling virginal Japanese schoolgirl and her friends go to her aunt's secluded house in the forest for the summer. Initially, the aunt is a… More
  A messed-up Japanese haunted house movie from the 70's. When I checked out the trippy trailer - I had to see it! A happy singing giggling virginal Japanese schoolgirl and her friends go to her aunt's secluded house in the forest for the summer. Initially, the aunt is a friendly old lonely woman. The pacing is slow for the first 30 minutes, but once things start happening, it's quite a hilarious ride. The girls disappear one by one, and it looks like the old aunt and her cat might be behind it all - or is it the house itself? The death effects are cartoonish: A girl is attacked by the giggling disembodied head, a girl is eaten by a living piano, another one is grabbed by a chomping ceiling lamp, one of the girls is possessed by a mirror, a portrait of the fluffy white cat spews blood from its mouth and floods the room. With each girls' death, the old aunt becomes younger and more beautiful - very vampiric! Iit was one of the oddest movies I've ever seen - and I can't believe it's coming out on Blu-ray in time for Halloween 2010.

• Tsubaki S

  
  A horror/comedy/musical/experimental and surreal mix of styles, genres and what not. "Hausu" is one of the most unique movies i have ever seen. This was not ahead of it's time, it probably fell from some alternative dimension where kick ass stuff is part of… More
  A horror/comedy/musical/experimental and surreal mix of styles, genres and what not. "Hausu" is one of the most unique movies i have ever seen. This was not ahead of it's time, it probably fell from some alternative dimension where kick ass stuff is part of everyone's daily meal. Dismissing this movie as a "camp fest" or making pointless comparisons with other movies and directors will be an injustice to the creative achievement that the director, and everyone involved here, managed to create. Based on the ramblings of his 11 year old daughter, director Nobuhiko Obayashi (he of the Charles Bronson mandom commercials) employs different techniques to create a hybrid of genres, and eventually, creating something completely different and unique.

• vieras e

  
  The trippiest horror movie/comedy/musical I've ever seen! Clearly made in the 70's.

• Arash X

  
  Fan-fuckin'-tastic, Refreshing & original to the point of creativity overdose, So much fun & it has a great fun mood that even its stupid moments work, Even overusing the music score which seems really inapropriate in some moments doesn't hurt & ends up adding… More
  Fan-fuckin'-tastic, Refreshing & original to the point of creativity overdose, So much fun & it has a great fun mood that even its stupid moments work, Even overusing the music score which seems really inapropriate in some moments doesn't hurt & ends up adding to the fun, I need to see more of this kind of stuff if there's any other

• Eric B

  
  Well, &quot;House&quot; is one of those critic-proof films where no described shortcoming will budge the movie's fans even an inch. So why try? The main question for me is whether this is one of the most tastelessly directed and edited films I've ever seen, or if… More
  Well, &quot;House&quot; is one of those critic-proof films where no described shortcoming will budge the movie's fans even an inch. So why try? The main question for me is whether this is one of the most tastelessly directed and edited films I've ever seen, or if its indulgences should be forgiven because they're intentionally ridiculous. And I just don't know which is the case. Obviously, the director must have laughed at how awful some of the special effects are -- they anticipate bad Photoshopping by decades -- but I'm not so sure what he thought about all the double images, iris shots, onscreen texts, chaotic montages and other bits of rampant, undisciplined silliness. I am leery of contradicting myself, but I have a hard time reconciling my views that &quot;House&quot; took far too long to reach the scary part (over a third of the film) and that the exposition -- with its weirdly sunny, children's-television ambience -- was more consistently entertaining than the horror-intense second act. Certainly, the late sequences based on a body-butchering piano and a possessed overhead lamp were exhilarating fun, but there were also plenty of lulls with the girls just tediously yammering with each other. Also, I felt a crucial payoff was missing: a point where the aunt transformed into a fully demonic presence. Instead, the menace was redirected to her cat. I'm glad that I saw &quot;House,&quot; but there's a difference between saying &quot;You've gotta see this!&quot; and saying &quot;You've gotta look up the best scenes on YouTube!&quot;

• Greg A

  
  Absolutely insane, kung fu, dismembered fingers playing the piano, witch cats, random nudity and flying heads! This movie reminds me of The Evil Dead and that is saying a lot.

• Alec B

  
  I can't promise you'll like it (I loved it personally), but I can promise you have never seen anything like it. Take Evil Dead II. Now multiply the insanity factor by a million. You've got this film. I can only describe it as a psychedelic horror film in which… More
  I can't promise you'll like it (I loved it personally), but I can promise you have never seen anything like it. Take Evil Dead II. Now multiply the insanity factor by a million. You've got this film. I can only describe it as a psychedelic horror film in which cannibalism takes place, a girl gets in a fight with some homicidal fire wood, a house floods with blood, a girl is eaten by a piano, and many other moments occur that will leave you in absolute shock or at least hysterics.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings