[neverending]

Hausu (House)

I had the great fortune to see this unique movie in a fine theatre last night. Even though I've read a bit about it, the movie was quite unlike any of my expectations. As a comedy/horror hybrid the emphasis is squarely on the comedy.

The film is told in broad strokes. The characters are not characters per se, but characatures of standard Japanese movie fare. There are six young Japanese school girls who get caught up in an unexpected adventure. The smart one wears glasses and is named "Prof." The heavy one is named "Mac" and is always hungry. The one named "Fantasy" is always lost in thought. "Melody" can play the piano. "Kung Fu" - well, she knows kung fu. The pretty one is named "Gorgeous" and she always is putting on makeup.

Gorgeous is angry she can't spend Summer vacation with her dad, so she takes all of her friends to visit her Aunt in another town. Her Aunt is a bit odd, and her cat is even stranger. They both live in a decrepit old house that is said to be haunted...

There is a lot of double entendre involving sexual jokes about Japanese school girls- incest, lesbianism, pedophilia- it's all hinted at. There are a number of very strange J-Pop musical numbers, and every kind of editing and special effects tricks ala the 1970s are thrown in- several styles of animation, including what looks to be drawing directly on the film, matte shots, various kinds of wipes, jump cuts, double exposures, polarization, model work, puppetry, sped up & slowed down camera work...

Stylish & stylized this is a wild ride of a film experience, and if you can see it in a theatre DO SO.

The theatre ran previews for the 25th anniversary theatrical release of Kurosawa's RAN!