Scooby Doo by way of Argento?!
House, a teen-horror fantasy long-unknown outside of Japan, opens in its theatrical premiere on Friday, January 15 at IFC Center.
After hitting various festivals around the country, the horror movie will play in a brand-new 35mm print, never before screened for audiences.
Ad-man extraordinaire Nobuhiko Obayahshi’s 1977 head-trip is part psychedelic ghost yarn, part stream-of-consciousness bedtime story, part Scooby Doo by way of Dario Argento. The hallucinatory tale centers on a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt’s creaky country home, where she comes face to face with evil spirits, bloodthirsty pianos, and a demonic housecat.
At once absurd and nightmarish, House is steeped in the imperturbable illogic of a child’s dreams. And no wonder – the director fashioned the script after the eccentric musings of his eleven-year-old daughter, then employed all the tricks in his analog arsenal (mattes, animation, collage and more) to make them a visually astonishing, raucous reality.
Never before released in the United States, and a bona fide cult classic in the making, HOUSE is one of the most exciting genre discoveries in years.
Source: Janus Films
