House (1977)

House (Hausu)
Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi
Written by Chiho Kasura; original story by Chigumi Obayashi
1977/Japan
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
One of the 1,000 Greatest Horror Films on They Shoot Zombies, Don’t They

Oshare: The girls will wake up… when they are hungry.

Comedy mixed with a special effects horror extravaganza made for an interesting watch.

Gorgeous and Fantasy are high school girls and best friends.  School is letting out for summer.  Gorgeous had plans to go to the beach with her father, a widower.  At the last minute, dad introduces her to the woman he says will be her new mother and announces she will be joining them on vacation.  Gorgeous still misses her long-dead mother and hates the usurper on site.  So she decides it is time to visit her spinster aunt who lives in the family mansion in the country side.  She brings Fantasy and her other friends Prof, Mac, Melody and Sweet with her.  She also brings her white Persian cat, Blanche.

The aunt is thrilled to see her visitors.  But before you know it some very weird things start happening.  Blanche the cat becomes possessed and usually signals some very gruesome phenomenon.

It becomes clear the house is haunted and the girls are visited with horrifying apparitions and physical harm.  This movie is big on dismemberments and fiery possessions.

This is half broad candy-colored comedy (which extends into some of the house sequences) and special effects which were state of the art for Japan at that time but now seem pretty tame.  Something about Japanese comedy does not compute with me and I was not wowed by the movie.  Part of the problem is that I was expecting a Japanese ghost story and got more of a ghost sit-com with some good effects but no real scares. Or at least I wasn’t scared.  Your mileage may vary and certainly there is something bizarre to look at the entire time.