House

Having dabbled in avant-garde cinema during the 60s with Emotion (1966) and Confession (1968) and being dubbed the 'wizard of commercials' in the early 70s with his work on wacky adverts like 'Mandom' with Charley Bronson, Nobuhiko Obayashi thought it was about time to turn his hand towards something different. He asked the Japanese film establishment at Toho Studios if he could make a feature length movie. With his illustrious career in commercials, it wasn't difficult for Obayashi to invade the crumbling hierarchy of the communist studio system.

Japanese cinema was in a transitional period during the late 70s because King 'Hollywood' Kong was kicking the crap out of Godzilla. The Toho moneymen were looking for something 'modern' that would revitalise a youthful cinema attendance. As teenagers were more interested in Hollywood farce, Obayashi thought about injecting something 'exciting' and 'lively' into his proposed movie. One of the studio heads at Toho suggested, 'why not make a Japanese Jaws?'

It was Obayashi's 11-year-old daughter with her fearful musings, which ignited Obayashi's inspiration. Her fruitful imagination envisioned such anxiety as 'what if my reflection could come to life to try to eat me'. Her father utilised other thoughts that entertained her fertile mind: 'what if the piano tried to eat my fingers' and 'what if a severed head came out of a well instead of a watermelon'. The fleeting thoughts of his child cemented Obayashi's idea. He was going to make a horror movie.

It's the summer holidays! Whilst the rest of her school friends are going on a camping trip with their 'dreamy and handsome' teacher Mr. Togo, Angel is going to her dad's villa in Karuizawa. Her dad, who composes film music for Sergio Leone, has just come back from Italy with Miss Ryoka Ema, his new fiancée. It's been eight years since Angel's mother died. She is not happy.


Angel informs her friends 'Fantasy', 'Melody', 'Kung-Fu', 'Prof', 'Mac' and 'Sweetie' that she is to visit her auntie in the countryside and if they want to come, they are very much welcome. As Mr. Togo's sister is expecting a baby, the camping trip won't be happening so the girls decide to tag along as Angel has a special invite from Snowy the cat - 'Meow'.


As the girls set off on their joyful journey, Angel explains her aunties past. During the Second World War, her fiancée died and even though he kicked the bucket, auntie has been waiting for him to return ever since. Walking through the creep-riddled woods, the girls come across Watermelon Man who points them in the right direction.


Auntie welcomes the group into her 'cool and refreshing' house. She is overjoyed to have guests. Everything seems perfect. That is until auntie walks into the fridge, feathery futons attack Sweetie, piles of wood fly towards Kung-Fu, a reflection in the mirror takes on its own personality and the grand piano tries to eat Melody. The seven girls soon come to realise they need to unleash their own special talents to survive in this spook-riddled terror-filled…


The Japanese have some sort of psychedelic magic fairy dust running through their water supply. If not, they must be aliens from another solar system. If you could bottle this magic fairy dust and distribute it to filmmakers around the world, it would impregnate their visuals with kaleidoscopic insanity. It would be a bloodbath of cataclysmic propitiations.


Sam Raimi must have found some of this magic fairy dust at the top of Mount Fuji before he made Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn. The creators of the TV series Monkey must have found a stash of this in a magical fishpond in some lavender scented meadow. David Lynch puts it on his cereals. Lemon Jelly put it into their freezer to make popsicles. Nobuhiko Obayashi injects it into his bloodstream.


There is nothing conventional about Obayashi's House. It's a bizarre films this side of Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel. The kind of visual distortion you experience in a dream. Have you ever tried to relate a dream to a friend but not managed to capture the essence and magic of what you experienced? If you were trying to describe House in this manner, your friends would think you were unhinged and every other word you use would be 'erm'.


This seems logical enough for a film that is bonkers. Film is a visual medium - an optical experience that takes a magical carpet ride to our brain and then triggers emotions via neurons and whatnot. Sometimes we get the feeling: this is difficult to describe. Look at a painting by Salvador Dali and you'll say 'it's got some melting clocks and stuff'. The image you invoke in your mind cannot reproduce the craziness of the painting unless you've seen it with your own eyes.


So in this muddled up world if you want to watch a girl named Melody eaten by a grand piano, a girl called Kung Fu ripped into a vortex, a white cat called Snowy whose eyes glow green then watch Nobuhiko Obayashi House. If you want to experience something that you've not experienced before you won't be disappointed. That is unless you have your own private stash of magic fairy dust or you're already exploring the outer regions of the universe.


Special Features: An extensive 90-minute selection of interviews from 2002 with director Nobuhiko Obayashi, co-screenwriter Chigumi Obayashi, actress Kumiko Oba (who plays Fantasy), and Toho promotional executive Shoho Tomiyama.  In addition, a theatrical trailer and an interesting booklet filled with new writing, stills, promotional material and more.

Disc: New anamorphic transfer of the Toho restoration.

Verdict: Obayashi has said that, 'I want cinema to be fun and full of dreams'. He has achieved that with House. It's a wild, psychedelic, kaleidoscopic, freak-induced and hysterical rollercoaster ride.

Have a few psychedelic sweets to appease your taste buds: -