House: The Masters of Cinema Series

House must be the oddest Japanese film I've seen in a long time and, with the amount of weird output from the Land of the Rising Sun, that's saying something!    At the time it was made it was a strange film with the principal characters only having nicknames and directed by a man who had only made commercials.
 
The film begins with Angel being introduced to her widowed father's new fiancée and told that, contrary to her plans, she cannot go to their house in the country for the summer holidays.  Her friends are all going to spend the vacation staying with the dreamy teacher, Mr. Togo in his sister's guesthouse but she is heavily pregnant so Angel invites them all to spend a few weeks in her Auntie's mansion instead. 
 

The assortment of companions have fantastic names, all related to their character traits so the energetic one is called Kung-Fu, the musical one Melody and the brainy one Prof.  When they get to the area, the larger of the group, Mac (short for Stomach) buys a watermelon and somehow manages to carry it all the way to the forboding castle on the hilltop.
 
Once there, they are greeted by Angel's auntie, an elderly woman in a wheelchair, and the mysterious white cat that has followed them all the way.  The house is dusty and in some disrepair so the girls, led by Sweet, decide to tidy up and clean the place whilst Mac wants somewhere cool to put her watermelon.  With the fridge out of action, the old woman suggests the old fashioned method - the well in the back garden.
 
There is clearly something amiss as the cat keeps looking at people and flashing them with a piecing green gaze that has a bizarre effect on their behaviour, which normally proves fatal.  Auntie was engaged to a handsome man who was called up during the second world war and never returned so she has become a 'Miss Haversham' type character, only with a house that eats people!
 
One by one, the girls fall prey to the building in a series of strange and gory ways, with Mac being the first to go, disappearing down the well only for one of her friends, Fantasy, to pull the head up which then floats around and bites her on the bum.  This is a fantastically bizarre and unusual film that possibly paved the way for more well-known horror comedies such as The Evil Dead, Braindead and Basket Case. 
 
Along with the gore and strange optical effects, including a dancing skeleton, there are scenes that just appear and take you by surprise, such as the Help! parody where Mr. Togo falls down some steps and spins around on the road with his arse stuck in a bucket.  There are some great visual gags and I loved the one where the bus arrives at the countryside location and you see the girls disembark against a picturesque background of hills, green fields and a beautiful blue sky only for the film to cuts to a wide shot which reveals that the bus stop has its own painted background!
 
House is as crazy as a couple of waltzing spaniels and just as much fun to watch.  It's utterly outrageous, doesn't take itself too seriously and, though the twist is quite easy to figure out, is an absolute treat.

The Disc

 
Extra Features
The menu screen looks a bit barebones with the only options being Play Feature, Chapters, Play Without Subtitles, Interviews and Trailer.  Fortunately the Interview section is nearly 90 minutes long and features extensive contributions from director Nobuhiko Obayashi and shorter, but still fascinating, material from writer Chigumi Obayashi and actress Kumiko Ohba.  There is more information here than you would get in a commentary and it is very well subtitled.  It appears to be from 2002 as there are several mentions of '25 years ago' whereas if they were filmed in the last year or two, the references would be to '30 years ago'.
 
There is also a booklet which I haven't seen though, if it's anything like previous Masters of Cinema literature, will be well worth a read.
 
The Picture
As I've come to expect from The Masters of Cinema Series, the remastered transfer is fantastic, presented in anamorphic widescreen with a picture that has clearly undergone some restoration. Though the image is a little soft, the colours are bright, the darker scenes are clear and the overall impression is of a film that looks good for one that was made fairly cheaply in 1977.  The effects may look a little cheesy by today's standards, all being optical and in camera, but they add to the charm.  Some of this is perhaps intentional as the more frenetic scenes even encompass animation with some hand drawn backgrounds.
 
The Sound
A very clear and well presented Japanese mono track with superb optional English subtitles.  One of the main features of the film is the innovative and amusing music from Godiego which adds to the offbeat and slightly surreal nature.
 
Final Thoughts
I'd never come across Nobuhiko Obayashi but found House to be a terrific watch, extremely inventive and great fun.  The picture and sound are excellent and the extras package is very informative.  It's good to see films like this being released and MoC have done a sterling job.