"Damn! Come back from the grave and ran out of ammunition."
Added 1/7/2010
When is a house not a home? When it's trying to scare the pisss out of you, that's when. In retrospect I had to think about why I liked this flick, because it does have stuff going against it. HOUSE is cheesy and campy, and yet also fun, and I guess maybe it's fun because it's so cheesy and campy. HOUSE is very much a product of the 1980s and this absolutely includes its featured lead William Katt, the Greatest American Hero himself.
HOUSE sets itself up to be a sinister horror film with dark psychological overtones. Roger Cobb (Katt) is a popular horror fiction author who's been recently coasting on his past success. Roger's in a slump, and it's not helping that he's been so obsessed with cranking out his Vietnam War memoirs. The writing doldrums go back some time ago to when his kid mysteriously vanished at his aunt's spooky house. So to recap: languishing career, vanished kid. And, because certain things crop up in threes, Roger's hot actress wife also divorces him.
When his eccentric aunt hangs herself, Roger inherits her house and, rather than selling it, Roger decides to live in it for a while, hoping for inspiration to kick in. But an evil house does not a muse make. Soon all the weird stuff starts happening.
A lot of the movie is presented as a one-man act for William Katt, broken up by cutaways to Roger's ex-wife and by occasional drop-in visits by his nosy neighbor and his sexy neighbor. For the first half hour or so you sink into William Katt's character as he finds himself tormented by the haunted house, which is somehow dredging up traumatic memories of Roger Cobb's stint in Vietnam. There's a whiff of THE SHINING going on as we see Roger gradually going off the deep end. But then, somewhere along the way, things descend into slapstick territory. And while the story does drum up scattered scares here and there, they're undermined by the painfully obvious rubber monster suits and all the (intentional) goofiness. We get rehashed zaniness that recalls the EVIL DEAD series, but lacking that Sam Raimi's inspired frenzied touch. For a horror movie, the victim body count is practically nil. But the champion killjoy are all those Vietnam flashbacks that feel totally out of place and very dated. To me, these scenes established a jarring effect.
So why do I like this movie? I really think that a huge chunk of the reason is that I saw it during its theatrical run when I was a teen, so I'm pulling the nostalgia card. If you're an '80s buff, then you've got William Katt and George Wendt (Norm!! from CHEERS) and Richard Moll (NIGHT COURT) who in this one plays a soldier in Roger's platoon in the flashbacks. For a low budget production HOUSE actually boasts some decent acting. I like that William Katt never breaks character, even though all kinds of crazy shizzy rain down on him, and he takes on this fascinating tunnel vision mentality. You and me, the first time the house does something scary, we're probably out of there so fast there's you and me-shaped dust clouds left behind. But Roger Cobb decides to fight and beat the house at its own game. That is some impressive (and very stupid) brand of singlemindedness. And I even relish the bizarre turn which finds Roger Cobb babysitting a neighbor's young kid.
I also enjoy the film's juggling of the serious horror elements and the tongue-in-cheek stuff. What can I say, I'm a child of those times. I roll my eyes and make all the proper groaning noises, and yet I can't help but laugh with appreciation at all the kooky. William Katt takes it all so seriously, it's friggin' endearing.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
House with a past
Added 9/30/2009
Most people know the star, William Katt, as the star of 80s TV show, Greatest American Hero. Here, he takes a slightly different role about a Vietnam veteran with a troubled past. His character loses a friend in Vietnam & his son dissappears mysteriously which everntually leads to the breakup of his marriage. William Katt's character inherits an old (haunted) house when a late aunt dies & wills it to him. Mysterious things start to happen after that. House is a bit horror, a bit comedy with some good makeup and special effects thrown it. I think this was an entertaining horror film with George Wendt (of TV's Cheers) and Richard Mol (of TV's Night Court) as part of the supporting cast. This movie was a lot of fun. Check it out, you may like it.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
From the director of Friday The 13th Parts 2 and 3 and from the producer of the original Friday The 13th
Added 9/15/2009
From the director of Friday The 13th Parts 2 and 3(Steve Miner)and from the producer of Friday The 13th:Part I; HOUSE was an awesome movie that had a lot of the same actors and actresses from the FRIDAY THE 13TH saga like Ron Carroll(Friday The 13th:Part 1)and had the same music composer(Harry Manfredini)which also did the music scoring for most of the FRIDAY THE 13TH installments as you may notice, especially during the major action scenes that are violent.
It was also interesting seeing William Katt from THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO doing his first real horror flick in this movie, with the exception of CARRIE and doing this movie 3 years after ABC had cancelled THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO, due to a hug dip in ratings since newer shows that premiered between the Fall of 1982 like KNIGHT RIDER and in the Spring of 1983 like THE A-TEAM led to THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO's cancellation by the Summer of 1983.
HOUSE also takes me all the way back to memory lane to when I was still living in the Imperial Valley when HOUSE had its theatrical release in the Spring of 1986 when I was in 7th grade at Wilson Jr. High School in my hometown(El Centro, CA).
It's just too bad that HOUSE 2:THE SECOND STORY wasn't as good as this one was, but I'm sure part of the reason why HOUSE II wasn't as good as the original was probably due to the fact that since HOUSE 2 was Rated PG-13 instead of Rated R like HOUSE I, which resulted in HOUSE II having a lot less action and a lot less violence than the original along with the fact that sequels usually never measure up to the originals either, especially since they don't make sequels like they used to, unlike HALLOWEEN 2, FRIDAY THE 13TH:PART II, and PSYCHO 2 for instance which were all very exceptional sequels and probably the best sequels of all time.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
One of the best forgotten comedy horror films
Added 7/18/2009
House I saw this film years ago as a teen, like many of the other great forgotten horror classics that I remember today, but unlike most horror films House is one of the best horror/comedy's ever made becuse it scared you and made you laugh at the same time and just the look of the film itself gives you a fun vivid feeling, my favorite scene though there are many good scene in the film, the scene where William katts character told his neighbor friend that there was a big raccoon in the closet, but in actuality there was a big monster in the closet, I always laugh at that scene no matter how many times I've scene it becuse its such a funny scene, I mean if you just look at both the character's faces during that scene you'll see what I mean, and another thing that I liked about this film is that theres a happy ending and I prefer my horror films with happy endings, and if you like to laugh and have a safe fun scar like me then dont forget this movie becuse to many good films are forgotten.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
House: Limited Edition (20,000) includes House II (1986)-Good flick!
Added 6/9/2009
House: Limited Edition (20,000) includes House (1, 1985) and House II (1986). House was a four or five star comedy-horror flick that I really enjoyed. Buying this edition permitted me to obtain both House (1) and House 2 for a good price.
I saw House in 1985 when it first opened and thought it was a very clever and well made movie starring William Katt (Carrie and Greatest American Hero). It had good casting, sets, musical score and the creature effects were pretty well done. Special effects were made before the advent of CGI or advanced prosthetics but were effective and hold up very well for the majority of creatures represented.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
