House (1977 film)

House (1977) Japanese Theatrical Poster

Day Two of 2015's Happy Horrorween and we have something special for you!  Longtime readers know I'm a sucker for Japanese horror and television shows (the tokusatsu in my slogan should say that... in the original version of the site, I had a five part review of the Super Sentai 25th anniversary movie, Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai).  When somebody on the H.P. Lovecraft related Facebook group I'm a member of mentioned Turner Classic Movies was airing this film last weekend, complete with trailer showing just what I would be in for, I jumped on watching it, knowing it would be a perfect addition to my articles.

House (or Hausu) is a surreal acid trip of a movie in places.  The basic, beginning storyline has seven girls traveling together for a cheerleading camp when, due to some mishaps, the trip gets cancelled.  One of the girls, Gorgeous, suggests her aunt's house as a place to stay for the camp and the friends jump at the opportunity.  All seven girls have somewhat descriptive names:

Gorgeous (very beautiful)
Fantasy (very imaginative)
Melody (musically inclined)
Prof (highly intelligent)
Kung Fu (lots of martial arts scenes with her, the toughest of the girls)
Sweet (always the first to help her friends)
Mac (big eater)

Our intrepid group sets out for Gorgeous's aunt's house (accompanied by Gorgeous's cat, Blanche, who always seems to show up ahead of them, even on the train).  I'd like to say the surrealness starts when the girls reach Auntie's house, but the whole movie has its moments, from a whole street singing in harmony to a stop motion sequence of their teacher, Mr. Togo, falling down some steps and landing on (and in) a bucket, to a watermelon responding to a vendor's conversation, everything just seems completely unreal.  The use of painted backdrops in a lot of scenes also lends to that air.  Needless to say, though, once the group reaches the house things take a serious turn for the worst (and go even stranger!).

Auntie and a friend enjoy a dance

Going into the movie, I didn't know what to expect, barring what scenes I saw in the trailer.  When I first saw the girls' names, I thought maybe they were nicknames but that was the actual names given to them.  I found out, looking into the history of the film, it was originally intended to be an answer to Jaws (that film keeps popping up!).  So, instead of a shark that eats people we got a house that eats people.  And the concept works!

The cast is made up mostly of actresses who worked in commercials, advertisements and independent films.  Kimiko Ikegami plays Gorgeous (and her mother, in flashbacks).  She has had a pretty good career, with 48 IMDb credits to her name.  She has some rather famous Kabuki actors in her family, too, one who encouraged her to go into acting herself.  Miki Jinbo played Kung Fu.  An earlier film she did was called The Possessed (not to be confused with the 1977 American film of the same name that featured Harrison Ford).

All in all, I had a great time with this one.  I laughed, I blinked, I had to run the movie back to be sure I'd seen what I thought I saw, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of it.  I give this one a 5 out of 5.  I'm going to a gaming convention over the weekend, but I should still be able to post on those days (if not, triple posting on Monday!).  Until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!

Ju-Rei: The Uncanny (2004 film)

Long-time readers of my original site know that I'm a big fan of Japanese horror (and, well, Japan in general).  When Hollywood Video had one of their rental deals, I took advantage of it by renting a bunch of Japanese horror movies.  Among such offerings as the Tomie series, I found this film, Ju-Rei: The Uncanny.  The picture reminded me of Ju-On/The Grudge (one of my favorite horror series of all time), so I decided to give it a shot.   What I found was an interesting presentation of the traditional grudge-type curse.

The film starts at Chapter 10 and works backwards through a curse, eventually showing the source of it and how it spreads to each person that's shown.  As such, since I normally give a summary of events here, any such summary would probably be laden with spoilers and I want to avoid that as much as possible. 

The film was, for it's chronologically backwards state, very straightforward.  I also want to point out that the summary on the back of the box has very little, if anything, to do with the plotline of the film.The acting here was pretty well-done.  The effects were interesting, as well.  There was very little to no blood in the film.  What I found interesting was the effect over the ghost actors.  When shown on camera, as a ghost, they're either shown with their entire body completely out of focus, or as a dark shadow standing in the background.  That's another thing I enjoyed in this film, that sometimes the ghosts will appear in the background, watching the chapter's current protagonist.  It's a very creepy touch that works.

Chinatsu Wakatsuki played Noriko Maeda, Chapter 9's protagonist.  She was also in Otoshimono.  Yurei Yanagi played Juku-koshi Kasahara in the film, and may be recognized from Ring and Ring 2, Ju-On: The Curse 1 and 2, plus Ju-On: The Grudge, Death Water, Exte: Hair Extensions and A Slit-Mouthed Woman.

So, an interesting film in the vein of Ju-On and Ring.  I give it a solid 4 out of 5.  It's good, but it's not one of the best I've seen.  But I do enjoy it quite a bit.  Next up on the Happy Horrorween marathon, we have a film from 1974 to serve up for you... the original killer baby film, It's Alive!  The tagline says "The ONE Film You Should Not See Alone."  Well, I'll be seeing it alone and serving it up to you.  Until then, take care of yourselves and this is Red Hawk signing out!