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Faster Pussycat: Kill. Kill... Image: Criterion
And for that, we should all be very thankful.
Much like John S. Rad's laffapaloosa Dangerous Men was the grindhouse rediscovery of the past decade--playing to packed houses at midnight screenings--Nobuhiko Obayashi's Hausu promises to be the not-to-be-missed laugh riot of this new decade, if not the millennium. Closer in spirit to the this-is-your-brain-on-drugs-any-questions? delirium of Takashi Miike's The Happiness of the Katakuris or the Shaw Bros' supernatural Kung Fu epics of the '80s than to everyday grindhouse or exploitation fodder, Hausu is what might happen if Sunbow or Sandy Frank (the production companies responsible for all the anime-inspired late '70s/'80s cartoons that are now being nostalgically molested) commissioned David Lynch to direct a live-action adaptation of Jem and the Holograms by way of The Amityville Horror, or rather, its "special" effects driven, Velveeta-filled sequels. All of them. Combined. Such unholy spawn would surely pale compared to Hausu, I'm sure, since this raw slice of Japanese zaniness--being shown in the U.S. theatrically for the first time--is nothing short of insanely brilliant.
Hardly a frame is wasted from the very first to the very last as each scene is impregnated with the ostentatious use of what seems to be every pre-CGI special effect and art house/low budget gimmick known to the medium. Animation, rear projection, slo-mo, fast-forwards, silent movie sequence, dangling props, collage, greenscreen, etc. all rear their silly heads (in one case, literally), resulting in a surreal horror cartoon come to life with everything but a life-size sushi chef bear. If you blink, that is. For good measure, throw in seven Japanese cuties, an Electra complex, craaaazy auntie, a scary cat, and a Giallo-esque soundtrack all wrapped in what Pauline Kael once described as "that pleasantly familiar old dark house" shtick.
At the center of all that overflowing genius lies the movie's truly devious masterstroke; one that's so obvious it can easily be missed: Hausu exists in an almost completely female universe, where the major players, including the fiend(s), are all of the fair sex and where men occasionally pop in and out of the scenery only to provide gratuitous shots of testosterone. Before you can scream, "Winner of the Feminist Sweepstakes," the film has transcended the unpleasantly familiar old, dark slasher schlock, eschewing the broad strokes of misogynistic red that color the genre's palette (including those of the supposed "feminist" slasher Slumber Party Massacre series, all directed by women but falling into the same male fantasy conventions) and has explored virgin territory, oddly going where no horror film has gone before. Or since.
The plot? In case you missed it: Seven schoolgirls vacation at auntie's house. It's haunted.
Each of the seven beauties visiting this (devil) doll house comes with its own accessory and not much more than a trait for a moniker. Think spicy girls: Prof (the logical one), Fanta (the daydreamer. . .get it?), Melody (um, the musical one), Gorgeous (the "hottie," I guess), Sweet (not really tasty, just nice), Kung Fu (take a stab) and Mac, which I was hoping would be short for McDonald's as a jab to Western gluttony, but as it turns out, is only short for stomach. So, a shout-out for gluttony in general. As helmed by one time Japanese TV commercial director Obayashi (see here his bonkers male grooming "Mandom" commercial featuring tough guy Charles Bronson, no less), the movie's plot is as thought out as that of a Mentos commercial. But, trust me, you're not here for story. You're here for a good time.
Is it grindhouse? Is it arthouse? Is it nuts? Who cares. Who cares. Yes.
For more info: http://www.janusfilms.com/, http://www.criterion.com/,
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