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Hausu an underground classic review
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Before I begin the review, special thanks needs to go to Laura Andrews of the Cleveland Museum Of Art for bringing this gem to my attention. As a filmmaker, thinking I've seen most of the good fun horror flicks of the 80's, it's refreshing to know that there were others equally fun and filled with visual effects even back in the late 70's, while yet with another twist. While Japan has put out tons of entertaining genre product around that time, I didn't know the comic horror genre was strong over there, bringing us an awesome independent styled flick called Hausu (HOUSE). I've got a lot to say before getting to the story and extreme fun stuff, but what a rated "R" level ride it is. This review will be a mix of tasteful and distasteful, due to the movie's graphic horror comedy nature.
Stepping away from this film for a moment, most movie fans seem to think that foreign films lack that cohesiveness to realities we perceive to be normal, especially when surrounded by the Hollywood machine's cultural shapings. We are so judgemental because of it! Remember when smoking was cool and every star on the screen did it? How many people have died or will because of it? That's only a blatent example, with thousands more shaping our fragile little minds. We are what we watch, in attitude. Well, the USA has a typical formula and style that gets twisted up and bent by other cultures (not to judge), throwing in sometimes stereotyped behaviour and "out-there" antics that are popular of that filmmaker's upbringing, usually. There are plenty of fans of such styles and they of course have built collections around it, especially when it comes to various anime. However, I'm referring to cloning feature film genres to match what was originated in the USA...which is where a lot of foreign films lose their U.S. audiences. Thankfully, Nobuhiko OBAYASHI (director) has the ability to merge the best of both cultures, USA & Japan, to create a wonderfully done campy flick, called Hausu.
This film, was made in 1977, and already I hear the moans, but let's be very very serious here when I ask you.... Do you like movies where evil houses kill people, naked Japanese schoolgirls are fighting for their lives covered in blood/ body parts, and over the top campy special effects that remind you of Evil Dead series on hardcore drugs? Hold up...I must pull you back a step. Don't get me wrong, there is something extremely art related to this feature film, which is why it was shown August 7th, at the Cleveland Art Museum. I don't think Friday the 13th films will every be shown in a museum, unless it's on a small monitor next to a fake wax Jason. Hausu goes further than a slasher to preserve the artistic side of cinema, which is strange to do in a comedy horror genre.
Forget the genre elements, for just a second, while I get you up to speed on why this was chosen, in my humble opinion, for screening at a high class establishment. First off, the film is way ahead of it's time in visual special effects, just like Evil Dead was for Spiderman's Sam Raimi, except Sam's epic moments showed comparatively more in Army of Darkness. Filmmaking was taking a turn in both quality of medium and what you could do visually to enhance story. However, beyond obvious "filmmaker" advancements that start within the independent sectors of our world, which we always hear about (Blair Witch, Pulp Fiction, El Mariachi), there's some "epic" qualities pumped into this wonder. Everything about this film is shaped, right down to what seems like painted backdrops or real footage of beautiful skys, and to the diffusion of characters mixed with crossfades that are hardly used anymore. I love good crossfades! A colleague friend of mine makes fun of my use of the zooms and crossfades, saying it's outdated. I so want to hit him! These tools are there to be used, and can be wonderful to create mood, tell parts of a story, lead you to something, and much much more. The best things of Hausu in areas of artistic use, aside from those backdrops, were elements like when the main girl, Oshare gets mad that she has a new stepmother and takes a scarf, given as a gift, and drops it over the balcony, which floats down in split screen. Other elements are the horror ones that blend physical household material with body parts and gore. Simply put, the movie took an extreme amount of work to pull off and holds up against anything made in the U.S.over the last couple decades.
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Story? Oh yeah, this is a review! The plot is your basic horror, with comedic writing mixed in. Oshare is leaving her highschool gals behind to go with her widower dad on a trip to a property they have. The gals are supposed to go off camping, but their trip gets almost cancelled, if not for Oshare who finds her father-daughter trip ruined by daddy bringing home a new stepmother for her, making her want to take all her gal pals to the far-off house her mother grew up in, now owned by her aunt. They all show up to the house, with Snowflake, Oshare's cat and are warmly invited into this strange house. The history of the house is that Oshare's grandmother (I think) was waiting for her fiance to return from the 2nd world war and he didn't due to death, but she didn't know this and waited forever...until dying and leaving the place to the aunt. Soon, as the cat joins the aunt in helping the house devour the girls, one by one, do you realize this place has a few issues that need resolving or running from, most likely the last choice. It's pure insanity, with the house on top of it's game! Sigourney Weaver couldn't get herself out of this situation!
The aunt is not really the aunt, but that grandmother character, which I didn't quite catch the family history as much as I wanted, due to time. Oshare gets overtaken by the spirit, and it's obvious the house and it's victims all become one, kind of like Freddy Kruegger's victims all become self-empowering. When the stepmom shows up to try to make friends with Oshare at the end, an invitation to have her for breakfast is extended. How punny of me! Honestly, you just have to watch it and enjoy it for what it is, because the plot, while there....simply doesn't matter as much as what ride you go through with these girls. If you were one of them, you wouldn't care if the Pope was a devil worshipper, because your world was turned upside down and then put through a grinder.
The names of some of the girls are quite fun, such as Kung Fu who knows martial arts, Mac who always wants to eat and fill her stoMACh. Then there's Melody who plays the piano. One girl, named Fanta, is expecting her arranged marriage fiance to show up and rescue them all once things heat up (like a fantasy), and it does get hot, but her fiance goes bananas when he realizes the area is haunted (pun intended, as you'll see). Lots of liberties in comedy were taken and help to balance the extreme violence and gore that is bestowed upon these beautiful ladies. For a 1977 flick, these girls are as good looking as any in film today, and the copy I viewed wasn't in High Definition, just standard DVD transfer from older film. Again, this is a wonderful flick.
The visual effects were ahead of their time! There was a lot of bluescreen and rotoscoping done, mixed with cartoon plates representing horror elements, all mixed with practical effects! Most indie filmmakers would be doing this with digital effects, namely video paints and the like, but this is way before that ever existed. The sheer volume of effects is fantastic for that timeframe in cinema. Again, this is probably one thing that Sam Raimi had going for him, but OBAYASHI's film was Japanese made and I'm guessing not overdubbed. There's a piano eating Melody, chomp at a time, till it gets so gore-based ridiculous that she ends up mesmerized how her body parts are entangled in with the instrument, which is obviously impossible, but so is most fantasy horror like this. One girl is part of the clock, while Kung Fu gets eaten by an overhead lamp while her lower martial arts posed body half flies over to attack an evil painting of Snowflake's ancestor, which releases enough blood to create a pool. Then a jar with teeth floats over and grabs a girl, dragging her into the pool of cat blood where an underwater cam shows the now naked girl struggling for her lost life. Absolutely fantastic! Yeah! Oh, did I mention......YEAH! It's the craziness of things like this that makes the movie a masterpiece of the genre.
Comedy? Just like the Evil Dead series had a boatload of comedy to offset the over-top horror visuals and effects, so does this one. I only bring up Evil Dead because of similarities for fans to relate. I haven't checked to see which movie was made 1st, or if there is any correlation or rubbing off from one to the other. Hausu starts with uplifting attitudes and comedic antics. Goofiness in a lot of Asian cinema seems to be quite popular, and this movie has plenty. The good thing is that it never detracts from the main event and in some cases holds it's own as an enjoyable element or gag to be cherished. When the aunt opens her mouth to tease Fanta with a moving eyeball during dinner, you know it's on! Oh, I think that's right after a talking and floating beheaded friend bites Fanta, the bubbling cutey, on her booty. Such a gag is classic! Journey To The Center Of The Earth, with Brendan Frasier almost showed that gag with a toothy fish, but DIDN'T! Oh, that was just a family flick! Hausu delivers the gags, plain and simple!
All in all, I think an overdubbed version would make for a perfect ressurection of this title, but luckily the subtitles are smooth, with only a little confusion when Japanese music is subtitled over dialogue parts, mixing them all. The grammar is a bit off, but doesn't hinder. I think it's time for a cleaned up version to be put to Blu-Ray for re-release! That's my opinion! If you haven't seen this gem, DO SO!
Best, Kenny
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