House - Welcome to the house of fun

No matter how much I have loved this film all my life, I still have to point out that the 'cover art' is a little misleading.  If, like me, you've seen the rotting, disembodied hand floating as it presses a doorbell, then you may believe that what you're about to see is one of the most scariest films ever made.  It isn't.  I read online that the original script was written as a straight-out horror and a later revision added humour.  What you're left with (thank goodness!) is one of the most entertaining black-comedy horror films ever made.

Yes, it's very silly.  Yes, there are big rubbery monsters lumbering around and yes it knows exactly what it is and never tries to be anything else.  However, for all its (knowing) cheesiness, it's actually a very compelling story.  Its characters all have purpose and there's a real sense that our hero - divorced former Vietnam soldier, turned horror writer, Roger Cobb - has been on a real adventure where he's grown as a character and actually accomplished something (a feat that many of today's Hollywood blockbuster scripts could take a lesson from!).

While visiting his aunt in the titular 'house' Roger's young son vanishes almost inexplicitly, causing his marriage to break up and, eventually his aunt to commit suicide.  Instead of selling the large house straight away, he decides to temporarily move in and write his new book.  However, once there he discovers more than a few secrets - literally - coming out of the woodwork.

Roger Cobb is played by William Katt (and actor I've never heard of, or at least haven't seen in much else).  And he's brilliant.  He's a hero we can get behind and root for in unravelling the mystery in what happened to his son - mainly because (a) he's not perfect.  He has made plenty of mistakes in his life and is knowing that he's now living with the consequences and (b) he actually does things we - the audience - would in his situation.  An example would be his first encounter with the supernatural - once safe he goes on to order about three large crates full of state-of-the-art (for the eighties!) camera equipment in an attempt to record proof of this encounter before he tries to convince others of his find.

However, our hero would be nothing without something to overcome.  And the house itself throws up more than a few antagonists for him to despatch.  I won't go into who you could consider is the 'primary' antagonist, as this may well lead to 'spoilers,' but my personal favourite is the purple 'she-witch' who wouldn't look out of place duking it out with Bruce Campbell.  Basically, 'House' is a delight to watch if you're into 'practical effects' rather than today's CGI, for there are all sorts of rubber nasties trying to hack, slice and possess everything around Cobb.

As you can probably guess, I love this film to bits, but then I'm a big fan of comedy-horror.  I'm guessing if you're into 'straight scares' this may not be what you're looking for.  Plus if you're into today's form of more 'serious/gory' horror, this will seem too silly for you.  However, if you're just looking for something simply to entertain with plenty of chuckles and silliness with teeth then this is definitely for you.  Another film I say that you should watch before it gets remade!

9/10 almost as perfect as The Godfather