In our weekly seriesAnatomy of a Nude Scene, we're going to be taking a look at (in)famous sexscenes and nude scenes throughout cinema history and examining their construction, their relationship to the film around it, and their legacy. This October, we're heading back to Horror Town for a quartet of scary movies with great nudity! This week, House, an obscure late 70s Japanese horror movie with some insane nudity, gets resurrected by The Criterion Collection!
American audiences got a taste of the avant-garde Japanese horror cinema scene at the turn of the millennium via the works of Takashi Miike and the whole "J-horror" craze that swept the land. By and large, however, a lot of great Japanese horror movies were completely unavailable to American cult cinema audiences hungry for new old content. Maybe the really cine-literate ones had seen something likeKuroneko (Black Cat), but there was the sense that somereally great stuff was still eluding Americans.
One of the joys of specialty cinema house The Criterion Collection is their commitment, in their own mission statement, to releasing "important classic and contemporary films from around the world."It's also a nice bonusfor cult movie lovers that they've embraced the bizarre in every culture from the very beginning.Of course Criterion built a loyal fanbase by exposing us to the best of Japanese cinema via the greats like Kurosawa, Ozu, Kon Ichikawa, Nagisa Oshima, and many more. This gave them the leeway to introduce cult flicks that could then appeal to the intersection of the cult audience with the cinema snobs.
In 2010,Criterion introduced the vast majority of American audiences to a Japanese horror film unlike any other, Hausu, or House. In fact, it's almost kind of unfair to even callHouse a horror film as that designation alone will scare off a lot of folks who think they "hate horror."Take comfort in knowing that the film itself is no scarier than a feature-length episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? which is kinda the entire vibe the film has. Well, that combined with an Agatha Christiemystery set ina haunted house with a smattering of witch folklore, an entire aesthetic that wouldn't be out of place in Italian giallo cinema, also featuring intermittent music videos, and plenty of bizarre slapstick comedy. Even that convoluted premise alone does absolutely no justice to the insanity of House.
The film was made in 1977 by Nobuhiko Obayashi, an experimental filmmaker who made a name for himself directing several flashy commercials in the 70s, including the classic Mandom ads with 70s icon Charles Bronson
Though he had directed a 16mm experimental film in the 60s,Obayashi had yet to make a feature following his success as an advertising genius.He came to Hausu wanting to try every single thing in the old cinematic bag of tricks, and if there wasn't a way to do what he wanted to do, he and his team would figure it out and invent a way to get it done. Obayashi began preparing to make the film two years prior to rolling cameras, gathering elements of the story from his own teenage daughter, who would describe what she found scary.
The story centers around Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami), a teenager whose widower father decides it's time to get remarried, alienating his daughter and upsetting her summer plans. As luck would have it, her long-lost auntie (Yôko Minamida) invites Gorgeous to come to her country home and bring all of her school friends—all named for their various dominant traits—Prof, Kung Fu, Sweet, Melody, Fantasy, and Mac, short for "Stomach" because she's the fat one. Fair warning, Hausu is many things. Subtle is not one of them.
When an absolutely ridiculous accident—caused by a cat who may or may not be a witch—sidelines their chaperone for the trip, the girls soldier on unsupervised to Auntie's house. Thegirls arrive unscathed but, shortly upon their arrival, begin disappearing one by one, and I'm leaving out so, so, so, so many things in the interest of simplification. While that description may make it seemas though the film devolves into a formulaic horror flick, let me assure you there is nothing formulaic about House.
In the interest of fairness, I have to say that this scene you're about to see has spoilers. However, devoid of context, there's nothing here that could ruin your enjoyment of the film. If you want to preserve the purity of your first time, come back to us once you've seen the movie, but we're pressing on without you...
That's but a few glorious moments of the film and its many charms and insane diversions. Nothing that has been said in the article is of any more value than the film itself, so please stop taking my word for it and see House.
Whilethis would prove to be the start of a long and illustrious filmmaking career, Obayashi was mostly a gun-for-hire kind of director for the rest of his career. He would, however, once again get complete creative control on one other film, though it would prove to be his last, 2019's Labyrinth of Cinema. Sadly, Obayashi left us in April of this year at the age of 82, but his unique view of the world will live on long after him. On your way out, please enjoy this killer track from the film's soundtrack, designed to sound like a chipper American pop tune. Like everything about Hausu, it's truly something else...
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[h/tChuck Stephens' Criterion essay "House: The Handmaidens"]
