Lost Japanese Film Found in HOUSE

How I love coming across forgotten films that look so absurd, so freaking ridiculous, that I can’t wait to find out how to get a copy of it. The film in question is House (Hausu), and Janus Films is giving it a theatrical run in 2010.

How to describe Nobuhiko Obayahshi’s 1977 movie House? As a psychedelic ghost tale? A stream-of-consciousness bedtime story? An episode of Scooby Doo as directed by Dario Argento? Any of the above will do for this hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt’s creaky country home, only to come face to face with evil spirits, bloodthirsty pianos, and a demonic housecat. Too absurd to be genuinely terrifying, yet too nightmarish to be merely comic, House seems like it was beamed to Earth from another planet. Or perhaps the mind of a child: the director fashioned the script after the eccentric musings of his eleven-year-old daughter, then employed all the tricks in his analog arsenal (mattes, animation, and collage) to make them a visually astonishing, raucous reality. Never before released in the United States, and a bona fide cult classic in the making, House is one of the most exciting genre discoveries in years.

THEATRICAL PLAYDATES

To inquire about a booking, or suggest a venue, contact booking@janusfilms.com.

January 15 – January 21
New York, NY – IFC Center

January 22 – January 24
Miami Beach, FL – Miami Beach Cinematheque (HD)

January 22 – January 28
Lake Park, FL – Mos’Art Theatre (HD)
Lake Worth, FL – Lake Worth Playhouse (HD)

February 5 – February 11
Nashville, TN – Belcourt Theatre

February 19 – February 21
Portland, OR – Cinema 21

February 26 & 27
Albuquerque, NM – Guild Cinema (Digital)

February 26 – March 4
Chicago, IL – Gene Siskel Film Center

March 5
Evanston, IL – Block Cinema

March 12
Winnipeg, MB – Big Smash! Productions (Digital)

March 12 – March 16
Los Angeles, CA – New Beverly Cinema

March 19 – March 21
Wilmington, DE – Theatre N at Nemours (HD)

March 26 & 27
Cleveland, OH – Cleveland Cinematheque

April 2 & 3
Columbus, OH – Wexner Center for the Arts

April 9 & 10
Denver, CO – Denver Film Society

April 13
Boulder, CO – International Film Series

April 17
San Francisco, CA – Castro Theatre

April 23 & 24
Ann Arbor, MI – State Theater

April 30 & May 1
Cambridge, MA – Brattle Theatre

May 7 & 8
Milwaukee, WI – Union Theatre

May 14 & 15
Providence, RI – Cable Car Cinema

May 21 – May 23
Detroit, MI – Burton Theatre

May 28 & 30
Rochester, NY – George Eastman House

July 9 – July 12
Waterville, ME – Railroad Square Cinema