Filmmaker reacts to House (1977) for the FIRST TIME!

[@nalbis]

i campaigned for this film so hard on your patreon, i was shocked it managed to pull through amongst all the other choices. there's so much i could say about this film, i'm like the walking HOUSE encyclopaedia at this point. but on the subject of the setting, the production design - i adore how the director nobuhiko obayashi embraces the artifice of his filmmaking. you can see the seams of the film breaking through the set which gives the entire thing this 'uncanny' 'unheimlich' or 'unHOMElike' quality. the way the skies are all just clearly giant paintings, the campy surreal special effects, i would usually describe the film as looking like it was shot within a liminal space. some bizarre dreamworld. which happens to be sorta true - the director was tasked by toho to write a horror movie after the international success of JAWS, and chose to tap into the fears of the youth by co-writing HOUSE's script with his 12 year old daughter, pulling most of the concepts from her innocent-minded nightmares. conjuring those ideas through this phantasmagoria hyper-pop 1970s tokyo commercial-like fever-dream. it's interesting you mentioned how this felt like a 'commercial' of the era, as the director was probably the most famous commerical director of the time - he made over 2000 before this film so he likely made one you've seen. on the topic of what this film is ABOUT is a huge pandora's box to open. on it's surface to me it's a feminist film - it's about the expectations of women to be stripped away from their individuality (hence the characters unique descriptive names) and how those qualities shatter as you become one with the house, very much in the same way auntie became the ghost of her house. it's extrapolating this generational commentary on the place of women in society, and the role of the housewife. but below the surface this film brings a lot more to light about facing the disaster of nuclear war. yep, that's right. obayashi, the director, lived in the prefecture of hiroshima during world war ii. he was far outside the blast radius, but lost all of his childhood friends in an instant. he lived with the absurdity of these events through his whole life, and most of his films, especially the ones from the end of this career really are about the effects of war - eventually moving into pure anti-war stories. in HOUSE we see imagery of the nuclear explosion, but the girls, the people of this new generation are almost entirely blissfully ignorant of the horrors of war. auntie, a victim of the war herself puts these girls through an experience that may be the closest feeling to the horrors of warfare - being trapped within an inescapable nightmare as you watch all of your close friends being eviscerated in the most inexplicable ways imaginable. HOUSE has so much value to it as a form of hilarious entertainment. but as you dig deeper the film has such a sadness to it once it all concludes. maybe my favourite film ever made.

[@LoneCloudHopper]

Thanks for your effort. I suggested this film myself when James covered Suspiria. It's a similar kind of witchy horror film with brilliant ascetics. Just a lot more eccentric/experimental.

[@elias306]

This pretty much covers it. I'll add one fun fact - the moment at the end where we see Auntie topless wasn't in the script. During production, one of the younger actresses was nervous about doing a nude scene, so the actor who plays Auntie (Yoko Minamida) undressed to make her feel more comfortable. Seeing her confidence, Obayashi wrote the topless moment into the film. I love your enthusiasm for the movie. I just rewatched it and it's definitely one of my absolute favorites. Like top 5 favorite movies. I started crying while watching it, just because I loved it so much, and that has never happened to me before.

[@nalbis]

@@LoneCloudHopper i think i need to finally watch suspiria!! i've known about it for so long

[@LoneCloudHopper]

@@nalbis Great movie!

[@banjoj8579]

Thank you for that. I never imagined seeing this movie pop up on this (or any) channel.

[@loveyourflyingv]

Knowing this movie was the answer to “how do we make a blockbuster like Jaws” makes it even better 😂 So happy to see a reaction to this.

[@saliv88]

One of the most psychotic movies I’ve ever seen. A friend showed it to me several years ago on Halloween and it was a blind watch for both of us. I love it dearly.

[@shaithis77]

Stoked you watched one of my fav films! As others had mentioned, director Obayashi “co-wrote” it with his then 10 year old daughter, which is why it has that dream like quality. Also, I dig that it uses every technical trick in the book- matte paintings, stop motion, traditional animation, chromakey, and I believe one of (if not the first) use of video fx in Japanese film (the scene where Prof is digested). Just an inspiring film, and I wish more filmmakers would take even 10% of inspiration from this.

[@victorias1227]

This is such a great comment, thank you! I knew about the influence of the bombing and the impact the director's daughter had on the film, but not about JAWS-- do you know if there was any inspiration from JAWS' plot rather than just the genre? I ask because I've always wondered about the reception of the USS Indianapolis monologue scene in Japan, especially since the shark acts less like an actual animal and more like a kaiju. As an aside, Mochitsura Hashimoto, captain of the ship that torpedo'd the USS Indianapolis, was himself from Hiroshima, and after the sinking learned that his entire family had been murdered by the nuclear bomb. Even so, he helped exonerate the captain of the USS Indianapolis after the US Navy had unjustly courtmarshalled him so they could have a scapegoat for the sinking.

[@shaithis77]

@@victorias1227 I think you responded to the wrong comment, but I do know that it was mainly just the genre that Toho wanted Obayashi to imitate, as they wanted a horror/thriller summer blockbuster type of movie. Instead they got this movie, which the critics and the studio didn’t like, but teens loved it, so it was a success.

[@victorias1227]

@@shaithis77 whoops, you're right I did respond to the wrong comment, tysm for answering my question regardless! i appreciate it. and man, I love those instances when an unexpected group gives a work of art the success it deserves.

[@elias306]

Yeah, the scene where Prof gets digested was accomplished by suspending the actress in the air, pouring paint all over her body, and then keying out the paint. I love that creativity

[@alexgiron442]

From what I read about the film, the director asked his young daughter what she found scary, and shared these seemingly abstract ideas to the screenwriter.

[@CT.1982]

One of the greatest experiences you can have ever reacted to. An absolute masterpiece of horror comedy

[@alexhartman6144]

YES! Man, I love that my guy James has a little something for everyone on his channel. Movies that any casual movie goer can get into, but also stuff you'd find on Criterion and film school essentials and stuff like that. Kurosawa films, Tarkovsky, and so on. Easily my favorite reaction channel :)

[@BopItLegend69]

My favourite movie to watch with friends for the first time

[@andrewhanes8903]

i still think this film is best described 'as if either Ti West or Sam Raimi directed a live version of Scooby-Doo.' 😆

[@PaulMcCaffreyfmac]

Just before you mentioned Suspiria I was thinking this is like Dario Argento and David Lynch's Japanese holiday.

[@zachthura8437]

Here’s some fun pieces of trivia about this movie: this was director Nobuhiko Obayashi’s first feature film; he had plenty of experience with shorts before this and worked in advertising. When I show this movie to my friends, the advertising part makes it easier for them to handle the weirdness. HAUSU was actually TOHO’s answer to JAWS of all things, I guess they thought if JAWS could make people scared of the ocean, HAUSU would make them scared of…houses. Most if not all the kills in this movie were inspired by nightmares Obayashi’s daughter had; he felt that a child’s imagination would lend itself very nicely to this absurd world. The last thing I’ll mention is that part of story was influenced by Obayashi’s childhood and experience with WWII; the idea of all your friends disappearing around you and you don’t know what’s happening (in his case Hiroshima & Nagasaki) terrified him. Keep up the banger reactions & analyses to movies James :) (Side note: if you like HAUSU then you should check out The Happiness of the Katakuris, another hilarious & weird Japanese movie)

[@zachthura8437]

I forgot to mention, Melody’s piano death is what inspired the killer piano in Mario 64 :)

[@solaris263]

YES! So glad you watched this James, I’m so excited to see your opinion on this- it’s such a fascinating piece♥️

[@RobotsWithKnivesCartoons]

This might be my fav of my Criterion blu-rays, it's so fun to show it to people who have never seen it before. I actually got to see this in a theatrical re-screening with some friends, it was wonderful.

[@Buggins]

Imagine being Toho, specifically asking this dude to make the next Jaws style big blockbuster and getting this back.

[@nevrogers8198]

The sky backdrops near the start reminded me of my favourite ghost movie - the sublime Kwaidan (1964) which looks like three stage plays but combines one of Japan's greatest directors (Masaki Kobayashi) with a top class cast and stunning imagery. A very different vibe to House; beautiful, eerie storytelling, based on some very old folk tales. You should definitely check that at some stage.

[@Lmaoh5150]

Oh hellllllll yes. One of my favorite films ever. Nobuhiko Obayashi is an incredible filmmaker. Rest in peace

[@JamesVSCinema]

What on earth did we just watch!? Want to vote on what I should watch next? Click here! www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema Have a great day!

[@danielchavez4403]

Definitely should check out David Lynch's "Eraserhead" (1977).

[@benjaminsedillo2779]

It’s an insane one for sure

[@keith-c]

So glad you did this! Although Hausu is his only well known film in the west, Obayashi was a prolific filmmaker and made many masterpieces over his career. I don't know the best place to go next, but for me I watched Hanagatami (2017) and was entranced. Made 40 years after Hausu, the filmmaking is just as idiosyncratic and vibrant. Imagine the style of Hausu applied to a serious drama about young adults living in wartime, and somehow it working perfectly. Obayashi's gift was being able to use strange choices in editing/music/acting/compositing to deepen the emotion of a scene rather than distract from it. Anyone out there who has only seen Hausu, please give his other films a chance! They are so often beautiful, heartfelt, moving, and unlike any other director's work.

[@Doofster]

My "What the heck"-meter is off the charts!

[@LeviBoldock]

"You're so cool, Kung Fu!"

[@Scotsmanthebedbug]

I was literally just going to recommend this. I watched this movie 3 times this week. One of my all time favorites

[@BandyGreensacks]

Japanese directors have been innovating since the '60s, when the Japanese New Wave movement really started taking off. Obayashi (who made House) was a big part of it, but Terayama, Shinoda, Teshigahara, Yoshida, Jissoji, Matsumoto and others were all expanding the bounds of cinema in ways that are still felt today. Some of their films might not be great for reactions, but some absolutely are - we're talking high weirdness, including one about a man who collects women's heads for his lover (Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees) and another about an entomologist who gets trapped in a hole in the desert and then is kept there by a woman not unlike Kathy Bates in Misery (Woman in the Dunes). The cinematography alone in a lot of these makes them worth watching. Stunning stuff.

[@nevrogers8198]

After Kwaidan, Woman In The Dunes is my other favourite 60s Japanese film. It captures the character of the sand as oppressively as in the book.

[@MFSeaMen]

EASILY IN MY TOP 10! KUNG FU is one of the Greatest Movie Characters of all time! Soundtrack is great too, when it comes to Japanese movie soundtracks it’s this and Tetsuo the Iron Man!

[@tremorsfan]

This is pure surrealism.

[@c-puff]

Aaaaaaah yesssss!!! I love Hausu SO MUCH!! It's so off the rails and insane and I love everything about it.

[@sashag2196]

omg im so glad you did this movie! this is one of my favorite movies ever! the visuals and the soundtrack are so great!

[@onearmedbandit84]

This film looks like it was inhumanly fun to shoot.

[@corvus4350]

Most of the weirdest sequences in the film are courtesy of director Nobuhiko Obayashi's young daughter Chigumi, with whom he and screenwriter Chiho Katsura frequently consulted while making the film. Nobuhiki Obayashi's reasoning for this was to make a horror film based on the things that actually scared real children (he believed adults come up with ideas that have a logical explanation, while children "can come up with things that can't be explained"). Word of God says that this is intentional; the film's effects are intended to look unrealistic, as if a child made them.

[@pinkdolly]

You are SO COOL for doing this movie!!! I love House!!! Thanks for giving some lesser known movies a spotlight!

[@LoneCloudHopper]

Glad you covered this film. It's an under-appreciated work of eccentric genius.

[@MediaPersonality]

You were correct right away: the genre of this movie is “Scooby Doo”

[@hvitekristesdod]

Masterpiece film. Needs way more recognition I have a recommendation for you. Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar. It’s so good

[@MamadNobari]

No it doesn't

[@hvitekristesdod]

@@MamadNobari ok

[@c-puff]

Somebody else probably already mentioned it, but the director was told by his studio to make a horror movie "Like Jaws".... this was his response.

[@AndrewLaSane]

"Bro, what is this" is a complete review 😂

[@KayinAngel]

I've watched this movie a couple of times over the past 25 or so years since I first learned about it, and every time I watch it I forget exactly how insane it is and how much I fucking love it.

[@kaylemkerr6989]

I watched this film for the first time a year or two ago. It's honestly one of the weirdest films of ever seen but it has now become a favourite of mine. I absolutely love the film's score and have the music now on one of my KZbin playlists. Despite being a very bizarre film there's definitely alot more of a meaning/context to what is going on in this than one would think on a first viewing.

[@lisak2580]

Omg! I’m so happy right now. I never thought I’d see this in a reaction video.

[@lisak2580]

Have you seen Sweet Movie (1974), Black Moon (1975) or Daisies (1966)? Those will have you feeling like you’re in a fever dream from start to finish. They’re visually stunning while being shocking and surreal. Love your channel!

[@ringer1324]

I absolutely adore this film. So good so weird. this is gonna be a very interesting reaction indeed.

[@cadenstrampe4216]

This has to be the most excited I've ever been over a notification. I love this film! Believe it or not this movie was inspired by Jaws

[@jayhepta]

for sure one of the most unique and original movies i've ever seen! the editing is crazy. glad it finally won on the patreon lol

[@Dying-chambers]

I love the scene where the entire house just goes crazy.

[@helvete_ingres4717]

never thought I'd see this one on youtube. The cat singing the theme tune pitch-perfect is one of the most perfect things I've ever seen

[@Kekkeri59]

One of my favorite movies. Thanks for reacting to it :)

[@aaron-n]

It's so weird I randomly watched this on HBO Max for the first time the other day. Never heard of it before that. And then you upload this, great timing! Lol

[@lin-nk1co]

Yay I recently watched this! Excited to see how you like it

[@TomBagwell]

Nice to see somone had exactly the same reaction I did when I saw this..."fever dream" is spot on.

[@krono5el]

This and Riki-Oh are a great double feature, totally got the grindhouse vibe : P

[@dash4800]

Lma riki-oh, so ridiculous

[@ItDoesntMatterReally]

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is amazing.

[@mikefoster6018]

I LOVED House as a kid, but I'm talking about the awesome 1985 American comedy/horror film. I know so many people love it. For me, we recorded it right in that 1980s time when VHS recorders were new, and so I must have watched it 20 times because it's all we had.

[@alexwashere1601]

Nice to come back home to a new upload after spending the whole afternoon watching Evil Dead Rise and Beau is Afraid back to back.

[@アキコ2003]

Oh I think this is the only reaction to it on youtube, you made me check it out and yea... This was one of the most fun movies I've ever watched The actresses must've had so much fun on the set

[@matthewhearn9910]

Oh hell yes. Thank god it's the weekend because I'm about to get blasted before I start watching this reaction.

[@annaolson4828]

Funnily enough, the director of this film got his start in commercials. As a creator, this movie really captures the aesthetic, mood, and storytelling I aspire to in my own fiction and I love it.

[@gabrielegagliardi3956]

Your are one of the few youtubers who liked the original suspiria (one of my favorite) and hausu (i love it too). I have two suggestions for you. One is Argento's Inferno (suspiria's sequel, even more psycheledic) and the other one is another classic japanese horror called Kuroneko (the black cat) a classy masterpiece. Have a good day pal

[@alexhartman6144]

Yes, Inferno would be awesome, and I think he'd really like Deep Red as well

[@helvete_ingres4717]

I love Suspiria and other Argento (Opera and Phenomena are my favourites) but Inferno is..bad. Some nice visuals but I've never seen a movie so fundamentally fail to establish any kind of rhythm in itself. It's basically just the scene near the beginning of Suspiria (but never as good) again and again until the credits roll

[@zachsutton6195]

Suspiria is one of my favorite movies

[@gabrielegagliardi3956]

@@helvete_ingres4717 I'm italian and most of Argento's acting and voice overs (in Italian) are shit. No doubt about it. But I think that somehow his weakest points add something really peculiar to his movies, a sort of dreamlike quality. He can't write a cohesive story, one of his most famous and acclaimed movies, the bird of the crystal plumage, has black holes all over the story. That said, I think he was one of the greatest artist due to his color palette choice and camera movements. He's 100% a visual director, even suspiria has a really thin and banal plot. In inferno he pushed the boundaries of that particular "fever dream" aesthetics to the extreme. Does it make sense ? No. Is it beautiful to watch? Absolutely.

[@helvete_ingres4717]

@@gabrielegagliardi3956 yes, I understand Argento's focus is visuals. I've only seen 4 of his films and loved 3/4. I don't appreciate films primarily in terms of story (unless the film is made in a way you're clearly supposed to). I think a 'good' film is created by visuals and still photography like a painting, but on a musical sense of rhythm it creates. Inferno REALLY fails at this. It feels like every scene is repeating itself and not getting any closer to any kind of harmonic resolution. I would say even more broadly than him being a 'visual' director, he crafts sensory experiences - sound and music is a huge part of that, sometimes even more so than visuals. When I think of Suspiria, I think of the Goblin theme song and the sound of the rain near the beginning even more than the visuals - I don't really have any memories of how Inferno sounded. Actually there was one scene with a character listening to classical music in a college lecture and this very beautiful girl in the class stares at him. That was one of the best scenes. I was sure when he finally meets the witch it would be her - but she's never used again? Did Argento make these scenes up as he went, saying 'that extra has very piercing green eyes, let's film her', idk. My point is that while Inferno may have strong individual scenes and strong visuals, it fails to create any musical sense of flow between them and thus is a fundamentally 'bad' film imo (even tho a 'bad' Argento film is still interesting and worth a watch imo) in that the experience of watching it is monotonous and ultimately boring, especially if you're used to Argento's visuals. Btw what's always said about Argento, that his movies are all about visuals and sensory experience and obviously have no plot or substance beyond that - I can't 100% agree with that. I think Opera (maybe my favourite of his) actually had this theme of questioning the audience's desire to see people die horribly on a screen,and ultimately contained a message about rejecting evil despite the attraction it holds for us. Sure, it was done in a simple way and it's a similar idea to Rear Window (Hitchcock is obviously a big influence on Argento). But that is UNUSUALLY deep substance for a slasher movie - and done before Scream did the whole postmodern slasher thing. But it's unobtrusive and the primary substance of the film is still its 'Argento' style. But I never see anyone give this film credit for questioning the slasher genre b/c it's Argento so it must be 'just visuals'. I love Phenomena too b/c of how fucking joyfully insane it is. Even after seeing other Argento films, Phenomena just, to use a British expression,'takes the biscuit'. A movie that for me better encapsulates the idea of a 'fever-dream' yo describe is..the film in this video. Hausu blurs the line between deepest fear and absolute delirious psychedelic hilarity, it's brilliant. Argento is actually doing visiting the british film institute in London and doing q a sessions with screenings of his films, but it sold out too fast for me to get tickets, oh well. Pity he's old as fuck and it's probably the last chance to ever meet him

[@chrisellis3797]

Saw this in the late 80s and until now, totally forgot about it. The front cover of the VHS i can instantly picture

[@st_orlie]

My dad's been watching the most insane movies he could find since the 80s, but when I watched this one with him he said it was the weirdest movie he'd ever seen lol.

[@tetleyT]

Really fun reaction. Thanks James. Shout out to Patreon crew for the pick! (PS - "Kung Fu girl is so dope" would make a great James v Cinema T-shirt - just saying).

[@the3rdpillblog934]

Obayashi one of the best and most underrated directors ever!

[@gggooding]

*Holy Crow!* Cheers, James! _Never_ expected anyone to react to this. 👏 Director Obayashi made quite a few awesome, bats*** movies (arguably Hausu is the best), but the Others are worth seeking out... No clue how to find them. I have Chinese bootleg dvds of them so that's...Girl Out of Time, School in the Crosshairs, etc...well, that's how I got to see em anyway.

[@christinacolasanto530]

Love you video btw That part where you said "YO,WHAT TYPE OF MOVIE IS THIS?!" There was a older man and a young girl in a red shirt and blue overalls...that was the director and his 7 year old daughter SHE WROTE THIS MOVIE.😮

[@pvanukoff]

Always loved this crazy rollercoaster of a movie!

[@The_LaughingHyena]

Apparently, this script was co-written with the director's young daughter. Sort of explains the surrealism. The Aunt also became a witch to live forever hoping her husband returns; it is a common ghost story. The vengeful widow trope.

[@MikeSaab1911]

Saw this like seven years ago in 2016 on TCM like in 2 in the morning. Immediately fell in love with. Karate kung fu girl is definitely my favorite character in this film. Your definitely right when you say it is very reminiscent of adult swim shows from the late 2000’s dude. Rock on James.

[@DerGeek]

Funny you brought up the commercials of the Era as I believe the director was heavy into the commercial scene at the time.

[@MrUndersolo]

This past Record Store Day, I saw a woman buy the soundtrack for this film...and I felt jealous! Strange how this one stuck with me after a late-night rental, too much caffeine, and fond memories of my time in Japan. A weird and out of control masterpiece!

[@zachsutton6195]

I literally had my jaw on the floor when I first saw the piano scene😂

[@JohnVinylGen]

House! hell yeah. James watch "One Cut of the Dead" (2017), also from Japan. Made for only about $25,000, it made over a thousand times back in profits. It'll definitely wet your filmmaking whistle.

[@Felipevideos9008]

Oh hell yes! This movie rules!

[@casesoutherland4175]

This movie is the very definition of a colorful fever dream

[@danielbond7536]

Yes! Yes!

[@christophermcbride2522]

I consider this film to be like "Evil Dead 2" years before the film was released. I also consider it funny that each of the girls are named after their one characteristic. Mac is the "fat one", Prof is the smart one, Fantasy gets lost in her imagination, Melody loves music, etc.

[@milennikolov8041]

Can't believe you reacted to this :D I watched that drunk with a friend cinephile and i thought the alcohol was pretty much...turns out the movie is

[@Jason-br5ow]

Another crazy thing: supposedly the soundtrack was released months before shooting even started.

[@MrOllie7912]

This is truly the movie of all time

[@somerotter]

I love his film - this is one of those movies many average moviegoers will dismiss as bad; but once you have seen enough movies the wild inventiveness of the thing is just a deep delight.

[@terminaldogma01]

I LOVE this movie. So bonkers and surreal

[@DennisFeinsteinCEO]

Suspira 💜👌

[@4no3bo3dy]

If you like that 7:10 stop motion bit, def watch Tetsuo: The Iron Man

[@Lmaoh5150]

This is kinda late Japanese New Wave era. Lots of brilliant filmmaking from that era. Would recommend: Woman in the Dunes (horror/thriller) Tokyo Drifter (Action) Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (Genre?) Onibaba (Horror/Drama) For more Obayashi: Hanagatami (Historical Drama) Sada (Historical Drama) His Motorbike, Her Island (Romance)

[@johnfriday5169]

So this isn't House from 1985 with William Katt.

[@Arv4789]

Omg my favorite movie and your doing it when no one knows about it

[@bonafidedisappointment]

You’re so cool, Kung Fu! First time I saw this was on 4/20 at my college buddy’s house. Probably in my top 5 hardest times I’ve ever laughed.

[@unavailableforcomment]

This is my favorite film. I'm ready to subscribe to the patreon so I can watch you react to the whole thing. This movie is definitely supposed to be funny and shocking and sad all in one. The director was definitely aiming for a multifaceted story. And Kung Fu is also my favorite. I live in Japan currently and often show this to my Japanese friends, who have commented on how even the language of the film is strange and unnatural. Every choice is intentional and I love that in a film or any piece of work. Great stuff!

[@matthewjaco847]

Oh HELL, yes!

[@bschuler6216]

Wow! Walking into this House blind! Its the only way, lol. It's the way i walked in. I've only seen this once (i really should watch this once a year), & now twice with you!

[@MrDman9202]

Would recommend more of nobuhiko obayashis films, he was a very unique director who was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the production of one of his films (hamagatami which came out in 2017) and was only given a few months to live. He not only completed that film but managed to make another one afterwards called Labyrinth of cinema before he passed, his films like this one were very unique and had a very important messages (he was born in a hiroshima in 1938 which explains his anti war stance) they are very hard to decode but it's interesting after reading up about them, the filmmaker kogonada made a great visual essay about this film and its messages that I would recommend called trick or truth which is on his website.

[@pacer2310]

I love this movie. I would have never thought you'd see it. It's so strange.

[@wyterabitt2149]

Safe to say this is very different to the film I thought when I read the title, didn't register the date at first (the one that came to mind was the 1985 horror comedy).

[@shwicaz]

YES! This movie is SO bizarre and fun. The soundtrack is whacked.

[@McLir]

Toho studios wanted to make something like JAWS. Nobuhiko Obayashi came up with a script with the help of his pre-teen daughter Chigumi who came up with many of the surreal elements. Nobuhiko sought her ideas, believing that adults "only think about things they understand ... everything stays on that boring human level" while "children can come up with things that can't be explained." Toho thought it would flop. But it ended up being a hit in theaters, especially for kids. After the surprise success, the studio quietly shelved the film. I think they did not want to be expected to make another incomprehensible movie. It wasn't until the late 2000s that the film reappeared and quickly became a cult hit. Thank you, Criterion Collection!

[@Dangershoes]

When I watched it , it freaked me out. By the end I was going with the flow. Think in the 70s a lot of experimenting was going on in film as well as other stuff... lol

[@robmann400]

House and Suspiria are both from 1977, both have a 7.3/10 on IMDb, and both involved children in the writing process, literally with a child helping to write the script in House, and, Suspiria written with 10 year old girls in mind as the dancers away at a dance school run by witches were suppose to be children. Someone easily convince the director that no one was going to want to see a bunch of children get brutally and graphically murdered by witches and it would never be allowed to be shown if it were made so young adults were used instead but they left the original dialogue in and that’s why some of the scenes are extra weird like the change room scene: ‘S’ is for ‘snake!’ Thanks for making videos eh.

[@parsnipappendectomy]

this film reminds me in a weird way of maya deren with how dreamlike and somnambulistic it feels

[@christopherflynn7986]

OK not the House movie I was expecting! lol

[@NormalSizedPhantom]

To quote Tommy Chong: “You just ate the most acid I’ve ever seen anyone eat in my whole life. Hope you’re not busy for about a month man.”

[@SceneOnFilm]

One of my faves. Nothing quite like it

[@alaenamcdonald1877]

This movie is a series of don’t ask, don’t ask. Yes, very Suspiria.👍🏼

[@stsolomon618]

I only have one word for this film:Trippy.

[@that44rdv4rk]

I was confused, and misremembering House (1986)... but I watched this, and remain confused.

[@ItDoesntMatterReally]

Go watch the full film if you REALLY want to feel confused.

[@MM-id3be]

This movie was fun. Check out The Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky, if you want to explore more surreal fantasy movies.

[@MrDman9202]

Agreed, what a great movie!

[@jacobminor8810]

Japanese cinema has so many excellent filmmakers to explore!