"House," known as "Hausu" in Japanese, is the least horror-strewn Japanese horror film I've ever seen. Nobuhiko Obayashi's 1977 film, now being released here and there around the country, was Obayashi's first effort, and like many first-time directors, he gives us everything he knows. There are many attractive, imaginative sequences, some that are very strange, some that are funny. Wind plays a role, and so does a white cat, and there's a rather cartoonish severed head that seems to contain a mind of its own as it tries to act out the old expression, "Oh, bite my a–."
The cat is a villain, but an attractive one, and much of the cinematography seems there to emphasize a poetic image of girls in white dresses.
Seven pretty, lithe teen-age girls, not the Seven Dwarfs, but Oshare (Gorgeous), Fanta (Fantasy), Gari (Prof), Kun Fu (Kung-Fu), Suitto (Sweet), Matsuku (Mac) and Meredi (Melody),go to visit Gorgeous' aunt, who is confined to a wheelchair.
Their adventures are not very life-threatening, and they giggle a lot, but the film has charm and grace.
"House," opens today as part of the Webster University Film Series in the Winifred Moore Auditorium, 470 East Lockwood Rd., and runs through Sunday.
–Joe