House (a.k.a. Hausu) (Japan, 1977)

If anybody asks, I like my films gritty, real and painfully honest - think 'Leaving Las Vegas', 'The Wrestler' kind of thing. But every so often, I have to admit a secret weakness for the phantasmagorical - 'Edward Scissorhands', 'The Nightmare before Christmas' sort of stuff. And in the phantasmagorical genre - if such a thing exists - House has to be one of the best.

Gorgeous is a Japanese schoolgirl who invites her six friends, Fantasy, Sweet, Prof, Kung-Fu, Mac and Melody (like the seven dwarves, the names give you a clue where this is going) to her aunt's house for the summer holidays. Gorgeous hasn't seen Auntie since she was a baby. Auntie now she lives alone in a big old house in the middle of nowhere, and in classical fairytale fashion, isn't quite the sweet old biddy you might imagine. Enough plot.

Wow. What a feast! Once I got over the initial shock, and realised that this wasn't going to be regular film fare, the descent into madness is amazing. It's sort of Monty Python on acid meets the Evil Dead, with a dash of Beetlejuice thrown in. But it's better than that. It's fabulous, surreal, crazy-mad wild. Like nothing I've see before. Save the LSD for another day, throw your imagination to the wind and dive in.

House (a.k.a. Hausu) is apparently a cult horror classic in Japan. No surprise there. It *is a surprise it's not well known in Europe. The Rocky Horror crowd would love it. I can just imagine the audience-participation screenings. I'll be going as the dancing skeleton.

This was one of director Nobuhiko Obayashi's first films. I haven't heard of any of his subsequent efforts, but it's hard to see how he could follow this.