House (1986)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Steve Miner

Writers:

Fred Dekker (story)
Ethan Wiley (screenplay)

Release Date:

28 February 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Horror

Tagline:

Ding dong, you're dead.

Plot:

Roger Cobb is a Vietnam vet. Whose career as a horror novelist has taken a turn for the worse when his...

Plot Keywords:

Vietnam | Author | Missing Child | Alternate Universe | Axe

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

William Katt	...	Roger Cobb
George Wendt	...	Harold Gorton
Richard Moll	...	Big Ben
Kay Lenz	...	Sandy Sinclair
Mary Stavin	...	Tanya
Michael Ensign	...	Chet Parker
Erik Silver	...	Jimmy
Mark Silver	...	Jimmy
Susan French	...	Aunt Elizabeth
Alan Autry	...	Cop #3
Steven Williams	...	Cop #4
James Calvert	...	Grocery Boy (as Jim Calvert)
Mindy Sterling	...	Woman in Bookstore
Jayson Kane	...	Cheesy Stud
Billy Beck	...	Priest

Also Known As:

House: Ding Dong, You're Dead (USA) (video title)
A Casa do Espanto (Brazil) [pt]
Chi è sepolto in quella casa? (Italy) [it]
Det spökar hos grannen (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Dom (Poland) [pl]
House - Das Horrorhaus (West Germany) [de]
House, una casa alucinante (Spain) [es]
Naapurissa kummittelee (Finland) [fi]
Titta vi spökar (Sweden) [sv]
To spiti (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Iceland:16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

New World Pictures

Trivia:

Glenn Close and Sigourney Weaver were considered for the female lead role.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Roger drops the rope into the "black hole" in his medicine cabinet, it is tangled. When we see it fall, it unwinds as if it were just rolled up.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Grocery Boy: Mrs. Hooper?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Monster Squad Forever! (2007) (V)

Average cheesy haunted house film

"House" is a pretty nice cheesy haunted house story.

**SPOILERS**

Novelist Roger Cobb, (William Katt) who has a very dedicated horror fan-base who isn't very receptive about his new planned novel about the Vietnam War. His estranged wife Sandy, (Kay Lenz) takes this as a great sign of progress, and from her response, he decides to rent his recently-deceased aunt's mansion to get some fresh inspiration. As he starts to work on it, he begins to experience strange and ghosts inside, which he explains to his neighbor Burt Gorton, (George Wendt) who think he is going crazy. As the visions and experiences start getting stranger, he looks to other avenues to fight the supernatural within the house.

The Good News: This film came out in the mid-80s, when it was very fashionable to have an amount of cheese in the film that will have an appeal to others outside the horror general. This film is dripping with it. There is a nice cheesy attitude that the 80s movies captured so greatly, and it is a wonderful example of that attitude. Perhaps the most pressing part of that is the figure of Big Ben, who gets a couple of the best scares in the film towards the latter parts of the film. He has a really creepy look, while also maintaining that distinct campy feel to it. The exterior of the house is pretty creepy, and the overall design rivals the best. The design of the creatures is nice for the time-being, and the final creature is the scene stealer undoubtedly. The look is really creepy and features some impressive make-up. The latter half of the film, with the majority of the action, is pretty entertaining and moves along in a great manner.

The Bad News: Because the movie exists on its cheesy charms, it isn't a movie for everyone. It will be something that will be draw up against it. The tone and appearance is quite normal for the kinds of horror films of the same kind. This includes the majority of the early attempts at scares, which are just beyond cheesy that don't even scare the youngest child watching the movie. A floating series of garden implements or a fish that suddenly comes active on a wall are some of the failed gags, which should've opened this one a lot better than what it really is. In spite of the unsuccessful gags, this one still takes way too long to get going with it's story, and the only real action comes in the later parts of the film.

The Final Verdict: It has it's moments of cheese, but then again, most films from the a later part of the 80s, a lot did. It's not the worst haunted house film, but there are better ones out there. Take a look if it feels like you might like it, but don't be surprised if it is dangerously cheesy at times.

Rated R: Violence, Graphic Language and children in danger