It’s been a long time coming, but I finally got around to watching House. Pretty great way to kick off this years marathon.
So years ago, probably more than fifteen at this point, Brian, Bill and myself all worked at Blockbuster (RIP). When it was slow or boring, we would walk around the store and find the absolute dumbest boxes, bylines, and titles we could find. One time we found House. It wasn’t the box or the title that sold us, but the byline “Ding Dong, You’re Dead”. For whatever reason, that was the funniest thing we had heard. Years later, as a joke, I bought Brian the DVD dual-pack of House I, and II. Which neither he nor I watched. Until today.
Roger Cobb is an accomplished writer, and a man with a tormented past. His parents died at a young age, he fought in the Vietnam war, where he lost a lot of his friends, and his son disappeared under very mysterious circumstances. Almost needless to say, his books are about horror. However he hasn’t written anything in a while. When his Aunt dies (also under semi-mysterious circumstances) he inherits her old house. Roger figures he can move in there, away from his adoring fans, and write the novel he has been attempting to write for years. Unfortunately for him, things go anything but according to plan.
House is very clearly modeled after the original Evil Dead. Intentional or not, it clearly gets a lot of it’s influence from the Sam Raimi “masterpiece”. There is a great evil that haunts a house and as a result it is out to kill its inhabitants. Inanimate objects come to life, deception involving a loved one, a shotgun… probably a lot more. It’s as if there was more “Hollywood” version of Evil Dead, this would be it.
The movie isn’t bad, honestly. It’s predictable, but it was never really boring. The strangest part of House is that its like a window into what was big at the time. The star of the movie is William Kat, famous for the lead role in the Greatest American Hero. Also as part of the cast you have George Wendt, Norm on Cheers, and Richard Moll, most famous as playing “Bull” on Night Court. There were a couple other actors and actresses that were recognizable. Basically this was an attempt at making a sort of “Super Band” cast for a horror movie. That said, it works. George Wendt is really the stand out actor here. Really just steals every scene he is in.
Seeing as how it took me almost twenty years to see the movie and it’s been around for almost thirty years, I’d say it has aged very well. Sure it’s a bunch of camera tricks and rubber suits, but it looks better than some of the stuff coming out nowadays full of CG and terrible tween actors. I’d recommend it, especially to Brian and Bill.
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