When Toho Studios approached filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi in the 1970s, they wanted one from him Japanese blockbuster of the caliber of the US box office hit Jaws by Steven Spielberg. A horror film that brings young people back to the cinema in the age of television and saves Japan’s cinema.
Obayashi, who was known for experimental short films and countless commercials that significantly influenced his country’s wacky advertising style, got to work. He designed one with the help of his young daughter Chigumi surreal horror fantasy about a haunted house in the country. The result is a slapstick, extremely creative cult film that was even released by the prestigious American label Criterion Collection and is actually the perfect Halloween entertainment: Hausu.
Halloween horror with a sense of humor: Raise the curtain on 7 girls and a hungry house
In Hausu, Oshare aka Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami) pays her mysterious aunt (Yoko Minamida) a visit to the countryside. She wants to avoid her father, who has unexpectedly married a new woman. There seems to be a constant breeze following her, causing her scarf to dance dramatically in the wind. The elegant teenager takes six friends with her: the clever Prof (Ai Matsubara), the musical Melody (Eriko Tanaka), the sporty Kung Fu (Miki Jinbo), the insatiable Mac (Mieko Sato), the lovable Sweet (Masayo Miyako) and the daydreaming fantasy (Kumiko Oba).
Little by little the girls will devoured by the aunt’s haunted house – in crazy ways that the director’s little daughter came up with. Melody, for example, is eaten by a piano, but that doesn’t stop her fingers from continuing to strum. And Mac’s severed head continues to bite his victims in the bottom even after they’ve been decapitated, having ended up in the fountain instead of the refreshing watermelon.
Auntie and her white cat turn out to be a witch or vampire with an animal servant who has to feed young meat to their house. However, the mangy residence has other plans for Oshare: Will she become the next Hausu mistress who must continue the cycle of domesticated devouring?
The true horror of Hausu: Much more than just a silly ghost train ride through the haunted house
Anyone who has heard of Hausu or seen it knows that this is one of the craziest horror films of all time. Everything is allowed, from playful editing with people turning into fruit via jump cuts to silly kills and dance routines with skeletons. No map painting is too obvious, no special effect is too artificial. All that matters is the unbridled creativity and joy of filmmaking that ends up on the screen with every quirky frame.
But besides all that Hausu also has a hidden statementwhich can easily be overlooked amidst all the nonsense. On the one hand, things briefly get serious when the film delves into the tragic backstory of the aunt, who waited in vain for her lover to return after the war. Obayashi himself comes from Hiroshima, where he lost all of his friends when the atomic bomb was dropped. That’s why, in addition to his fantastic youth films, he is also known as a director of anti-war films such as his final work Hanagatami.
On the other hand, a central theme of the film is hidden in the title: House. Girls, named for their individual interests and abilities, are gradually swallowed up by the house (and what it represents). Domesticity itself is the horrorwhich destroys all individuality and self-realization. Likewise the socio-cultural constraints that act like a supernatural, invisible force, drawing their victims into the symbolic building.
And if you’re not at all interested in the whole subtext, you can still enjoy the manic fantasy farce that even modern manga and anime adaptations can’t come close to.
Watch the Japanese trailer for Hausu here:
Hausu – Trailer (English)
How can I get Hausu on the screen for Halloween?
The true horror of this Halloween is that you can’t stream the Japanese horror classic Hausu anywhere. And the German Blu-ray and DVD from Rapid Eye Movies also seem to be currently out of stock. So there’s nothing left but to import the UK disc from Eureka Entertainment or the US edition of the Criterion Collection for home cinema (Hausu-Kino?).