House Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

House Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 3, 2018

Nobuhiko Obayashi's "Hausu" a.k.a. "House" (1977) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; a collection of archival interviews; and exclusive new video essay by critic David Cairns. The release also arrives with an illustrated collector's booklet featuring an essay by Paul Roquet, poster gallery, and archival imagery. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Scary house

Note: The film review below was first used for Criterion's release of House in 2010.

Earlier this year I saw a very unusual film called RoboGeisha. The film is directed by Japanese helmer Noboru Iguchi, who in 2006 did an interesting remake of Yasuzo Masumura’s Manji. Iguchi also directed a film called The Machine Girl, which generated plenty of buzz on a couple of different forums that follow closely contemporary Japanese cinema.

RoboGeisha is about a gang of beautiful 'geisha assassins' recruited by a shady businessman and his son who are on a mission to take over the world. These beautiful assassins have machine breasts, butt-blades, and all sorts of other weapons attached to their bodies, which they use to kill in some very unusual ways. That is it. I just described to you what the entire film is about. What I would like to add is that during the years I’ve seen plenty of weird films, but nothing quite like RoboGeisha. This film really is in a league of its own.

Having just seen Nobuhiko Obayashi’s cult favorite House, I must speculate that the director of RoboGeisha was probably a big fan of it. Though House is not as graphic as RoboGeisha, it is just as weird. Actually, weird does not even begin to describe what takes place in House. This film is just plain crazy.

Here’s the plot: A girl (Kimiko Ikegami, The Geisha) invites six of her best friends on a relaxing trip to her aunt’s (Yoko Minamida, Samurai no ko) house somewhere in the Japanese countryside. Once they get there, however, all hell breaks loose -- the aunt goes berserk and evil spirits begin chasing the girls. Even a crazy white cat joins the party. The house also comes alive and heads start rolling.

There is a long and very interesting interview with director Obayashi on Criterion’s Blu-ray release of House in which he discusses the socio-political conditions in Japan during the '60s and the effect the boom of TV programming had on Japanese cinema. According to director Obayashi, at the time many of the country’s established filmmakers who had contracts with Toho and Toei were asked to shoot TV commercials, but they rejected the offers, allowing an entirely new generation of 'amateurs' who accepted them to be noticed. Director Obayashi was amongst them.

House does have the look and feel of an unusually long TV commercial. It is fast, loud, and in-your-face type of film that assaults one’s senses in a variety of different ways. Indeed, its beauty -- so long as one does not question the film's complete lack of logic -- is in its ability to overwhelm with style.

Most critics that have written about House insist that it is a horror film, but I would argue that it is a lot more. House is too funny, too sad, too much everything to be summed up as a typical horror film. An experimental Japanese pop film is perhaps a much more accurate description for it.

In addition to all the incredible special effects, which director Obayashi was in charge with, House boasts a fittingly impressive music score courtesy of Asei Kobayashi and Micky Yoshino. The main theme is truly quite beautiful but at the same time incredibly disturbing.

*In 1978, House won a Blue Ribbon Award for Best New Director (Nobuhiko Obayashi).

House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Nobuhiko Obayashi's House arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

The release appears has been sourced from the same master that Criterion worked with when they prepared the North American release of House in 2010. This is certainly good news because the master is very solid and even on very large screens the film still looks rather impressive. Various light filters introduce some very minor density fluctuations -- typically where colored light becomes prominent or natural light inside the house is restricted -- but this is simply a byproduct of the original cinematography which is retained by the master. Grain could be slightly better exposed and resolved, but there are no abnormalities to report. Also, there are no compromising sharpening adjustments. Image stability is excellent. All in all, this is a very fine presentation of House that makes it exceptionally easy to enjoy the film at home. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The original audio mix has a very limited range of nuanced dynamics and while depth is typically very good there are a few segments where some 'thinning' can be observed. There are conventional age-related limitations. Also, there are no digital distortions or audio dropouts to report.

House Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for the film. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (2 min).

• David Cairns Video Essay - this new video essay by critic David Cairns focuses on Nobuhiko Obayashi's career and work. The essay was produced exclusively for Eureka Entertainment. In English, not subtitled. (27 min).

• Interviews - presented here is a collection of interviews with director Nobuhiko Obayashi, his daughter and scenarist Chigumi Obayashi, and actress Kumiko Oba, amongst others. The interviewees address the production history of House as well as its unusual style and atmosphere. All interviews were conducted for Toho in 2002, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of House. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (90 min).
  
  1. Nobuhiko Obayashi - Beginnings (18 min).
  2. Nobuhiko Obayashi - Pitch (8 min).
  3. Chgumi & Nobuhiko Obayashi - Script (16 min).
  4. Nobuhiko Obayashi - Pre-release (16 min).
  5. Shogo Tomiyama - Publicity (4 min).
  6. Nobuhiko Obayashi - Casting & Production (21 min).
  7. Kumiko Oba - Fantasy (3 min).
  8. Nobuhiko Obayashi - Release & Legacy (8 min).

• Booklet - a collector's booklet featuring an essay by Paul Roquet, poster gallery, and archival imagery.

House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Eureka Entertainment's upcoming Blu-ray release of House is sourced from the same master that Criterion worked with in 2010 when they prepared the North American Blu-ray release of the film. However, this release has some unique bonus features that may be of interest to fans of the film, so if you happen to be one of them see if you can find it on sale and consider adding it to your collection. RECOMMENDED.