HOUSE (1977)

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i finally saw House (1977); its use of effects and absurdity matched up quite a lot with my Vision of what i want to make. despite this though, i didn’t feel the ‘mind-blown’ feeling of being particularly inspired, like i usually do when that happens. i don’t know if that’s because i’m depressed or if it’s because it’s too similar to what i’m already planning on doing BUT, seeing it and knowing it has a cult following did make me think, ‘well, i could make what i want and some people would like it’. and a lot of the time, especially with the editing, it felt like something somebody had made by themselves/with pals as a teenager for their own amusement, not expecting anyone to see it, and stuff like that is usually the best. i did like a lot of points in the film, i’ll post some screen caps here:

this scene was pretty amazing, i would like to reference it at some point
i loved this scene too; i always love size manipulation and green screen and surreal stuff, and all the effects and visuals in this bit ruled. ESPECIALLY when her mouth appeared and household objects fell down and floated from the ceiling. her mouth was put in in post, and the floating objects seemed to either be practical/in-camera effects, or a mixture of both. i LOOOVE that and the overall effect was really creative and exciting
i also loved that there were tons of really vibrant, saturated, beautiful colours used in the film, even though it was a horror. i hate so much when something’s supposed to be scary or gritty so they colour-grade the colours out of every scene. i think the camerawork and acting and editing should speak for themselves, without draining the colours out of anything.

what i didn’t like about it was how a bunch of under-aged girls were shown in their underwear and naked etc a lot, as directed by a grown middle aged man, which was uncomfortable to see to say the least. it was obviously objectifying these kids, especially with the character ‘kung fu’ who i guess wasn’t allowed to wear clothes for 90% of the film, and all the girls towards the end as their clothes kept coming off for no real reason. a lot of the actors were under 18. anytime i’ve ever heard anyone mention House they’ve never mentioned that aspect of it. i can’t help but think it’s because those people don’t care about underaged girls and don’t have a problem with them being sexualised.

i think in the UK, a director wouldn’t get away with doing that in 2021. but i was living in Japan in 2017, and the sexualisation of very young girls definitely still seemed to be a big problem there culturally. it just seems so normalised. i also think a ton of UK men still think it’s fine to fancy schoolgirls, it’s some trope like a ‘sexy nurse’. i remember that for me, from the age of about 11/12 until i was about 18/19, those were the ages i was most harassed and sexualised by grown men. it only stopped when i became an adult. obviously i’m still harassed and made to feel uncomfortable, but it was an almost constant thing as a young and underaged girl. this includes groping at gigs, etc. but more and more people are pointing out how terrible that attitude is, and i do think it seems to slowly be changing.