I was excited to be pitched this film in the best way—through hearing fans who loved it talk it up where I found it mentioned. Still, knowing the reputation and the description did not leave me prepared.
Some works of visual media are like candy boxes, where tons of exciting and interesting concepts and images are offered to you like bite-size treats. Hausu is a candy box...but it's laced with something.
A schoolgirl nicknamed Gorgeous and her six similarly-nicknamed-by-archetype friends are going on a trip to see Gorgeous' unmarried auntie since Gorgeous resents her father for finding a new wife while he was away on a trip.
But it would be a lie to say things get weird from there. They start weird. Hausu is full of eccentric, memorable experimental editing and features elements of caricature and exaggeration and bold color that leave the film throughout feeling highly unreal and exciting. Irises will highlight important characters to punctuate a scene, characters will lean into a scene before a cut to the scene they come from, time will slow for an extended duration, and more. However, once the girls meet Auntie and get settled in and one of them tries to pull a cooling watermelon from the well...well, then the whole movie just becomes crazy shit. And it's fantastic.
There's clearly something wrong with the house. With the cat. With Auntie. Does it matter which? Are they all the same? What we know is that the girls are disappearing and bizarre and unforgettable hauntings are taking place only for the effects to disappear. The film is loaded with surrealist editing and a plethora of charmingly amateurish-yet-effective special effects. The film is rarely grounded and quiet and its biggest scenes are simply too hectic and bizarre in execution to feel viscerally upsetting...they'll still never leave your head. The music is also memorable, blending sounds of 1970s rock with a recurring theme tune that dominates the score. The plot itself isn't about the plot. The characters are cookie-cutter archetypes, and the story's resolution is dubious. All the same, there are themes— there's discussion of adolescence and development with the increasing nudity of the victims and their virginity being a reason for their targeting, and the root of the ghosts is indicated as unhealthy resentment, based on the director's past, felt toward those who have been untouched by a generational tragedy. For a mysterious, insane, and indelible aesthetic experience, there is substance to be gleaned.
I'd say I hope this review could prepare you better for Hausu than I was, but frankly, I don't believe that's possible. It's a ride and a half and a must-see for any fan of Japanese horror or experimental film.
Film What. Yes.
I was excited to be pitched this film in the best way—through hearing fans who loved it talk it up where I found it mentioned. Still, knowing the reputation and the description did not leave me prepared.
Some works of visual media are like candy boxes, where tons of exciting and interesting concepts and images are offered to you like bite-size treats. Hausu is a candy box...but it's laced with something.
A schoolgirl nicknamed Gorgeous and her six similarly-nicknamed-by-archetype friends are going on a trip to see Gorgeous' unmarried auntie since Gorgeous resents her father for finding a new wife while he was away on a trip. But it would be a lie to say things get weird from there. They start weird. Hausu is full of eccentric, memorable experimental editing and features elements of caricature and exaggeration and bold color that leave the film throughout feeling highly unreal and exciting. Irises will highlight important characters to punctuate a scene, characters will lean into a scene before a cut to the scene they come from, time will slow for an extended duration, and more. However, once the girls meet Auntie and get settled in and one of them tries to pull a cooling watermelon from the well...well, then the whole movie just becomes crazy shit. And it's fantastic.
There's clearly something wrong with the house. With the cat. With Auntie. Does it matter which? Are they all the same? What we know is that the girls are disappearing and bizarre and unforgettable hauntings are taking place only for the effects to disappear. The film is loaded with surrealist editing and a plethora of charmingly amateurish-yet-effective special effects. The film is rarely grounded and quiet and its biggest scenes are simply too hectic and bizarre in execution to feel viscerally upsetting...they'll still never leave your head. The music is also memorable, blending sounds of 1970s rock with a recurring theme tune that dominates the score. The plot itself isn't about the plot. The characters are cookie-cutter archetypes, and the story's resolution is dubious. All the same, there are themes— there's discussion of adolescence and development with the increasing nudity of the victims and their virginity being a reason for their targeting, and the root of the ghosts is indicated as unhealthy resentment, based on the director's past, felt toward those who have been untouched by a generational tragedy. For a mysterious, insane, and indelible aesthetic experience, there is substance to be gleaned.
I'd say I hope this review could prepare you better for Hausu than I was, but frankly, I don't believe that's possible. It's a ride and a half and a must-see for any fan of Japanese horror or experimental film.