Hausu (1977)

A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which tries to devour the girls in bizarre ways.

Director:

Nobuhiko Ôbayashi

Writers:

Chiho Katsura (screenplay), Chigumi Ôbayashi (original story)

Stars:

Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo, Kumiko Ohba

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kimiko Ikegami	...	Oshare / Gorgeous / Mother
Miki Jinbo	...	Kung Fu
Kumiko Ohba	...	Fantasy
Ai Matsubara	...	Gari / Prof
Mieko Satô	...	Mac
Eriko Tanaka	...	Melody
Masayo Miyako	...	Sweet
Kiyohiko Ozaki	...	Keisuke Tôgô
Saho Sasazawa	...	Daddy Kogarashi
Asei Kobayashi	...	Watermelon Farmer
Mitsutoshi Ishigami	...	Photographer
Ippei Hara	...	Tora-san Lookalike
Tetsuo Kanai
Shôichi Hirose	...	Ramen Trucker
Yasumasa Ônishi	...	Old Villager

Storyline

Oshare (Gorgeous) is excited about spending summer vacation with her father, until she finds out that his beautiful, freakishly serene girlfriend Ryouko would be going as well. Oshare decides she will be going to her aunt's house in the country instead. She brings with her her friends from school - Fanta (who likes to take pictures, and daydreams a lot), KunFuu (who has very good reflexes), Gari/Prof (who is a major nerd), Sweet (who likes to clean), Mac (who eats a lot), and Melody (a musician). However, the girls are unaware that Oshare's aunt is actually dead and the house is actually haunted. When they arrive at the house, crazy events take place and the girls disappear one by one while slowly discovering the secret behind all the madness.

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Plot Keywords:

cult film | absurd violence | well | breasts | stylized violence | 

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Taglines:

House is Calling to You Come Back Home and Marry Me

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Janus Films [United States] Rapid Eye Movies (REM) [Germany]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

September 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

House: The Director's Cut

Company Credits

Production Co:

PSC,Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The script was partly inspired by frights described to the director by his then preteen daughter.

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Quotes

Oshare: Fanta, you're fantasizing!

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Crazy Credits

The first half of the ending credits runs over candid footage of the actresses. During the second half, the credits appear over the poster illustration (similar to the Masters of Cinema cover, but with more color), scrolling up the ''tongue'' of the house. The main characters also show up on the sides of the screen.

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Connections

References Horror of Dracula (1958)

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Soundtracks

Eat

User Reviews

Don't watch this on drugs or you might die

This film is impossible to describe, or review, or assign an arbitrary number out of ten. In fact, calling it a film throws up the very idea of what constitutes a film. It is filmed, yes. As far as I can tell, the actors knew they were being filmed and were probably paid (in drugs maybe), but yet I struggle to define this as a film. It just doesn't seem right.

Hausu is an experience. Quite an experience. You can actually pinpoint the moment where the film-makers got bored and began ingesting large amounts of LSD. It's about the time the floating head appears, followed by the girl-eating piano, and then the malevolent cat spirit that gushes blood, and the carnivorous lamp. This, of course, assumes that the film- makers were clean to begin with. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no doubt in my mind that the film-makers started on some type of cannabis, explaining the nonsensical edits, preeeety colours and crazy scene involving a man and a bucket. Then they moved on to something harder, perhaps skunk. That would explain the talking watermelon (at at least, I think it was a talking watermelon). By the time we get to the 'Hausu' in question, dear readers and viewers, it is clear that we are being directed by hypomanic drug fiends, so tweaked on psychoactive hallucinogens that they've lost all concept of reality, rationality and reason. The orgy of drugs that precipitates throughout the crew eventually spills on to the filmed scenarios, where our hapless (and one can only assume drug-addled) girls are being subjected to a series of criminally insane scenes of violence, comedy and epilepsy-inducing flashes of colours.

The experience eventually ends, rather solemnly I must say, although after at least 20 minutes of non-stop psychotropic hallucinogenia, it acts as a welcome buffer zone as you gravitate back into reality. Hausu is an astonishing experience. I kinda want to watch it on drugs, but I value my life too much. If someone does manage to, and lives, please post a comment describing your experiences. I'm sure many will be fascinated.