House (1986)

Released

1986

Cast

William Katt, George Wendt, Richard Moll, Kay Lenz

Director

Steve Miner

Distributed by

New World Pictures

Produced by

Sean S. Cunningham

Rated

R (UK – 15)

“Ding dong, you’re dead.”

Roger Cobb’s life is on a downward slope. His young son is missing (presumed dead), his wife and he are separated, no one is excited about his new book, and now his aunt has committed suicide. Roger decides to try and focus on his writing himself at his aunt’s house. The same house she killed herself in. The same house his son disappeared from. He begins to see things in the house. Is he losing his mind or is there really something in the house out to get him?

While entertaining, House’s balance of comedy and horror is almost a detriment of both. It has some memorable comedy moments, but nothing funny enough to cause any out loud laughing. The scares aren’t particularly scary, even though it does have some creepy atmosphere when it is called for (helped by a great soundtrack by Harry Manfredini). As I said earlier, it is still entertaining and worth a watch.

So let’s talk about some of the things that make House a film that fans of ‘80s horror should check out.

First of all, the cast is made up of actors who should be very familiar to anyone who lived through the ‘80s and ’90s. Roger Cobb is played by William Katt (The Greatest American Hero, Carrie), who does a great job at the role. He handles the comedic moments as well as he does the horror and action, and gives a fairly well-rounded performance. I do think his character could have been given a more extreme edge to his mental stability than what was in the film, as there was so much potential for either horror or comedy with it. Instead, there are moments where crazy stuff is happening and the next second he seems fine. To see a similar example executed much better, watch Ash Williams in Evil Dead 2.

George Wendt of Cheers fame plays Harold, Roger’s new next-door neighbor. While he does as good of a job here as he does on Cheers, the character is very similar and the performance is not a real stretch. However, a good chunk of the film’s comedy would be lost without George Wendt’s role.

The third of this trio of TV stars is Richard Moll who portrays the antagonist ghost/demon, Ben. A former Vietnam War soldier who was in Roger’s platoon, and the source of some of his guilt. Well known as Bull on Night Court, in House he gets to work with straighter and darker material; showing up in war flashbacks and as a corpse soldier hunting Roger through the house. He gives a solid performance and there is some good chemistry between Moll and Katt.

The plot of House is simple enough, but there are some holes throughout the movie. These can be easily overlooked with the excuse “it’s supernatural.” The core concept could have been a straight horror film and may have been wonderfully scary. A veteran with survivor’s guilt loses everything when his son goes missing and his aunt commits suicide. Now he must face his demons in the same house his aunt killed herself in. That synopsis could have run a gamut of horror subgenres and left an audiences’ hearts pounding. However, choosing to make this a horror-comedy does open it up to a much wider audience viewing. In fact, the relative tameness of House could make this film one to introduce young people to the horror genre.

The effects and makeup are fully practical and wonderful to look at. Portals to other times and dimensions, grotesque monster designs, floating killer gardening tools, etc. It all borders on the ridiculous and is very fun to watch. The lack of gore to combine with the somewhat vicious-looking monsters keeps them from being truly frightening, but for a horror-comedy, they are more than one would expect. Some of them are quite impressive looking though. Maybe they will give your youngest ones a scare, but I doubt any preteen or older will be affected.

The set of House is gorgeous. I would move into that house in a blink of an eye (but I love old houses anyway). The design of the interior sets inspires an antique charm while still having modern conveniences. You get the “old dark house” feeling in most of the interior scenes. It does seem a little bigger than the exterior house shots would allow, but that is easily overlooked while watching the film. For an unintentional laugh, keep an eye out for William Katt almost seemingly pulling an entire set wall down while opening a door.

House is the first in a franchise of films that share almost nothing in common. Personally, I wasn’t introduced to this franchise via the first movie. I actually saw the sequel (aptly named House II) when I was younger. Since then, I have gone back and watched the first three and will be putting the fourth into my player soon. These sequels swing across the genre spectrum combining sci-fi, slasher, hauntings, to comedy, westerns, and more. Does your story take place in a house? Then producer Sean S. Cunningham will tie it into the franchise.

I enjoyed this film. House will not scare you or give you more than a few eye-rolling comedy moments. But it will entertain you through the entire length of the movie. The casts’ performances are good enough to keep you watching and the comedy/horror keeps the film interesting. The monsters are creative and, in most cases, impressive looking. With some tweaking, I think this could have been a great film but instead, it falls into the good enough category. Still, you can check your closets for monsters, pop House into your player, relax on your couch, and save me some popcorn!