House (1986)

Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

Perfect cast and a good story

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

The successful writer Roger Cobb (William Katt) is trying to write a book about his experience in Vietnam, but he is blocked after the disappearance of his son Jimmy and the divorce from his wife, the actress Sandy Sinclair (Kay Lenz). When his beloved Aunt Elizabeth (Susan French) is found dead hanged in her bedroom, Roger inherits the house and moves to live there. His snoopy neighbor and fan Harold Gorton (George Wendt) gets close to Roger and learns that his aunt claimed that the house is haunted. Further Jimmy disappeared in the swimming pool on the back of the house. While writing his memories from the Vietnam when his pal Big Ben (Richard Moll) was captured and tortured by the Vietcong, weird things happen in the house and soon Roger leans that the place is a gateway to a hellish dimension. "House" is one of the best haunted house films ever made. The plot is funny and recalls "Twilight Zone", with surrealistic situations. William Katt is great in the role of the writer that wants solitude but finds monsters while haunted by his past. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "House - A Casa do Espanto" ("House - The Frightening House")

House (1985) *** (out of 4)Roger Cobb (William Katt) is an author trying to come to terms with the disappearance of his young son and the separation from his wife (Kay Lenz). After the suicide of his aunt, Roger decides to move into her house, which she always believed to be haunted. Roger wants to use the isolation to come up with his new novel but it doesn't take long before strange things begin to happen.Producer Sean Cunningham and director Steve Miner had known each other since they worked on THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and they also worked on the first two sequels to Friday THE 13TH. This film here isn't the greatest movie ever made but there's no question that it has a certain charm to it and it works even better since it was rather unique for this era of horror films. During this period most of what fans were seeing were slashers with high body counts. That's certainly not what HOUSE is so that alone makes it stand out in a crowded genre.There's a lot of stuff to like here but I think what I enjoyed most about the picture is that you're never quite sure what's going on or what's going to happen. Yes, you know the house is haunted but the screenplay gives us a couple mysteries including the disappearance of the son as well as a Vietnam subplot that actually works. All of these elements are blended together and while there are some logical issues with the film, the screenplay is at least entertaining enough to keep you glued to everything that is going on.It also doesn't hurt that the cast is so good. Katt really makes you believe the character and in return you can believe the various situations that he finds himself in. I thought the actor was very good in the part and he certainly made you pay closer attention to everything going on. George Wendt is a lot of fun as the nosy neighbor and Lenz is also quite good in her supporting role. The make-up effects certainly aren't ground-breaking but they're at least fun and help add to the entertainment value.HOUSE certainly has some flaws and there are certainly some things that could have worked better but for the most part this is a very entertaining gem that manages to keep you entertained throughout.

I am glad to see this got a good ratting. 6.2 is good. But still this such great movie the 6.2 is underrating it. This a 10. It has great acting. It also has great special effects. It also has a great story line. It is very scary. It is scarier then The Exorcist. And that is not easy to do. Carrie is a great movie but it is not William Katt's best movie. This is. This is Steve Miner's best film to. Share some of the more popular films like Halloween H2O or Friday the 13th II or Friday the 13th III or Lake Placid were good movies. But this is better. This is one of the scariest movies of all time. If you like good horror movies see this movie.

House is such a rare and fun movie, I'm glad I caught at the cinema, when I was 15. It's hard to pass this off as a serious and scary movie, where it leads more towards humor, yet it's still an engrossing tale of a troubled writer, who's Grandma (who we've seen in bit parts in many other films) suicides. He moves into his Grandma's two story place, to start on a new novel about yeah.... his experiences in Vietnam. Some funny flashbacks, here I tell ya, more like done in a studio. William Katt as the novelist is ideal, who thinks he's going crazy? Is it him, or this house possessed? That's the fun of the entire movie, where we have a few bit performances from actors I like, like Alan Autry and Steven Williams as cops. George Wendt as Katt's prying neighbor was fun too. If you want a few scares, more childish ones, and be humored, House is for you. It's one, if for morbid fascination, one of a kind horror movie, original, with inventive scenes, and in it's right, one hell of a thriller, all the way through, where we have to await the verdict of Katt's sanity. Well worth a look, especially if after something different, just don't really expect this one to give the creeps, more scary of course, on it's first view.