House (1986) – Film Review

A Vietnam vet turned horror novelist named Roger Cobb (William Katt) returns to his childhood home to find that it has been invaded by ghosts and ghouls.

Few movies dare to be as bold and over-the-top in their subject matter as Steve Miner‘s House – a film that on its surface, follows a man being haunted by a wide array of ghouls and demons as well as other mysterious entities, but it is approached with such warmth and camp, that it kind of reminds me of if Labyrinth were to meet Amityville. On paper, this film simply should not work, but boy does it ever.

Running at a brisk ninety-two minutes, House practically never slows down. Even in sequences where Roger is outside in his front yard, some truly crazy things happen. In one of the most memorable and campy scenes in the film, Roger is outside trying to bury a creature that he thinks he successfully killed just moments ago. While digging a hole in his yard, an attractive woman comes up to him and asks what he’s doing, and the scene gets increasingly more awkward as each second ticks by.

Roger says he is just dealing with some trees but the camera continuously snaps to the ground to show the creature’s hand peering out from under the tarp, trying to grab Roger’s leg, which he, in turn, kicks. House is one of those rare movies where it’s a lot of fun to watch because of how campy it is, but you also have to admit that it’s not a guilty pleasure either.

The craft and filmmaking prowess on display here is genuinely impressive and it was clear to me while watching that this was an extremely hard movie to make and a lot of detail went into every aspect of it. The main protagonist of this story is technically Roger, but when I was watching it, I felt like the house itself was the main character. It has the most to do in this story and without the house, this film would quite literally not exist.

And because the film is essentially all about a haunted house that is full of terrifying creatures, the film’s design team surely had a tricky task on their hands, and yet, they rose to the occasion and made a legitimately atmospheric house that has a personality to it. Every time Roger entered a room, I felt as though anything could happen to him, and I always wondered what strange thing the house would do next.

The performances were all quite strong as well, with William Katt delivering a genuinely strong performance as Roger Cobb, who gets a surprising amount of depth throughout the film. We learn early on that he is a Vietnam veteran and we often see flashback scenes of him in the war. So we understand that he is a traumatic person and has suffered a lot throughout his life, and as a result, whenever creepy things start to happen, we can sympathize with him because we understand all the horrors he has already gone through in his life.

And Mac Ahlberg‘s cinematography is so oddly comforting and warm. Usually, whenever you think of a horror film, you think of camera work and lighting that gives you the chills and makes it difficult for you to sleep at night, but that’s not the case with House and it’s also not a bad thing. It’s the perfect horror film to watch on a cold October day in the early morning or late night with a blanket. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But it’s definitely memorable and stylish as hell.