- Japan
- 1977
- 88 minutes
- Color
- 1.33:1
- Japanese
- Spine #539
SYNOPSIS: How to describe Nobuhiko Obayashi’s indescribable 1977 movie House (Hausu)? As a psychedelic ghost tale? A stream-of-consciousness bedtime story? An episode of Scooby-Doo as directed by Mario Bava? Any of the above will do for this hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt’s creaky country home and comes face-to-face with evil spirits, a demonic house cat, a bloodthirsty piano, and other ghoulish visions, all realized by Obayashi via mattes, animation, and collage effects. Equally absurd and nightmarish, House might have been beamed to Earth from some other planet. Never before available on home video in the United States, it’s one of the most exciting cult discoveries in years.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Gorgeous | Kimiko Ikegami |
| Kung Fu | Miki Jinbo |
| Fantasy | Kumiko Oba |
| Prof | Ai Matsubara |
| Mac | Mieko Sato |
| Melody | Eriko Tanaka |
| Sweet | Masayo Miyako |
| Mr. Togo | Kiyohiko Ozaki |
| Daddy | Saho Sasazawa |
| Watermelon man | Asei Kobayashi |
| Auntie's fiancé | Tomokazu Miura |
| Teacher | Fumi Dan |
| Godiego | Godiego |
| Ryoko Ema | Haruko Wanibuchi |
| Auntie | Yoko Minamida |
Credits
| Director | Nobuhiko Obayashi |
| Producer | Nobuhiko Obayashi and Yorihiko Yamada |
| Concept by | Chigumi Obayashi |
| Screenplay | Chiho Katsura |
| Cinematography | Yoshitaka Sakamoto |
| Production design | Kazuo Satsuya |
| Music | Asei Kobayashi and Mickie Yoshino |
| Songs performed by | Godiego |
| Editing | Nobuo Ogawa |
| Director of special effects | Nobuhiko Obayashi |
Disc Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Constructing a “House,” a new video piece featuring interviews with director Nobuhiko Obayashi, story scenarist and daughter of the filmmaker Chigumi Obayashi, and screenwriter Chiho Katsura
- Emotion, a 1966 experimental film by Obayashi
- New video appreciation by director Ti West (House of the Devil)
- Theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by critic Chuck Stephens
From the CurrentView the Current »
Videos
On Five
At Work with Curtis Tsui
on Paths of Glory
August 05, 2010
I work in the editorial department here at Criterion, and I’ve recently taken it on myself to do a little poking around at the office, to find out Read more »
Clippings
INTRODUCING NOBUHIKO OBAYASHI
November 13, 2009
Japanese director Nobuhiko Obayashi, who made the utterly bonkers 1977 kinda-horror film House, currently getting a first-time American theatrical run from Janus Read more »






