House (1986) has been an annual summer movie for me and the
kids the last few years, but we missed out on it this year for whatever reason.
But after I watched The Monster Squad (1987), I wanted something I also used to
watch as a kid during the 80s/early 90s and
House
popped up on the mind. I was in the right spirits for it, too. Well, the kids
continued to go in and out of the living room (mainly my daughter; my son
always seems to show up right at the end of these movies…) as
House was on, often as autistic kids do
they hit me with a barrage of questions about what would happen next, with me
following up by just telling them to wait and see. Of course, they have already
watched this movie before a few times but just the same this is their typical
behavior. So it was a viewing experience with plenty of distraction, noise, and
interruption, but it is a means for them to see what their father used to
watch, perhaps even falling in love with these films like
House as well. I couldn’t honestly tell you how many times I’ve
seen
House so distractions keeping me
from fully enjoying it weren’t as big a deal. I know it pretty much by heart. I
did tell my daughter that the soundtrack was especially a pleasure to me,
particularly when Roger is dealing with the damned monster he’d have to chop
into pieces and bury them in his back yard. Furthermore, I think the lasting
appeal of this movie for me—besides the influx of monsters—is Roger and
neighbor Harold’s interactions, sometimes bewildering, at times friendly, and
even tense. The film is indeed up and down in tone; that a critique I can’t dispel.
It fluctuates in its approach in talking about the horrors of Vietnam, the loss
of a child, and the supernatural antics of a house that preys on fear and one’s
belief in its power. But it gave me really ugly monsters and this house that
yields plenty of surprises so it was hard for me to not fall for it. And Zombie
Ben…how could I not enjoy the rotted corpse of Richard Moll. The Vietnam
sequences, though, are always a rather cringe-worthy addition to the film that
fail to generate the desired effect because they look so inauthentic.But a hot neighbor just dropping off her son at the house of a single man in his 30s and leaving for a date feels quite unbelievable today.
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