The Worst Film Ever

People are voting emotionally.

Just perfect...

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Wavering in tone, it nonetheless manages to work a creepy ghost story into a writer suffering from PTSD into a creature feature with a great supporting George Wendt! The kind of mashup they loved in the 80's that's fallen out of fashion.

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.

Somehow I always get the feeling that they just aren't capable of making a really good horror flick anymore, but thankfully sometimes I'm surprised. Unfortunately that happens less and less so most of the time if I want to see a good horror I have to bust out my DVD collection. One of these older classics is House. Back in its day it was one of the VHS era's big films, it's out on DVD too but it didn't sell as well. It's a hidden cult horror. It doesn't have the following of say Evil Dead, but people who like the genre probably know about it. The film was made by Steve Miner, Sean S. Cunningham and Roger Corman. The first two names should be familiar to Friday the 13th fans, as Cunningham directed the 1st part and was the producer on the 2nd making a carrier out of the House and Friday franchises. Oh he did direct Deep Star Six that was a tribute to The Abyss, more or less successfully. Miner directed the 2nd and 3rd part of Friday, so we have him to thank for Jason's hockey mask, but he's also responsible for a heap of successful horror flicks like Lake Placid, Warlock, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. So if really can be said that House was made by professionals and that's why it's one of the 80s classic horror flicks. The story: Roger Cobb is a Vietnam vet whose career as a horror novelist has taken a turn for the worse when his son Jimmy mysteriously disappears while visiting his aunt's house. Roger's search for Jimmy destroys his marriage and his writing career. The sudden death of his aunt brings Roger back to the house where his nightmares began. The evil zombies in the house force Roger to endure a harrowing journey into his past. The film's big value is the undeniable 80s vibe. It's great to see monsters made for real and not out of CGI. The technical parts are cutely lame, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just a part of that era of film making. The story is a little cliché, the terror in the huge house wasn't a new concept even back then. Plus even the start credits remind me of The Haunting. The directors work shows all his experience in the horror film genre, so despite the cliché of the basic story House isn't just a typical scary, ghost house story, but is closer to Sam Raimi's Evid Dead. The screaming of demonic beings, the Chaplin- esc situational comedy and the seemingly hopeless ministrations of the lonely hero all prove this. The actors work well within what we expect from the genre, but don't expect anything outstanding with the characters. William Katt was okay, but he doesn't come close to Ash's (Bruce Campbell's character in Evil Dead) genius. Mac Ahlberg the cinematographer though worked almost perfectly. His experience in horror films (Dolly, Re-Animator) showed here too. I have to also mention, that the monsters in House and the effects were outstanding, but that's not surprising considering the experience of the effects guys with films like Back to the Future 2 and The Fly. The film is a perfect example of what comes about when professionals get together to make a film in their favorite genre. When I first saw this film I didn't really know what to make of it. It was filled with humor, monsters, drama… it seemed like a cocktail of genres… watching it again now it lost this effect, so the films biggest problem is that if someone isn't watching it out of nostalgia they'll probably be quite disappointed. I was reliving the 1st time I saw it when I gave it a 7/10 https://www.youtube.com/user/Videodromeblog

The film follows an author who is in the middle of writing a book about his experiences during the Vietnam war. His son disappears in The House. Through a convenient series of events he decides to live in the house which is populated with 80's latex monsters. Riffle shots, screams, all sorts of loudness and only one neighbor notices. (It's that kind of movie.) Eventually he comes to realize that the mental monsters he's been dealing with in writing his book have become reality -- The Boss Fight is with the zombie/monster/ghost of a soldier he betrayed. He finds courage, gets his son back, his wife comes, happily ever after. I saw this on its first release when I was boy. I really can't recall how well I liked it, but I definitely do not like it now. The actors read their lines off each other; the script has a complete arc but there's no craft but formula in this movie; the monsters are ridiculous, even for the 80's; and it takes itself seriously too, too often.Oddly, House Two, The Second Story is a much better film. It's more a comedy with a few monsters you can laugh with. House wants to be a serious film but the creators didn't have the skill.