90) House (1986) - A Nostalgic Horror Rental

"It won, Roger. It tricked me. I didn't think it could, but it did. It's going to trick you too, Roger.  This house knows everything about you." 

Director

Steve Miner

Cast

William Katt - Roger Cobb

Richard Moll - Big Ben

George Wendt - Harold Gorton

Mary Stavin - Tanya

Susan French - Aunt Elizabeth

Michael Ensign - Chet Parker

The 1986 comedy horror film House isn't too off-the-radar, even among non-horror fans. Yet it maintains some amount of obscurity while still being considered quite the nostalgic flick - just enough for me to throw it among titles I've been calling "Nostalgic Horror Rentals."

Like all the rest of them I've posted about, I first came across this movie in the video rental aisle back in my video rental days of the early 1990s.

But what really stands out about this film is the VHS cover art. Of course, it's the main reason I'm writing a review on it. 

It depicts a severed zombified hand floating in mid air, ringing a doorbell, attempting to intrude for the worst on what my young mind presumed was a normal house with the same sort of loving, innocent family just as mine was. The fear that image incited in me at a young age was my mind's insinuation of my family's household in such a terrifying situation. What if a zombie hand rang our doorbell in the same way? My sense of peace would be forever destroyed.

And the movie's tagline "Ding, dong. You're dead," printed on the VHS cover, is a phrase I've always remembered. Why are "they" dead? And why do monsters of any form terrorize random houses? 

I never watched this movie until about 10 years ago, along with its even more ridiculous sequel House II: The Second Story starring a young Bill Maher. I'll get to that one next. 

As far as the actual movie goes, there was little I remembered about it, save for "Big Ben," as I watched it for the second time a week ago.

The movie centers on author Roger Cobb (William Katt -The Greatest American Hero) who recently divorced from his wife after his young son, Jimmy, mysteriously disappears. On top of this, his Aunt Elizabeth commits suicide by hanging inside her home.

As he deals with these tragedies, his publisher is pressing him to write another book just after the release of his latest thriller novel. 

Cobb prefers to write a book based on his own horrific experiences in the Vietnam war, to the dismay of his publisher. Evidently, his fans aren't up for historical fiction.

After burying his Aunt Elizabeth, Cobb decides to take over her beautiful home though his Aunt's attorney, Chet Parker (Michael Ensign- Ghostbusters). Parker prefer he sell the home but Cobb wants to stay so he can start his next book.

No sooner does Cobb move in, he begins having terrible nightmares about his Vietnam experiences. A fellow soldier named "Big Ben," who died during the war keeps popping into his dreams and flashbacks. 
As these dreams keep waking him up at night, monsters and creatures begin tormenting Cobb as they spring from random parts of the house.

Soon, the monsters begin physically attacking him. 

Roger Cobb (William Katt) tackles a monster in his closet, 
in the movie House (1986).

His next door neighbor, Harold (George Wendt), is the only person he can relate the strange happenings to. 

Of course Harold is skeptical and thinks Cobb is more of a danger to himself considering the extremely difficult time he's going through. 

Rather than run in fear, Roger is determined to tackle these entities head-on, combat style if necessary, and hopefully figure out what happened to his son. 

The comedic tone of House reminds me a bit of the movie Gremlins which was released in 1984.

The comedy is in Roger's tactical force against the supernatural monsters intruding the home.  The monsters aim to scare and end up being used for laughs. 

It does try to build up trepidation in the beginning, especially when Cobb has a vision of his aunt's ghost hanging herself all over again. 

When Cobb encounters his first monster after it unexpectedly appears and lunges at him after he opens a closet door, the movie shifts in a different, more comedic direction with hideous, drooling, fanged monsters. 

The comedy is in Cobb's tactical force against the supernatural that's intruding on home. He sets up an arsenal of video cameras, and a shot gun, pointing at the closet where he saw the monster. He practices opening the door and running like he's back in basic training.

Other scenes feel completely forced, pointless, or both just to try to gain some more laughs.
One such terribly written scene takes place when Harold calls the cops after hearing a gunshot from Cobb's house. Harold thinks Cobb might have shot himself, but doesn't realize that the shot was taken at another monster who takes the form of Cobb's ex-wife after its shot and lying dead on the front porch.

The cops come, and Cobb lies stating the gun went off accidentally while he was cleaning it.

What the cops don't know is that Cobb thinks he shot his ex-wife accidentally, and hid the body in a crawlspace under the stair case.

He invites them in for coffee, and no sooner begins to sweat with worries as the cops are close to stumbling upon the body he thinks is his ex-wife's as one officer searches for the bathroom, and the other simply looks around. 

The character Tanya (Mary Stavin) is also pointless character.

She's introduced after Cobb catches her swimming in his aunt's pool. Tanya says his aunt often let her help herself to the pool.

She later stops by to ask Cobb to babysit her son, though she barely knows him. The scene plays out with Cobb unable to get a word in edgewise, not even enough for him to say "I can't." Tanya just assumes he'll do it and piles on the stuff, and instructions, he'll need to watch her son while she's out.

Regardless, House has some talented individuals behind the scenes.

Director Steve Miner has his name in several other horror titles as he directed Friday the 13th parts two and three, Warlock, Halloween H20, Lake Placid, and the 2008 film Day of the Dead. 

For the most part, those films are fair to decent enough. The same goes for this movie.

Film writer Fred Dekker also worked on a few favorited horror films and programs including Night of the Creeps (1986), The Monsters Squad (co-written with Shane Black), and four episodes of Tales from the Crypt. He also wrote the first draft to 1983's unproduced American film Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 3D which had Steve Miner set to direct.

Also, Dekker was a writer for House 2: The Second Story the same year he worked on Monster Squad. 

One scene that gave me a chuckle has Cobb sweeping up monster parts after he kills it. 

I wonder if other movies such as Army of Darkness (1992) and Shaun of the Dead (2004) took inspiration from House as far as their tones of comedic horror/ thriller go. 

Underneath the corny, slightly slapstick humor is a decent and almost original take on the haunted house genre of horror. 

Richard Moll as "Big Ben" in House.

The most notable and iconic part of the movie is Richard Moll (Bull from Night Court) in the role of Big Ben. The role earned him a Saturn Award. 

My problem with this movie is how disjointed it is at times. It's as though the movie is unsure which direction it wants to go. It starts off on a more sinister and serious tone, and switches instantly into a shlocky horror.

House has potential with stronger writing in the humor department and as well as with its the frightful tone. This is the kind of movie that could use a remake with stronger composition, peril, emotion, and comedy. 

It's not a completely bad movie as it fits well enough among other comedy horrors of its decade. It just needs the weak parts strengthened. 

One thing is for sure. I bet it's nightmare fuel for kids of the 1980s, especially the plot point of Cobb's child being separated from his dad in a realm of complete darkness and uncertainty. If the severed hand on the video cover creeped out my imagination, that plot point of the movie would have scared me as a child. even more so than the monster in Cobb's closet.