House Visit Not Required
Horror writer Roger Cobb (William Katt); his son disappeared whilst they were at his Aun't home, it lead to his separation from his wife Sandy (Kay Lenz), his publisher is pressurising him to write another book and his fans are not happy when he says he is going to write a book about his experiences in Vietnam. On top of that his aunt has killed herself and rather than sell her home he has decided to move in there. But that is when things start to get really strange as he has strange visions, encounters with evil and discovers his bedroom closet is a gateway to another dimension.
I was turning 14 way back in 1986 and whilst "House" was not one of the horror movies I watched as a teen I was aware of it. In fact I remember getting the opportunity to watch it and chose not. It turns out the teenage me was smarter than I sometimes give him credit for as watching "House" now I have to say it did little for me and I know it would have done even less for me when I was a teen. To cut to the point for a movie which is supposed to be a horror comedy it is neither amusing or scary and kind of goes on without really going anywhere.
Okay so that is a kind of a lie as Roger discovers the gateway to another dimension and not only is he able to clear up a mystery but he is also able to confront his demons. And yes that means that "House" is one of those 80s movies which uses the post traumatic stress some Vietnam soldiers suffered as part of the movie. The trouble is that from monsters in dresses to flying garden tools it just doesn't hit the right notes when it comes to being scary or funny.
What this all boils down to is that "House" did very little for me with little in the way of humour or horror which hit the right notes for me. But maybe for those who were older teens back in 1986 and watched it then it might have some sort of nostalgic charm.
