Haunted House 1985 Full Movie
Annegret Haldiman
House is a 1985 American comedy horror film directed by Steve Miner, with a screenplay by Ethan Wiley, from an original story written by Fred Dekker. Produced by Sean S. Cunningham, the film is the first installment in the House film series, and stars William Katt, George Wendt, Richard Moll, and Kay Lenz. The plot tells the story of a troubled author who lives in his deceased aunt's house and soon falls victim to the house being haunted. It collected $22.1 million worldwide, and was followed by three sequels.
Author Roger Cobb is a troubled man: he and his wife have separated, their only son Jimmy has disappeared without a trace, and his aunt has committed suicide by hanging. On top of everything else, he has been pressured by his publisher to write another book. To the chagrin of his fans and publisher, Roger plans a novel based on his experiences in the Vietnam War, instead of another horror story, as a way to purge himself of the horrors that he had experienced while there.
After his aunt's funeral, Roger decides to live inside her house to write instead of selling it, as recommended by the estate attorney. After moving in, Roger begins to have powerful graphic nightmares, including thoughts about his comrade, Big Ben, who died in Vietnam. In addition, strange phenomena spring forth from the house, haunting him in his waking hours. Roger begins to have flashbacks of Jimmy's disappearance, after spotting him getting pulled by something in the swimming pool. His aunt, prior to her death, claimed that the house itself took him. He tries communicating his fears to his next-door neighbor Harold Gorton who only thinks that Roger is crazy.
One night while investigating a noise coming from his late aunt's bedroom, Roger is attacked by a deformed monster inside the closet. Soon, more attacks occur: levitating garden tools attack him, his wife appears and transforms into a hideous hag-like creature to attack him (whom he believes he kills), and gremlin creatures attempt to kidnap a neighbor's child whom Roger is reluctantly babysitting. After Harold finally witnesses the phenomena, at which point he flees in fear, the author discovers an entry into a sinister dark dimension through the bathroom medicine cabinet and is pulled into the darkness, where he fortuitously locates his lost son Jimmy.
Roger manages to escape with Jimmy but is soon confronted by an undead Big Ben who wants revenge on him; Ben was taken prisoner and tortured before dying, and he blames Roger for failing to kill him before he could be captured by the enemy. Roger confronts Ben, no longer afraid of his fears, and destroys him with a grenade as he and his son escape the burning house. In the end, he triumphantly glances back at the house while regaining control of his life and reunites with his wife and child.
House began filming on April 22, 1985. The first two weeks of production comprised shooting exteriors at the estate known today as Mills View, a Victorian style home first built in 1887 and located on Melrose Avenue in Monrovia, California. At the time, the building was owned by two Los Angeles firemen, brothers Brian and John Wade.[3]
Production designer Gregg Fonseca[4] and a crew of five spent about four weeks modifying the existing Victorian manor that included repainting the whole of the exterior, bordering the front yard with a wrought iron fence supported by stone pillars, and attaching foam spires to the roof. The back of the house had its clapboard faade covered with brick, and landscapers were brought in to plant flowers and reseed the dying lawn. The yard had no sidewalk at the time, so a faux walkway - made from plywood painted gray to look like concrete, and positioned to lead straight to the front porch - was added as a finishing touch. This sidewalk was pivotal in the finished film. Some time after production, a true concrete walkway was then installed in the same spot, capturing the evil nature of the one in the film.[3]
The final six weeks of production moved operations to Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood, where two floors of the interior of the Monrovia house were recreated on sound stages. This included sets for the living room, staircase, den and three upstairs bedrooms. On a separate adjacent set, the jungle exteriors for the Vietnam flash-back scenes were also built on sound stages, taking three days to put together.[3]
House was given a regional limited theatrical release in the United States on December 6, 1985.[9] Its release expanded to 1,440 theaters on February 28, 1986 and grossed $5.9 million in its first wide release weekend, missing first place to Pretty in Pink.[10] By the end of its run, House grossed $22.1 million worldwide, of which $19.4 million was from the North American box office.[2] Although the Numbers site (which is sometimes more detailed than Box Office Mojo), has it as a number-one film.[11]
In 1987, Richard Moll and Kay Lenz were both nominated for Saturn Awards. Director Steve Miner won a Critics' Award for his work on the film and was nominated for an International Fantasy Film Award.[citation needed]
Determined to break his writers block and get on with his memoires of his time serving in Vietnam, Roger decides to move into the decaying dwelling although his aunt always insisted it was haunted even trying to convince him that the house had taken his boy.
From The House on the Haunted Hill to Burnt Offerings to Amityville Horror to The Conjuring and beyond the theme of the haunted house has permeated horror cinema for centuries taken from the ghost stories of the past telling tales of sprits still infesting the buildings they once belonged in.
In House it is often mentioned that the premises is possessed with a malevolent energy set on destroying whoever occupies it. Less so than other movies House does not explain what, why or how this has happened deciding to revel instead in the random tortures the home visits on Roger including a whole host of amazingly well made monsters including creepy big headed kids and a bloated version of his glamorous ex-girlfriend.
Alex studied film at the University of Kent and went on to work for Universal Pictures in their Post Room gaining an inside look at the movie industry from the very bottom. Constantly writing reviews in everything from local magazines to Hip Hop sites Alex honed his critical skills even spending a brief period as a restaurant critic. Read more
Roger Cobb is an author who has just separated from his wife. He moves into a new house and tries to work on a novel based on his experiences in the Vietnam War. Strange things start happening around him; little things at first, but as they become more frequent, Cobb becomes aware that the house resents his presence.
This movie is so insane. Is it a haunted house story? Is it a ghost story? Is it about monsters? Does it seem to rip off Evil Dead 2, despite coming out first? Is it a war drama or is it a drama about the father of a kidnapped son? Is the house a gate to another dimension or is it all a PTSD hallucination?
Vietnam vet turned famous writer Roger Cobb returns to his Aunt's house after her death and where his son went missing to write his latest book only for a bunch unexplained things to happen - is it all in his head? (well what do you think?)
If Joe Dante had directed Evil Dead 2 it would probably have been something like this (a bold statement I'm quite sure!) it's slapstick horror but with the gore switched off, but still very enjoyable despite it being a no gore zone and Richard Moll is excellent as Big Ben (not to be confused with the clock or to that matter S.O.D.'s Sgt. D.)
Steve Miner's "House" is, admittedly, not the type of horror film that will please all horror fans. Its sometimes goofy tone, limited-gore sensibilities, and cartoony creature effects might turn off some genre fans. Those fans would be overlooking a genre gem, however, as Miner's film is fully committed, wholly exciting, and altogether fun horror adventure.
I first came across this film when I was looking for Obayashi film of the same name -which needless to say is far superior to this one-, and I remember that others began to review it around the same time. Mostly I remember the skeleton soldier, a character that intrigued me from the first time I saw him, and his appearance in this film was very effective because of its context.
I remember when our industry wasn't even an industry, when it was mainly a few small charity haunts that set up in perhaps an old vacant building for a one night or one weekend event. I also remember when marketing was mainly just flyers on car windows.
The first professional haunted house I worked on was back in 1989, and the first time I owned my own haunted house was in 1994. 1994 happens to also be the first year I attended the Transworld Halloween retail show. One of ours sponsors was a small local Halloween retail store, and when they mentioned something about a Halloween show in Chicago, I jumped in my 1985 IROC Z28 with no hotel room and no real idea what the show was about. I just went.
I remember walking through the show with Jim Kelly and being amazed to find a place where we could buy body parts, skulls and some other haunt related props. Looking back, I can honestly say there was really nothing there that we could or would use today to create a great haunted house, but at the time we thought we had found the Holy Grail!
Haunted attractions mainly grew in the late 80's and truly became an industry over the last 20 years. How did this happen? What are the events that helped our industry grow into a billion dollar thriving industry? The best way to plan the next decade is to look back on the last three and understand how it started and what shaped it. I present to you the top 13 things that shaped the haunted house industry over the last three decades:
When we look back at the last three decades, there have been many haunts that stand out as best, providing haunted house quality that we aspire to be like or look to for guidance. Among those are Netherworld, 13th Gate, The Darkness, the now closed Rocky Point Haunted House and more. There are many examples of haunts over the last 20 years that have successfully created their own urban legend. Such is the case with Edge of Hell. But a couple haunts REALLY come to mind as two haunts that simply inspired me as well as our entire industry. These haunts really put us on the map, paving the way for haunts to be noticed as amazing attractions. These haunts have since closed, but will always remain forefront in my mind, and they are Terror on Church Street (owned and operated by David Clevenger) and Spookyworld (owned and operated by David Bertolino).
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