The House (2022)

I just finished my first 2022 title, and it was hypnotically weird "The House" streaming on Netflix and produced by Nexus Studios, i can't recommend it enough. It is wildly ambitious triptych, which uses stop motion animation to explore peculiar inhabitants in a house through different periods of time and worlds. All the stories take place at the same house, across different eras exploring the theme of home, capitalism, existential crisis, dreams and emptiness as the living are reduced to inanimate entities.

In Emma de Swaef & Marc James Roels opening act, "And Heard Within. A Lie Is Spun," it is a gothic tale with all the classic haunted house genre troupes. We follow the Raymond family who abandon their modest lifestyle and relocate to a luxurious mansion nearby, it belongs to Van Schoonbeek, a mysterious and faceless architect. What follows is the supernatural drama which is developed in a very interesting labyrinth like narrative. There are so many moments but everything is presented with an indispensable horror subtext. Even the furniture and the mundanity of Raymond family does accentuate the atmosphere of the film. It is normal but disturbing with eerie soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla. My pick and my favourite in this three-part anthological film.

The second chapter, directed by Niki Lindroth von Bahr's is titled "Then Lost is Truth that Can't be Won," set in the modern world, at the centre of the story is an anthropomorphic rat. He is now the developer for the Van Schoonbeek's estate and desperately hopes for a good buyer. He is disillusioned with the way his life unfolds and is bombarded with calls from the bank. He is enthusiastic about the unannounced visit of a couple who show interest to buy the house but later finds out their motive. This leads to all sorts of miscommunication and strife with the strange visitors. From there, a Kafkaesque labyrinth is built based on the home invasion genre and it is impossible for the protagonist to recover. The existential crisis increases with the passing of days, it turns out the person (darling) who he speaks over phone is his dentist. He is plagued by bugs and in the midst of all the stuff, there is Busby Berkeley-esque dance number for the vermin. It is funny and sad but never taking itself too seriously but reveals the obsession which cost the protagonist everything. In order to not give away everything, i don't want to reveal much.

The concluding chapter, directed by Paloma Baeza "Listen Again and Seek The Sun" is set in a post-apocalyptic flooded wasteland and the setting serves as the backdrop for the Van Schoonbeek estate. A fed-up landlady (Rosa) has to put up with the antics of her laid back tenants - Jen and Elias who never pay their rent in money but through crystal stone and fish. Jen is visited by her partner Cosmos and this irks Rosa. Nevertheless, she agrees to offer accommodation in return to restore the dilapidated house. This decision turns the life of the landlady completely upside down resulting in a bittersweet ending. This chapter is a hodgepodge and doesn't seem to fit with the tone of the previous two. It also blends humour and emotion well with little room for surrealism.

Minor quibbles aside, i'm happy that Netflix backed this experiment. I was surprised when a niche series like Brand New Cherry Flavor was sold to the mainstream. I was so impressed with The Summit of the Gods (2021) and The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021). I hope they can assemble

Fmovies: I'm not sure I believe the 10s ratings and have no idea what they were watching.

This was hissrible. I didn't make it past the first story. Nil happens and it is frighteningly boring !

"For those who decide not to find it, there can be nothing."

Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy. The House is an interesting 90 minutes that's hard to describe. Over the course of three segments we watch this setting grow into this surreal experience. With how strange this is, not everyone will be all for it. Even some parts within the segments didn't necessarily work for me. Still, the entirety pays off well in the end. The most striking feature is the use of stop motion animation. This style has become almost a lost art. Hardly any filmmakers use it anymore with the convenience of computer animation. There's something about it that I love and thankfully they chose to go that route here. With the route these stories take, only an animated style could do it justice. Plus, people are weirded out by stop motion animation and claymation so it only seems fitting. The entire atmosphere is expertly crafted by our four directors. Having a different director for each gives a unique approach each time. Because of that decision, the flow of the entirety doesn't always match. Though it's listed as three separate episodes, Netflix put them together in one to make it a movie. That's slightly confusing because having a set thing, episodic or movie, would give a better idea of what this project should be. I'm sure there's an answer somewhere.

We have a wide array of voice acting from veteran actors. It's fun to spot each voice within the shorts. Mia Goth is in the first and does an excellent job with her character. Jarvis Cocker has his performance in the second, being my favorite acting performance of them all. And in the third, I was a big fan of everyone. However, Helena Bonham Carter and Susan Wokoma stand out the most. As for each episode, it's hard to rank them because they're all so different. The first caught my attention, especially in the third act from how strange it turned out to be. The second is frustrating, taking inspiration from mother!. And the final is bittersweet invoking a feeling of home and loss. The third has the most to say and has stuck with me the most. I would be interested to see a feature length of each. The pacing doesn't always work with them partially from how short they are, even if they are slow burns. And the story doesn't always come through as much as it could. Still, The House manages to pull everything together and be a notable feature/series (I'll find out sometime) that could be memorable till the end of the year and years to come. If you think you're up for the watch, go for it!

The House fmovies. With the recent growing trend of original Netflix produced animation, it's no surprise that a stop-motion anthology feature would be due for praise. As of this month, The House has garnished a lot of critical acclaim and viewer attention due to its dark subject matter and creepy looking style. Made in the London based Nexus Studios and directed by four people per segment, although in this case three, the film tells three individual stories surrounding the exact same house spanning different time periods and characters. While definitely a creepy scenario, it's best to analyze the feature based on the house's inner anxieties.

To summarize all the stories one by one, the first narrative details a poor family who have a brand new house built over their old home, only for the parents to become diluted with the objects and the two children to escape. The second revolves around a later period where the house is for sale in a city by an anthropomorphic mouse, and everything and everyone ends up taking over the interior in the worst way possible. The third and final segment features the same house in a post flooded future, and its current owners of anthropomorphic cats struggle to rebuild the place to its former glory. As the overall movie is centered around this mysterious elaborately designed house, the major themes of interior anxiety, personal attachment, paranoia, present day turmoil, claustrophobia and fear of powerlessness stem through each of the segment's central figures coasting through the house's scary existence. Depending on what each protagonist ends up doing throughout their life, the anthology is established by very specific genres to give a literal three act structure.

While the first segment feels very horror-esque in its execution, as well as some of the second, the latter installments offer a more lighthearted approach to the discomforting tone set up. Each story is consistent in the surrealistic landscape the house sets up, albeit with different parallels that offer numerous takes on the downfall of individualism and sanity. It helps too that the film never holds your hand throughout each chapter, allowing the viewer to fill the pieces in themselves from each transition to the next nightmare. Very much like the frightened children in the first segment and the paranoid rat in the second, you're often left wandering the halls of the house in its unpredictable nature more often than not, especially with certain creepy crawlies and floods coming in and out. Aided by Gustavo Santaolalla's soothingly haunting score, the pacing in each story showcases the rise and fall of their protagonists in varying degrees. Perhaps the only exception would be the third installment, as it instead offers a more breathtaking option to live free of past burdens.

Among the poetic storytelling and fascinating characters, the major selling point to grind people within the film's universe is the gothic cloth animation. Vast attention to detail lies in the layout and design for the production set pieces and character models with tiny eyes and mouths. For instance, the first segment makes exquisite use of the extravagant amenities, such as delicious food of massive quantities and illuminating electricity of a dreamlike aroma. Both the effects animation and lighting play major roles in defining the mood for a given scenario, with the first sequence emphasizing harsh shadows conflicting with the children's fears and the third offering a more laid back open spaced palette common to the vast oce

The House 01.17

Chapter One- Not much story but good atmosphere and attention to detail.

What is that little stick with a fire on the end of it?

Why do guys always pee on trees?

How did that telephone box get out in the middle of the forrest?

Don't they use horses for that?

How did the telephone box get in the house?

Chapter Two- Not much story but good atmosphere and attention to detail.

We've never before seen anyone dip a chocolate bar into a glass of wine.

Gosh darn fur beetles!

Another one of those little sticks with a fire on the end of it?

Open house from hell.

Yes! A fur beetle musical!

Chapter Three- Not much story but good atmosphere and attention to detail.

Where can I get one of those fire sticks?

So the movie basically have 3 different story in one movie, and it's easy to review this kinda film especially when it was not related or connected, so let's get straight to it, the first story for me was a great dark story that weirdly well made, with an amazing yet terrifying score, and the strange look of the expression and all that stuff was weird, scary and i love it, second story for me was the least favorite, in fact overall i can say that i absolutely didn't like the second story, there is some of a little moments that i like but mostly it was just bore me, didn't make me fall asleep but it bore me so much, the third and last story was simply the best, after getting through the second story that really bore me, the third story succeed to make me came back and surprisingly i was into it, i was enjoying myself throughout the story, i was on it, i can feel the tension, the feeling, it was just amazing, so the conclusion is that i love 2 out of 3 story of The House, besides the lack of the movie which is mostly on the second story, the voice acting and the animation was great, The House is overall a nice Netflix Special in the early year.