Welcome one and all. Well folks I have
gotten write backs from both a star and the writer/director of Camp
Blood 4 and 5. Goes to show you never know who is reading this
blog. That being said, the guys were good eggs in spite of my candid
and goofy takes on the film. Say, one could almost think of
interviewing them for Rotten Ramblin' On.
This week it is all about House. Yes,
the confusing series that has brought us 1,2 and...4? Huh? Yeah
that has been a mystery for more than 20 years for me and trust me
when I say, I was a tad disappointed at the discovery.
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| Told you to open the door and get me a beer! |
Today's film comes from the mind of
writer Fred Dekker (Night of the Creeps,The Monster Squad, If
Looks Could Kill, Ricohet, Tales from the Crypt and Star Trek:
Enterprise) produced by a teenybopper
slayer/director/producer Sean S. Cunningham (Friday the
13th, A Stranger Is Watching,
Spring Break, The New Kids, DeepStar Six and Terminal Invasion),
directed by a man of TV and movie sequels, director Steve Miner
(Friday the 13th Part 2,
Friday the 13th Part III, Soul
Man, Warlock, Elvis, My Father the Hero, Halloween H2O: 20 Years
Later and Lake Placid) and music composed by writer/jazz
soloist/composer Harry Manfredini (Here Comes the
Tigers, Friday the 13th, Swamp
Thing, Friday the 13th Part
III, Spring Break, Friday the 13th:
The Final Chapter, The Hills Have Eyes Part II, Zombie Island
Massacre and Slaughter High) bringing you the horror comedy
that is House.
Roger Cobb (William Katt of The
Rookies, Ironside, Carrie, The Rainmaker, The Greatest American Hero,
Perry Mason Returns, Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star,
Swimsuit, White Ghost and House IV) is a novelist that delves
into horror mostly thanks to his experiences in Vietnam (Cue Hendrix
music!) whose luck has gone terribly sour. His books aren't selling
as well as they could, he is separated from his wife and his son
disappeared mysteriously. Overall, a suck life thus far. His aunt
Elizabeth (Susan French of The Sting, Airport 1975, Jaws 2,
Captain America II: Death Too Soon, Flatliners, Younger and Younger
and Fist of the North Star) who raised Roger for many years
after his parents' death has passed away leaving her house to Roger.
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| Robert Culp furious with the revenues of Greatest American Hero. |
Roger is being pressured to finish his
book project to increase his sales and get him back on top. Haunted
to this day about events of Vietnam we see why Cobb needs to end the
book to bring the demons to rest. Cobb holds onto the house as this
is where his son was last seen and is convinced the house itself is
the culprit as childhood memories of the house were disturbing. His
now ex-wife Sandy (Kay Lenz of American Graffiti, Breezy, The
Passage, Swan Lake, Stripped to Kill, Death Wish 4: The Crackdown,
Fear and Streets) checks on him when he shuts down or keeps
people at bay and you get the vibe she genuinely misses and loves him
still but the loss of their boy put a huge gulf between them.
Determined to finish his Vietnam
horror novel, he investigates the house itself as every night at
midnight something different, warped and ominous happens. His nosy
next-door neighbor Harold (George Wendt of Cheers, Fletch,
Space Truckers, Spice World, Wild About Harry and Saturday Night
Live) turns out to be a huge fan of Cobb's and the two then
check out the barrage of monsters and demons ebbing their way into
the house. Can Cobb deal with the ghosts of the past?
With some camp moments, the pace of the
story takes you on and makes a leisurely pass to realms brushing
against one another. Creatures manifest in the house harming Roger
and damaging his mind and soul. You get the vibe this could go
completely Jaccob's Ladder but skirts off into Evil Dead 2 territory.
With amazing prosthetics, stop motion animations and a bit of blue
screen you are in for a bizarre time. You know the seriousness of a
dismembering scene has been made fun of as our protagonist buries the
remains of his wife turned demon to the tune of Linda Ronstadt's
You're No Good. I think I belted out laughing. Dated perhaps but
still valid for some good scares and good story telling.
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| Aunt May?? NOooOOOoOoOO!!!!!! |
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