Film Review: ‘The House’
A dive into the multiverse of the House’s chilling tales
“Love your past, but travel on”
The House is a 2022 stop-motion animated film that features 3 different stories, with the titular House being the only consistent part of those narratives. Each story has a unique take on its setting ranging from living in a suspicious wealthy man’s house, to annoying house guests, and to trying to save the dilapidated state of the house.
Story
I — And heard within, a lie is spun
The first story introduces a poor family being belittled by their rich relatives. The poor family’s patriarch, Raymond, ventures into the forest while being drunk after a visit from their relatives. There, he met a mysterious but wealthy architect, Mr. Van Schoonbeek, who offers his house to them free of charge.
Mabel, the eldest daughter, becomes wary of the house but her parents are mesmerized by it, especially with the chair and curtains. She also notices the constant renovation being done by workers. Things even take a darker turn when it was revealed that the workers are just actors and Mabel discovers her parents have been turned into the furniture that they were obsessed with. However, the fire from the fireplace goes out of control and the house burned down along with the parents. Fortunately, Mabel and her baby sister managed to escape after being urged by their parents.
II — Then lost is truth that can’t be won
The second story takes place in a world with anthropomorphic rats. The developer of the house has just fired his crew due to budget constraints and now has to do all the work by himself. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of pests like fur beetles and larvae living in the house, stopping him from selling the house despite his need to do so quickly. He tries to use acid on the pests, but it doesn’t solve the problem.
During the viewing, many of the potential buyers are not satisfied with the house, except for a strange couple. The developer, noticing their interest, allows them to stay in the house overnight to get a feel for it. However, they overstay their welcome and also invite their relatives to live with them, stressing the developer to the brink of insanity. He tries to use acid on the couple but it backfires on him and he is reduced to a catatonic state. In the end, it is revealed that the couple and their relatives were pests and that the developer regressed to an animal-like intelligence.
III — Listen again and seek the sun
The last story is set in a world of anthropomorphic cats with a huge flood surrounding the run down house. Rosa, the landlady, tries her hardest in fixing her house because it’s where she grew up, as well as trying to collect rent from her tenants, fisherman Elias and hippie Jen, to no avail. It becomes worse for Rosa when Jen’s partner, Cosmos, arrives at the house and started deconstructing it to make a boat for Elias instead of doing the work that is assigned to him by Rosa to fix the house.
Eventually, everyone leaves the house except Rosa due to her lifelong attachment to it but before that, Jen put her in a dream like state where she watched all her friends leave and she’s now all alone. Not wanting that, she wakes up and reaches out to them but they were too far away already. Remembering the large lever Cosmos built, she pushes it and her house becomes a ship, allowing her to finally join her friends.
The moral of the stories
For each of the stories, there are lessons that the audience can learn.
The first story shows that greed and obsession over materialistic things can lead to one’s downfall and can ruin relationships, as seen by Mabel’s parents giving more attention and care to the furnitures rather than Mabel and her sister. This also leads to them being burned alive in the house as they became the very things that they obsessed over.
The second story shows that with too much pressure and stress on one’s shoulders and not having someone else to share your burdens, it’s easy to descend into madness just like what happened to the developer. After firing his crew, he had no one else to share the burdens of the house and the responsibilities just kept piling on top of one another which led to his unfortunate end. It’s also important to take a break so one can unwind and relax.
The final story is the only one with a happy ending as Rosa chooses to be with her friends in the end instead of being stuck in the house all by herself, likely saving herself from facing the same fate as the parents or the developer from the other stories. On top of that, she was still able to be with her house since it became a ship. This shows the importance of friendship and learning to take a risk.
Animation
The medium used for this film is stop-motion animation, which made it visually creepy and unsettling. It manages to have the same effect as some of Tim Burton’s movies like ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, ‘Corpse Bride’, and ‘Frankenweenie’.
The production company, Nexus Studios, also encouraged the directors to have different visual styles and designs so that they can embrace their own individuality. The only thing that stayed the same throughout the three stories is the set proportion of the house. Components like the stairs, entryway, windows, and columns are pretty much in the same spot so that there is still a connection between those three stories despite them being set in different worlds.
I truly enjoyed watching this anthology, especially due to its unique visual style. Scary stories depicted using stop motion animation can really create a perfect uncanny feeling.
