Steve Miner has so many cinematic sins to deal with - Soul Man, My Father the Hero, Big Bully (the next to last live action film Rick Moranis would appear in), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later - that you almost forget that he started his career making the second and third installments of Friday the 13th and today's movie, House.Roger Cobb (William Katt, Carrie) has some issues. As a Stephen King-ian popular horror writer, he feels fenced in by the horror genre. He has writer's block. His wife has left him. His son disappeared and no one can find him. And the aunt that raised him just hung herself in the haunted house where he was raised.Cobb intends his next book to be about what he went through in Vietnam, so he decides to move into the house. His strongest memories involve Big Ben (Richard Moll, fulfilling the contract that either he or Robert Englund appear in every 80's horror film), a soldier who bullied him back in 'Nam who was injured and left behind for the enemy to capture.Everyone's a fan of Cobb, from his new neighbor Harold (George Wendt from TV's Cheers) to his real estate agent and the cops that investigate him. He just wants to write. But with all the monsters in his head - and real monsters in the house - that doesn't seem like it's going to happen.Things get worse when his wife visits and turns into a monster, only to be killed by a shotgun blast. At this point, the film flirts with making Cobb the real monster, but it's a narrative shift that is never followed up on. Then, as he buries his wife, his hot neighbor comes on to him. What he thinks will be a night of hot sex turns out to be him watching her young son, but that goes wrong when little monsters try to steal the kid,Finally, Cobb falls into his medicine cabinet into an alternate dimension that predates the Upside Down of Stranger Things by several decades. He rescues his son, but not before Big Ben attacks him again. Finally, Cobb realizes that all of his fears are inside his head and he destroys the monster with a grenade before leading the house to find his son and wife, who is magically returned to life.House was produced by Sean S. Cunningham and featured music by Henry Manfredini, who also worked on the Friday the 13th films. Fred Dekker wrote the original script, but most of the humor is credited to Ethan Wiley.This is a good example of pre-CGI monster moviemaking. Big Ben looks great, a triumph of practical makeup, as do the creatures that populate the film. And it's interesting that this movie explores PTSD and the dark side of war years before many were ready to face it.The look of the film reminds me of late-period Fulci minus the gore. I'm referring to the film stock itself, which doesn't have much richness, looking more like a TV movie than a theatrical film.House isn't a movie that demands that you watch it, but if you're looking for something in the middle of the night, it always provides a fun distraction. You can't dislike a film that has a large fish on the wall come to life and try to kill someone.

House (1985) *** (out of 4)Roger Cobb (William Katt) is an author trying to come to terms with the disappearance of his young son and the separation from his wife (Kay Lenz). After the suicide of his aunt, Roger decides to move into her house, which she always believed to be haunted. Roger wants to use the isolation to come up with his new novel but it doesn't take long before strange things begin to happen.Producer Sean Cunningham and director Steve Miner had known each other since they worked on THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and they also worked on the first two sequels to Friday THE 13TH. This film here isn't the greatest movie ever made but there's no question that it has a certain charm to it and it works even better since it was rather unique for this era of horror films. During this period most of what fans were seeing were slashers with high body counts. That's certainly not what HOUSE is so that alone makes it stand out in a crowded genre.There's a lot of stuff to like here but I think what I enjoyed most about the picture is that you're never quite sure what's going on or what's going to happen. Yes, you know the house is haunted but the screenplay gives us a couple mysteries including the disappearance of the son as well as a Vietnam subplot that actually works. All of these elements are blended together and while there are some logical issues with the film, the screenplay is at least entertaining enough to keep you glued to everything that is going on.It also doesn't hurt that the cast is so good. Katt really makes you believe the character and in return you can believe the various situations that he finds himself in. I thought the actor was very good in the part and he certainly made you pay closer attention to everything going on. George Wendt is a lot of fun as the nosy neighbor and Lenz is also quite good in her supporting role. The make-up effects certainly aren't ground-breaking but they're at least fun and help add to the entertainment value.HOUSE certainly has some flaws and there are certainly some things that could have worked better but for the most part this is a very entertaining gem that manages to keep you entertained throughout.

can anyone tell me if this is the movie where the 2 guys go in the house and one hands the other one a tiny gun, and keeps the big one for himself and the other guy says "what am i supposed to do with this?" and the first guy says "you shoot it" I can't remember who was in it, or the name of the movie but i'm thinking this is it, i tried to get the name of the movie by just putting in that quote from the movie, it was so funny, but it didn't work, so i'm hoping this is the movie, and also hoping someone can confirm it, my daughter was looking for it at a video store and we just couldn't remember the name, just that quote and a little bit what it was about, haunted house this guy has to go there for some reason, and how he gets help can't remember, seen it a long time ago, thanks to whoever can help

Undeniably, this film is underrated. People complain about its budget or actors. Really? First of all, William Katt was PERFECT for the role of mentally tough 'Nam veteran and author, Roger Cobb. Good ol' George Wendt as Harold, Roger's kind and understanding neighbor was perfect. Second, the ideas of House and its "events" that take place when Roger lives there is very imaginative, like being attacked by floating garden tools or a taxidermized swordfish coming back to life. My favorite ghosts and ghoulies from House would probably be the thing in the closet, the "Sandy- witch", and Big Ben. This movie was not made on a bug budget, but it certainly does well with what it had. I would easily recommend this to anyone who likes classic horror films.