Console best movie i've ever seen.

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

The Movie Diorama I mean...I...I have no words. WHAT was this? Is it a secret masterpiece or does it sit in the exclusive "so bad it's good" zone? I honestly couldn't tell you after my first watch, I just couldn't. Reviewing this surreal experience would be like describing relativity in sign language, seemingly impossible. Alas, here I am attempting to detail the indescribable. Seven young girls travel to the countryside where they visit one of their aunties and stay in her residence. Unbeknown to them, they have actually stepped into a house that turns realism into fantasy. The story is incomprehensible, it makes no logical sense. The visual effects are downright atrocious to the point that it's actually hilarious. The editing of sequences is incredibly frantic. The acting is questionable and the narrative's tone is incredibly inconsistent. But, I don't know how, this film hypnotised me. Ôbayashi's direction was clear, both for viewers and Toho Studios. Experimentalism. Pushing the boundaries of what one can do with the art of filmmaking. Mixing horror, comedy and fantasy into a cauldron of frenetic energy to create something that is totally Japanese. A girl named Kung-Fu who consistently kicks and punches projectiles like an anime superhero, schoolgirls dancing and gleefully loving life, spellbound housing items attacking the group of girls and even long ominous smirks to the camera. You couldn't get anymore Japanese than "Hausuuuu". That, 70's visuals that one would find in an old 80's CD-I video game and the hilarious death sequences are all part of the appeal. Its charm is the fact that it never takes itself seriously, it doesn't try to be something metaphorical or meaningful. Just pure insane entertainment. Having said that...I honestly don't know what this was trying to be. It's so confused and purposefully "out there" that actually the outlandish segments detracted from the aesthetic appeal of the film itself. A masterpiece? Honestly I don't know, but what I do know is that I'm definitely watching it again!

Woodyanders Sumptuous Japanese schoolgirl Gorgeous (stunning slender brunette Kimiko Ikegami) and her six best female friends travel to the countryside to spend summer vacation at a creaky rundown house owned by her ailing estranged aunt (a splendidly sinister portrayal by Yoko Minamida). The girls soon discover that said abode is overrun by evil demonic spirits that are intent on eating them.Director Nobuhiko Obayashi, working from a blithely berserk script by Chiho Katsura, brings a dazzling and wildly imaginative cinematic style and tremendously galvanizing go-for-it panache to the outrageous premise, maintains a breathless brisk pace throughout, pays affectionate homage to everything from cartoons to silent films, and tops everything off with a wickedly funny sense of kooky humor thanks to such jaw-dropping hysterical sights as a floating decapitated head biting a gal's butt, a lethal carnivorous piano, a bleeding clock, and a cat painting vomiting forth gallons of the red stuff. The terrifically tacky (not so) special effects, gaudy painted backdrops, obvious miniatures, goofy gore, and fake fruit punch blood all add immensely to this movie's considerable loopy pop-arty appeal. Moreover, the gals are all quite charming and fetching, with Miko Jinbo as the tough take-charge Kung-Fu, Ai Matsubara as the nerdy Prof, and Mieko Sato as the gluttonous Mac rating as the definite stand-outs. Yoshitaka Sakamoto's vibrant color cinematography provides a bright and splashy look. A totally bonkers blast.

ashild-blovvig This is the kind of movie I would recommend everyone to watch, no matter what kind of movies you like. This isn't a scary horror movie, more of an amazing comedy with probably one of the more creative forms I've seen.First off, the actors are obviously not trained to be actors. The characters are also absolute idiots, grinded down into the most stereotypical types of characters you can imagine (so much that they are actually named after their main attribute). They are not as much a character as they are pawns in an insane game. The house has more personality than the actual characters.And this makes for a very entertaining murder spree. I could find myself get annoyed at how mind-boggingly stupid the girls could be, but also at the same time laugh at it all.The special effects are not something to place in a scale of realistic or not, it's more like watching a moving pop arty art piece, with lots of colours, fast pacing, schizophrenic moods and a lot of funny details.What is also funny is that if you know that the director has only made commercials before this, you'll notice it. There are some non- sensical shots of waving hair in the wind, strange jingle-like music in the background, very colorful (childish) backgrounds now and then, and some very strange humour I can only assume Japanese commercials do use regularly.Go watch it, have a drinking game, watch it with your friends, laugh!

Antonius Block Oh my goodness, what at trippy, crazy, cheesy little movie this is. I don't think it has a single scene in it which doesn't have some type of campy, surreal special effect. Early on it seems like part Wes Anderson, part after-school special, part J-pop, part … I don't know, just 'out there', and certainly unique. It gets weirder and weirder as it goes. If you love the bizarre and the downright silly, movies which don't take themselves too seriously and are out to throw wild images at you, you'll probably love this film. Director Nobuhiko Obayashi has a real flair, and he's not out to make things look super-realistic, he's out to entertain. If you're looking for a ghost story, real drama, or horror, well, this isn't it. You never feel real tension, even as the cute little girls are attacked by mattresses, devoured by a piano, etc etc. For me I suppose I fell more in the latter camp, wishing the film had some balance in creating a film about the supernatural, but you can easily see why it has a bit of a cult attraction to it, and your mileage may vary.