You'll Never Watch the Weirdest Horror Film Ever Made the Same Way Again
Are those disembodied fingers playing a piano? Did that severed head just take a bite out of that girl's ass?
Questions like this are going to overtake your already over-stimulated brain if you're watching Nobuhiko Obayashi's art house horror film Hausu (House) from 1977, and the answers to these queries are, "Seriously you guys, did somebody put something in my drink when I went to the bathroom?"
Even though Hausu is fun to watch because of its sheer preposterousness, one of our favorite video essayists, kogonada, produced this stunning exploration into its horrifyingly hilarious world, revealing that underneath the man-eating piano and evil green-eyed cat is a sobering look at the generation that came after the tragedies at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If you thought this cheeky Japanese film was just an absurd psychedelic trip, you are severely mistaken. Watch this video essay -- you'll never watch Hausu the same way again.
If you haven't seen Hausu before, stop what you're doing -- seriously, leave work, escape from campus, tell your kids to go watch Hocus Pocus for the trillionth time -- because mommy and daddy need to have a cinematic experience unlike any other. Catch my drift? Watch it.
Source: Criterion Collection