Customer Reviews

Paperhouse [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is certainly a film that will not appeal to simple minded gore fans. If you're looking for something rather more sophisticated ie. a haunting (and creepy) psychological drama then this far too neglected classic is sure to satisfy. Everybody who watches this film seems to love it, yet the film has become so forgotten that it cannot even be categorised as the 'cult' classic it should be. Not many films make me jump out of my seat, emotionally move me and send a few shivers up the spine for good measure, all in the space of 90 minutes, but this one did, even on second viewing. Through Anna's fevered imaginations, we share the anxieties of a girl on the brink of adolescence, leaving behind the innocent securities of childhood and entering a new world where suddenly identity is uncertain and a place in the world has to be discovered. Her dreams are conveyed in a surreal and chilling manner, beautifully photographed in and around an isolated stone house set in a suitably desolate and bare landscape. Watch this film and it will hang around in your mind (and dreams) for days afterwards.

As the reviewer below has written, there is no blood or gore in this outstanding film. That is fine with me, because it is not needed in this wonderful and outstanding film. What you do get, however, is a film with excellent writing, great acting and superb suspense. This film, unfortunately, is not available in Region 1. However, if you have the DVD player [or adapter] to play this, it is well worth the purchase. Also, I would recommend it to younger teens, as there is no gore, however, the psychological suspense in the film more than makes up for this. [I was never a big blood and gore horror fan anyway]

If you liked "Haunted", or "The Woman In Black" it follows along these types of films. They are slow building in momentum. But with a purpose. In the film a young girl becomes sick and feverish. In her dreams, she begins to develop an awareness of another child who is also sick. This dreams world begins to influence the reality in her real world. And in these dreams she is able to make contact with this sick child. Both of whom begin to visualize her reality. But there is something else in her dreams [no spoilers] that become surrealistic and frightening. Her dreams begin to influence events in her life. I highly recommend the film, it is a great and overlooked gem of a film. The young girl in the film gives a fabulous acting performance. Highly recommended! [Stars: 5+]

It is a shame this movie is available only in Europe and Australia because I think it is a great fantasy movie. A few times there are scenes that would be too frightening for younger children, but by the age of the characters I think most kids could handle it. I really liked this movie because it is imaginative, emotionally engaging, and it does it all with nothing objectionable to traditional values families. [There are a couple of scenes where Charlotte is without a top; one is very quick and the other where only her back is shown, but still within a typical family occurrence.] There is no offensive language and no off-color remarks or questionable situations. Although this is often classified as a horror movie, I disagree; it is much more a psychological movie depicting the imagination of a child. The two frightening scenes are really a child's emotional, dream picture of an absent father.

This is a great movie to see how children can take what they hear (usually incompletely) and absorb it into their psyche in such a way that it seems even more real than the child's real life. Charlotte's doctor mentions a sick boy she is treating, and Charlotte draws scenes pertaining to him in her notebook. In her dreams she visits him at his lonely house. They become fast friends, and when the climax come I think virtually all viewers will find the ending satisfying. [One endnote: the boy in this movie actually did die at the age of twenty, but I haven't been able to learn why.]

This movie is worth asking your DVD dealer to try to get the U.S. DVD manufacturers to add to their movies list.

To me this is the story of how a child envisions her dysfunctional family as being, only having to sift through dreams--revolving around a father in absentia. This is what affected her as it did, and this movie takes it further and the resolution to it all is very interesting and unique. There is no gore, although Ben Cross plays a dual role here--Anna's fictional dad and the real one. And yes, he's scary as the fictional one in bad ass mode (as usual). Through Anna's eyes, you see how she blurs fantasy and reality--almost to the point of her own physical and emotional demise. If you like this movie, you'll also love "Spirit of the Beehive" which is somewhat reminiscent of what a child's dream picture can do...Perfomrances were all excellent. I highly recommend it.

Paperhouse (Bernard Rose, 1988)

Every once in a while I discover a movie I, somehow, not only completely missed when it came out, but had the entirely wrong idea about at the time. I have, for some reason, always had it in my head that Paperhouse was some sort of low-budget slasher flick or something along those lines. Upon reflection, I think I had it confused in my head with Victor Salva's Clownhouse, released the year after, which fits the description. When I finally realized I was wrong, I picked this up and gave it the once-over, and it absolutely floored me. In a genre saturated by overblown crap like The Neverending Story and The Goonies--children's fantasy film--Paperhouse stands out like a beacon of sanity. Why? Because those who were making it understood that the most important word in the name of the genre is "film". They didn't set out to make a children's film (the end result of which is usually talking down to one's audience), they didn't set out to make a fantasy film (which usually leads to overblown special effects taking the place of such niceties as plot and character development; witness the recent butcheries of Eragon, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and The Golden Compass). They set out to make a film which had fantasy elements and was generally kid-friendly, and what they ended up with was a masterpiece.

Anna Madden (Charlotte Burke in her first, and to date last, film role) is chronically ill, and also approaching adolescence, with all that such entails. She's moody and withdrawn, finding solace only in her drawing. There's one drawing in particular to which she keeps coming back, a particular house. On one particularly despairing day, she suddenly finds herself inside the drawing. More interesting, she's not alone--there's a boy inside the house, whom she eventually discovers is an invalid named Marc (Taxandria's Elliott Spiers, who made only those two films before passing away at the age of twenty). She passes back and forth between her two worlds, trying to get to know her new, and reluctant, friend while waiting for the return of her long-absent father in the real world, but a chance remark her doctor makes leads Anna to believe that, perhaps, her imaginary world isn't quite as imaginary as she might have believed.

Rose, who directed one of my favorite movies of all time (Candyman), is one of those directors who seems capable of plunging into any genre and making it his own; he's also responsible for Immortal Beloved, Chicago Joe and the Showgirl, and Ivansxtc, among others. It's rare for a director to work in so many arenas, more so for a director to master so many of them. I've been sitting here for the half-hour I've spent writing this review so far trying to think of another live-action children's fantasy film I loved as much as I did this one, and nothing has come to mind so far. This is not to say it's a perfect film; it has some pacing problems, and there are one or two things that seem almost extraneous. But still, the core of this film is the characters of Anna and Marc, and both young actors are flawless.

I already held Bernard Rose in high esteem before seeing this film, but it reinforced my respect, and has convinced me to seek out those Rose films with which I haven't yet become acquainted. If they're all half as good as Paperhouse and Candyman, this guy deserves far, far more attention than he's gotten. **** ½

I've seen this movie a few times on the cable movie channel some years ago and was always fasinated and enthralled by it. Why this dvd isn't in region one format is beyond me---I'm sure it will do well in sells. I agree with the other reviews---it's a gem, one of the few great psychological thriller (makes you think) and very atmospheric. I'm going to continue to look for it in region one (Peter's Friends was finally formatted to region one and I saw that it sold guite well judging by the reviews).

Before Paperhouse I didn't bother to rate the films that would came out Australia, and New Zealand.
Paperhouse is not gory or bloody, and most people who like horror, would rather watch a bad movie with blood and monsters,
than watch a good movie with no blood or evil spirits.
For that reason horror fans don't always like Paperhouse the first time they see it.
The viewer has to figure out what he is looking at on the screen.
For example the lead character of "Anna,"
who is played Charlotte Burke, keeps passing out throughout the entire picture: she simply falls right over, and it is never explained why she does that.
Some people are turned off by the things that were left unexplained in the movie: but others loved it the first time they see it.
I have watched Paperhouse several times, over and over again trying to figure out just what I liked about it:
but those who hate it will never watch it again,
I mean, it's just that kind of movie.
You love it, or you hate it, and there is no middle.
It's not like BLADE 2, where you watch it because it's the only thing on: if you hate PAPERHOUSE, you'll never watch it again.
But if you liked it, you'll watch it over and over until you love it.
"That's PAPERHOUSE."
Most of us don't talk of performances, we only want to know if something is good: we'll watch a bad movie if it wasn't as bad as we thought.
The cast of PAPERHOUSE are probably house hold names in Europe, but their actions in this movie are played ordinary,
and they portray the kind of people you and I would meet every day,
and that isn't done very often in the movies;
not in Hollywood or in Europe.
Paperhouse feels low budget, but the movie has the feeling of being the first horror movie ever made.
Not everyone will love it, because all people are different.
Thats just how it is.
If you hate it, you'll never bother with it again:
but if you love it, you'll watch it over and over again,
because you're not gonna see anything like it again.
It's just that kind of movie.
~ I'M CHAGAS.