House

Nobuhiko Obayashi
1977

Quite possibly the single weirdest picture I've seen to date. Ostensibly a play on the horror film, Nobuhiko Obayashi seems far more interested in creating a lysergic phantasmagoria of kitschy sets and liberally employing goofy pre-MTV music video effects. A gang of schoolgirls named for their singular personality traits (Melody plays instruments, Kung Fu knows Kung Fu), escape Tokyo for the countryside to an Aunt's mansion. Unfortunately for the gals, the Auntie is a sort of cosmic vampire/witch with her pulsating green-eyed fluffy white cat acting as hatchet man. The girls are picked off one by one in some of the strangest kill scenes imaginable: one girl is literally mauled to death by attacking mattresses, another is eaten alive by a hungry piano, and another is electrocuted by a rampaging light fixture. There's a little early Sam Raimi sensibility going on ("Evil Dead 2" (1987) in particular), but it's pushed way beyond the limits of reason and coherence. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to watch this movie high. Definitely worth a viewing if you ever get the opportunity.