Alas, The New Beverly run of Nobuhiko Obayashi's horror ride, HAUSU has come to an end, and I have to say that it was a fantastic turnout deserving of such a unique piece of work. The experience of seeing it in a crowd exceeded expectations in numerous ways as it was clear fe knew what to expect from this. And the reactions ranged from occasional gasps, and large waves of laughter from a film unafraid to ignore conventions, and just run wild with ideas like a tie-splitting rally in the fourth quarter. Moments that had long made me worry for their public exhibition went over beautifully, as even the most bizarre gags were welcomed with open arms.
Even had a chance to bring some friends, visiting from my home area of Palm Springs to see the film for the first time. And their reactions alone made the evening. This is how we experience films like this, no matter how much I enjoy surprising friends with weird titles at home. HAUSU is what could easily have been a midnight movie classic alongside ERASERHEAD, Il Topo, Rocky Horror, and so on. Its been a long time coming, and still deserves late night audiences all over.
The movie house itself was beautiful in its intimacy. Very small, welcoming crew made it truly feel like a person's little abode, and not some atypical venue for cinema fans. An even smaller theater than the ART theater in Long Beach, this is an ideal place for works of this ilk, and I can't wait to stop by again.
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