House ハウス 1977 - Japan

****I will not ruin the ending of the film for any reader's who might feel compelled to watch it afterwards****

I have decided to write my first post about one of my personal favorite films, and a movie I believe everyone should watch at least once in their life... and that is HOUSE (ハウス), a 1977 Japanese horror film directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. 

Despite sub par acting and elementary imagery, this film delivers plenty of creepy fun. The story follows a young girl, Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami) and her six classmates, Kung Fu, Prof, Fantasy, Mac, Melody and Sweet, as they visit her aunt's house for summer vacation. Things start to go wrong almost immediately as, one by one, the girls begin to disappear...each one being devoured by the house itself! Add into the mix the most unusual evil aunt to ever grace a screen - and her sidekick witch cat - and you get a horror flick that is anything but ordinary.

WELCOME!

Welcome to Lights, Camera, Asia!

The purpose of this blog is to review, analyze and share the popular (and the not so popular) films from East Asia. But why this part of the world? 

Well, lets start with a little bit about myself. My name is Whitney, and I graduated with a BA in Film. In the next few years, I hope to enter graduate school, so I may become a professor in film, with a focus on East Asian cinema.  The reason I have chosen this subregion is because of my interest and job related experience with some of the countries included. During college, I received a minor in the Japanese language, as well as I self taught myself Korean. I had the opportunity to study abroad in both of these wonderful countries, as well as visit Hong Kong. 

I also have an interest in East Asian film because I feel in American colleges, film study classes seem to rarely focus on Asian film at all. Though there are some colleges that do offer these type classes, there are many that do not. During my time in college, the only time I was able to study Asian film was during my exchange student year in Korea. Back home, I learned of mostly America and European films. If Asian films were ever mentioned, it was a very small part of any class. 

The cinema of East Asian film is very important because many directors and films from these countries have played large roles in influencing American film (& probably other countries) in many ways. Not to mention, that many films in the US market are remakes of original Asian films (ie. OldBoy, The Grudge, Shall We Dance?, Taxi, Death at a Funeral.)The list can go on and on. Many people do not even realize that these movies are originally from Asia.

So with this blog, I would love to share some of my favorite films, and even learn about some new films, myself, as I begin my adventure. 

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Thank you and Enjoy

W