Paperhouse

Australia released, PAL/Region 4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. Languages:o English (Dolby Digital 2.0) Synopsis:Bernard Rose's Paperhouse is one of the great unknown art house horror films of the last quarter century: Once the supernatural link between Anna's crayon and her dream world is firmly established, the film takes the viewer on a hallucinatory trip that's full of foreboding. Given how the slightest alterations of the drawing have repercussions in her dreams -- the boy in the house can't walk, because he was given no legs -- it's with terrific anxiety that the viewer watches Anna violently scratch out the likeness of her father. The nightmare that follows delivers the kind of wordless horror that can only exist in the mind of a child, fixing for the viewer an unforgettable image of the angry paternal figure that lurks in the back rooms of the mind. The scenes outside of the fantasy world are of a slower pace, but they do show the real-world manifestations of Anna's fevered mental state, and flesh out some of the themes that appear in her drawing. - Eleven-year-old Charlotte Burke, the neglected daughter of Ben Cross and Glenne Headley, passes out on the school playground and dreams of visiting a house she'd previously drawn in her composition book. She imagines another visit to her "paper house" while playing hide-and-seek. Experimenting, Burke draws a figure in the window of the house; the next time she dreams, she meets a young boy, as lonely as she. Convinced that she wields a large degree of power in her pencil, Burke draws a picture of her father, Cross, hoping that in doing so he will return home. But Burke is dissatisfied with the picture, and crosses it out--whereupon Cross shows up in her dreams as a murderous stalker. What happens next is a maelstrom of psychological horror, told completely from the child's point of view. Product Description

Outstanding Semi-Horror Fantasy: An Overlooked Gem!

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+] October 15, 2006

There is no movie like it.

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. June 15, 2006

Classic non-gore horror

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. February 28, 2006

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