The House

The stop animation is definitely beautiful. There was a lot of attention to detail and love poured into it.

The story itself was interesting. The first chapter has that mystery olden horror into it, and I kinda thought it would play out more twisty then what we actually got.

Second chapter was both hilarious and sad, with kinda a fitting ending.

The third chapter was also well done. Helena Bonham Carter was a gem in it.

Overall the story and theme can be interpreted in anyway or taken straight as a whole story. Definitely didn't regret watching this movie. Hoping they make more with more twisty story.

I just finished my first 2022 title, and it was hypnotically weird "The House" streaming on Netflix and produced by Nexus Studios, i can't recommend it enough. It is wildly ambitious triptych, which uses stop motion animation to explore peculiar inhabitants in a house through different periods of time and worlds. All the stories take place at the same house, across different eras exploring the theme of home, capitalism, existential crisis, dreams and emptiness as the living are reduced to inanimate entities.

In Emma de Swaef & Marc James Roels opening act, "And Heard Within. A Lie Is Spun," it is a gothic tale with all the classic haunted house genre troupes. We follow the Raymond family who abandon their modest lifestyle and relocate to a luxurious mansion nearby, it belongs to Van Schoonbeek, a mysterious and faceless architect. What follows is the supernatural drama which is developed in a very interesting labyrinth like narrative. There are so many moments but everything is presented with an indispensable horror subtext. Even the furniture and the mundanity of Raymond family does accentuate the atmosphere of the film. It is normal but disturbing with eerie soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla. My pick and my favourite in this three-part anthological film.

The second chapter, directed by Niki Lindroth von Bahr's is titled "Then Lost is Truth that Can't be Won," set in the modern world, at the centre of the story is an anthropomorphic rat. He is now the developer for the Van Schoonbeek's estate and desperately hopes for a good buyer. He is disillusioned with the way his life unfolds and is bombarded with calls from the bank. He is enthusiastic about the unannounced visit of a couple who show interest to buy the house but later finds out their motive. This leads to all sorts of miscommunication and strife with the strange visitors. From there, a Kafkaesque labyrinth is built based on the home invasion genre and it is impossible for the protagonist to recover. The existential crisis increases with the passing of days, it turns out the person (darling) who he speaks over phone is his dentist. He is plagued by bugs and in the midst of all the stuff, there is Busby Berkeley-esque dance number for the vermin. It is funny and sad but never taking itself too seriously but reveals the obsession which cost the protagonist everything. In order to not give away everything, i don't want to reveal much.

The concluding chapter, directed by Paloma Baeza "Listen Again and Seek The Sun" is set in a post-apocalyptic flooded wasteland and the setting serves as the backdrop for the Van Schoonbeek estate. A fed-up landlady (Rosa) has to put up with the antics of her laid back tenants - Jen and Elias who never pay their rent in money but through crystal stone and fish. Jen is visited by her partner Cosmos and this irks Rosa. Nevertheless, she agrees to offer accommodation in return to restore the dilapidated house. This decision turns the life of the landlady completely upside down resulting in a bittersweet ending. This chapter is a hodgepodge and doesn't seem to fit with the tone of the previous two. It also blends humour and emotion well with little room for surrealism.

Minor quibbles aside, i'm happy that Netflix backed this experiment. I was surprised when a niche series like Brand New Cherry Flavor was sold to the mainstream. I was so impressed with The Summit of the Gods (2021) and The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021). I hope they can assemble many more such experiments and balance it with a commercially clickbait titles too.

Overall, If you are into stop-motion animation, this is a must watch. Those who can appreciate surrealism from a purely visual point of view, i bet you won't be disappointed by this film. If you happen to love this, i recommend a list of underrated filmmakers who have some amazing stop motion titles to their credit: Lee Hardcastle, Robert Morgan, Christiane Cegavske, Jirí Barta, Regina Pessoa, Suzan Pitt, Tadanari Okamoto, Tomoki Misato, Izabela Plucinska, Siqi Song, Daria Kashcheeva, Jan Balej, Dave Borthwick, Martha Colburn, Phil Tippett, Cesar Cabral, Katariina Lillqvist, Takeshi Yashiro, Jirí Trnka, Brothers Quay, Len Lye, Anna Solanas, Bruce Bickford, Marc Riba, Jan Lenica, Keita Kurosaka, Ujicha, Joaquín Cocina and Cristobal Leon worth checking out in that regards.

Though 'IMDb' lists 'The House (2022)' as a TV series*, 'Netflix' presents it as a feature-length affair and plenty of online sources (including 'Wikipedia' and several reputable film critics) refer to it as a movie. As such, I'm going to consider it a feature film, making it the first film I've seen that was initially released in 2022. It's also worth noting that, although its three stories exist more or less in isolation from one another, the thing feels like a cohesive experience that presents a few different interpretations of its central concept (so it's better suited to a movie than a mini-series, in my opinion). The first flick of the year is usually a bit subpar, but this is far from such. It's actually pretty great. The piece is an anthology of stop-motion animation that tells three distinct stories, each of which surround the eponymous house regardless of the fact that they're separated by many years and, even, the species of creature they focus on. The fact that the three stories star humans, rats and cats respectively can be interpreted in a few ways. Firstly, the changes in species could be entirely stylistic, meaning that the characters are represented by humans, rats and cats but are actually always one of the three (perhaps whichever you most connect with). Secondly, the timeline could be entirely linear and be set over a couple of thousand years rather than a couple of hundred, with giant rats at some point overthrowing humans before then themselves being overthrown by giant cats. The third possibility is that the house transcends conventional boundaries of space and time, occupying several different realities (across which these three stories take place). This aspect of the picture isn't particularly important and is certainly open to interpretation, like most of the narrative's surrealist events. It isn't so much a straightforward plot as it is a sort of unsettling mood poem. Even though the three stories are written by the same person, they feel wildly different in terms of tone and theme. Even their aesthetics are unique, the loose wool of the first segment contrasting sharply with the crisp fibres of the last. The segments compliment each other, though. In a way, they each start with the same concept and take it in their own direction, which makes for a consistently compelling watch. The first segment is, for me, the highlight, with a genuinely creepy atmosphere and a wonderfully moody aesthetic. There's something almost intangible about it and it often makes you smile because of how confidently bizarre it is. It feels like 19th century gothic horror, even if it's a lot more surreal than most entries in that genre, and it's certainly the most conventionally disquieting short in the film. The second segment has a surprisingly effective final moment, though, which is all the more startling because most of this story plays out like a pseudo 'kitchen sink' drama about an uncannily realistic renovator. As a result, it's actually rather scary as a whole. Its down-to-earth central performance and its nuanced animations make it feel remarkably true to life despite the fact that it features talking rodents. This is actually one of the things that makes it get under your skin, since it feels so strangely familiar and stressfully alien all at once. The moments of genuine comedy (largely absent from the first story) also add to this effect. The picture's third segment is very light on horror, more or less whittling its scares down to the gnawing realisation that the protagonist has been trapped by her own domesticity. It's a different sort of horror and it plays out more like a drama for most of its duration. Its hopeful ending is also tinged with a dash of sadness; perhaps it's too good to be true? Despite not being creepy, the final movement is still effective and engaging. Overall, this is a really solid animated horror film. Its aesthetic is gorgeous and its concepts are oddly engrossing. It isn't terrifying, but it is unsettling and it has the ability to provoke real retrospection. It's an entertaining affair from start to finish. 7/10.

*'IMDb' has subsequently altered the movie's page, which means that 'The House (2022)' is now correctly labelled as a film rather than a TV show.

With imagery that seems to recall nightmares everyone seems to have at some point, The House is actively engaging and eye-catching. At first.

The movie is actually an anthology with three episodes set in the same house, in different decades and with different types of characters. The first chapter is the best one, with a fully thought-out concept that is clichéd but very effective. The ending is somewhat unsatisfying, leaves the viewer wanting for more in the same way watching a movie trailer does.

The second episode is wayy less effective. Thematically and plot-wise, there seems to be no connection between the episodes. Worse than that, the ideas they seem to have wanted to explore feel only hinted at. After the second episode, I just gave up. Overall, first chapter is worth watching if only for the spooky atmosphere and engaging story. The second chapter destroys whatever promise the first one showed. Having top notch production values does not make up for lack of plot and faulty writing.

Animation is superlative. The problem is with the scripts. The first story was good but had an abrupt ending. The rest two were pretty bad except for one or two funny dialogues.