A Casa dos Sonhos

Paperhouse is a unique film which captures the imagination of an eleven year old girl through her continuing nightmares. Throughout the movie, the scenes are carefully thought out and the production of the 'dream house' is of superb quality. The lifeless pencil drawings of Anna's are sprung into life with an obvious amount of realism.

The horror within the film can be established during the scenes in which Anna and her father meet. The darkness of the sky during the nightmare as well as the music, come together to create a chilling atmosphere. This film should be watched.

I just watched this remarkable 1988 film which somehow managed to escape my attention previously. It may have been the Vestron distribution that worked against it - the company went under, and the film was not released on a mass scale.

I have not seen a "horror" film which involved children that impressed me as much as this since "Curse of the Cat People." "The Innocents" has just been knocked out of second spot by my viewing of this stylish film that puts "The Other" and "The Others" to shame.

The film concerns young British teen Anna, who suffers fainting spells, and in her dreams visits the house which she had drawn on paper. As the dreams go on, she meets a young male teen named Mark, whom she had drawn in the window on paper. At first she couldn't get to visit his room - he tells her she has to go back and draw the stairs.

I won't reveal more of the plot, it would be doing the film a great disservice, even though most viewers will probably be one step ahead. That's not a negative in this case, as it enables one to be more attentive to the production design of Gemma Jackson and the direction of Bernard Rose, which combine to depict incredibly stark visuals - there's no cheating with splashes of color and hazy or overlit photography that are often erroneously used to indicate a dreamlike state.

Charlotte Burke will tear at your emotions as Anna, a shame she made this her solo acting experience. Elliott Spiers is equally impressive as Mark, but he only made one more film. Glenne Headly - a New London, Connecticut native, does remarkably well in her role as Anna's mother, her accent is impeccable. This one is not to be missed.

I was absolutely stunned while watching this fantasy/horror film. The original plot has Anna (an eleven year old girl with glandular fever) sketching the crude drawing of a house during the opening scene. As her fever worsens, she repetedly dreams of the same house on an open field. In her dreams the house is brilliantly lit and looks like a real child's drawing, which I found a rather frightening image. Anna dreams of adventures in the house with a boy named Marc, and these adventures turn more sinister as her illness becomes more serious. There seems to be a link between her illness and the evil she must confront in the house, but like many things in this movie, this is only hinted at.

In many ways I found this movie better than the book, Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr. Although the novel does contain some subtle horror, it is basically for children. However, the movie offers some real scares as well as an underlying atmosphere of suppressed horror. There is something unnerving in the scenes when Anna is exploring the empty house that is difficult to put your finger on.

Perhaps the reason this amazing film wasn't a huge commercial success was because it's difficult to determine it's intended audience. While the character of Anna might appeal to preteens, some scenes (in particular the one when the father tries to break into the house with a hammer) are far too intense for young children. Most adults will be put off by the plot, but if they're at all interested in child or dream psycology, or just want to see something different, I'd throughly reccomend it.

A great film this, and a shame that it will receive little attention outside of arthouse circles and students who stay up until two in the morning to watch it on Channel Four.

The plot is a simple one but works very effectively, the blurring between child-like fantasy and hard-hitting nightmare is very well blurred. The budget looks pretty low, but to the credit of those involved it doesn't show too often. It also hasn't dated that much either.

I was lucky enough to tape this off the telly when it was on a few years ago, and it has withstood half-a-dozen viewings. It's one of those films that won't appeal to all; though as usual, those with a more thoughtful approach to cinema would get a lot out of this.

Charlotte Buerke puts in a good performance as Anna, the spoilt brat and it is a shame she seems to have gone from the acting scene. Cross is also very good, carrying the stature of his character very well within the context of the picture.

There are some genuinely (and I don't say that lightly) disturbing moments in this film, both half-second shockers and more drawn-out tensions. Watch it with the lights out!

Highly recommended.

9/10

I watched this when i was about 11 and i've always remembered "the house" and wanted to see it again. Found it the other day (i'm now 21) and just watched it and I have to say the house and the dream world is just as amazing and atmospheric as i remember but the film all round wasn't too good.

The acting is absolutely awful, glenne headly should be ashamed. But the idea is so good and yet SO wasted!

The blind dad in the dreamworld wasn't scary enough as he was too slow moving, though i loved the bit where it first shows you his silhouette at the top of the hill! very scary.

Overall the film starts with SO SO much promise but ends up fizzling away and by the end you can't help but get agitated at how much you'll want to go back to 1988 and take over the directing (and writing) job and complete this film how it should have been (with good ideas!!).

I'll give it a 7 simply for the dreamworld as i'll never forget it. Even though nothing much happens, right from the first time she enters it, you feel a sense of unease.