It appears to be about a juggling mime living in a possessed house. It stars the actors of an after-school special and the director used the theme song and credits.

Well, quite clearly this is a film version of the American television series "House", starring Hugh Laurie. Interestingly enough, it seems they have taken some liberties with the premise.

Thanks Roger, that is easily the best trailer for a film I have ever seen in my entire life!

As far as I can tell, the film is about a group of Japanese youths who go on vacation to a cabin in the mountains, only to be tortured by spirits manifested by a woman's guilt over the death of a younger sibling.

Some tricky cuts there suggesting something else, but my bet: just a straightforward, classic haunted house horror pic. Group of women, one who's recently lost her husband/boyfriend, buy/rent a haunted house and are attacked by it.

Japan. Go figure.

Looks like the Japanese equivalent to Evil Dead 2 to me...

How completely bizarre. I have no idea how any if those images could possibly be juxtaposed into a fluid story. But...intriguing nonetheless. I think, for me, it's a must-see.

I watched this twice and still have no clue. I may have to call my buddy in Tokyo to make sure I get the DVD.

Simple, it's a movie about them crazy-ass Japanese.

You are in for a real treat. This is definitely one of the most... erm... 'original' movies I've ever seen, and I totally love it for its kitschy, psychedelic insanity.

My friends and I have even made a drinking game out of it.

It's about a House that is possessed by a demon of some sort, this demon is fond of making things in the house as weird as possible, what with blood puking cats, and things of that nature.

The Japanese have made "the ghosts of the past come back to kill you" movies for decades. The blood spitting cat painting is a nice twist

Looks as if the field trip for the sophmore Home Economics class at Miss Hideko's School for Young Shinto Virgins didn't take the left at Albequeque and ended up in Marienbad, missing the carrot festival in Pismo Beach.

No clue. Some kind of evil presence luring young women into a house is all I can come up with.

P.S. Are the show archives ever going to return to the web? I was very disappointed when they disappeared within the last few weeks, but haven't heard anything about the archives' future. I assume it was shut down when the previous incarnation of the show ended.

I have seen this film in its entirety 6 times and would still have a hard time explaining WTF it is about. A first viewing just leaves you even more baffled than the preview.

Clearly, clearly, this is all about ramen.

Roger, I've seen the film and I STILL don't know WTF it was about..

I haven't got a clue although I wouldn't be surprised if the writer eats Fugu on a regular basis.

'S about a house.

I don't think it is a romance. But you know, I could be wrong. Nope can't explain it other than a human-eating piano.

HOUSE.
BLOOD.
GIRLS.
HAPPY CLOUDS/RV.
GIRLS.
BLOOD.
HOUSE.

clearly, it is the first fantasy-horror visual palindrome.

This is the post-Nolan era. We are not supposed to know what the film is about by watching the trailer. That makes it cool.

Sometimes you just have to let art wash over you.

Oh yes! The prequel to "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" It didn't do great at the box office either.

giggle.

That trailer actually does a great job of showing exactly what the movie is like. It's manic and hilarious and you should definitely watch and review it, Roger.

Sweet group of girl campers' bus breaks down and they go to (the) "HOUSE" [ominous voice over] a structure built over the gateway to Hell obviously. It was the site of - among others - ancient & non too ancient battlefields and the spot where an emperor's harem was slaughtered by an enraged and insane dowager empress mother centuries earlier... She kept standing there screaming: "The blood! The blood!"

As the girls wait for rescue they become possessed by various spirits who have mistakenly stopped there and the girls constantly relive the tragic and shocking deaths of their unfortunate predecessors -traveler's who have made the urgent stop looking for respite at [voice over] House - as well as meet a few shocking deaths of their own...

How's that?

Cracked.com recently put up this article about strange horror movies, of which House is one. Check it out:

http://www.cracked.com/article_18776_the-5-most-baffling-horror-movies-from-around-world.html

The thing that caught my eyes was that HOUSE was directed by a TV add director. I don't know if you've ever seen a Japanese commercial before, but there pretty messed up. Messed up in an awesomely frightening way I mean. Much like this trailer.

Ebert: They call him an "add director" rather than an "ad director." Trying to tell us something?

Docudrama focusing on Yokohama's fiercely competitive homebuilding industry. A horrifically lax regulatory environment during the 1970's led to a period of shoddy construction that haunts the city to this day. A must see tale that informs any community grappling with balancing the concerns of sane code enforcement versus a vital and healthy homebuilding industry.

From the credits sequence and music played therein, I'd assume it's a sitcom based on the events of Stand By Me. From the rest of the trailer, I'd say it's a combination of Evil Dead and The Bed That Eats

I've seen this movie and like others have said it's pretty much that trailer but longer. It uses the template of the haunted house to go batshit insane. It's the very definition of absurd. Think Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory meets Dante's Inferno...on crack.

As someone who has seen this movie four times, let me tell you: It makes even less sense than you'd think.

I've saw it at The New Beverly in Los Angeles. It was the most fun I've ever had at the movies. The basic premise of the story is quite simple (Telling you wouldn't spoil anything, but I'll just suggest you see it). Highly recommended.

Hausu is one of the greatest cinematic mind-f's ever put to film. It's an outrageously good party movie, it's joyous, and it's remarkably compatible with any licit or illicit substance you might want to bring along.

There's a restored 35mm reel that's occasionally on tour, paid for by Criterion. It's a total treat.

all i know is, it's a house i wouldn't want to live in!

All I know for sure is that now I have to see this.
My favorite thing was how they introduced all of the girls with shots that made them seem overly wholesome, acting too young for their ages -- the whole Japanese schoolgirl thing.

This film is nearly impossible to explain. After recently watching the film twice (one after the other) I would compare this film to 'The Haunting' as seen through the eyes of someone suffering from attention deficit disorder.

This movie is discussed in a Cracked.com article. I couldn't find it on the iPod app, but it can probably easily be found by searching "foreign horror" on their site (the article is about several incomprehensible foreign horror films, not just "House"). It seems very bizarre, indeed, and the trailer may have given the whole thing away, after all--"WTF" is it!

I believe that David Lynch has directed a Japanese version of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

The Amaterasuville Horror.

This has almost an Italian horror film feel, but with crappier special effects. But that probably works in its favor. I actually wanna see this thing.

Roger, I can't believe you haven't seen this movie. It is one of my favorite films of the last year or so. I'm not joking. One review I read said that the director never thought he would ever get a chance to make another movie so he put enough ideas for dozens into this one. It so insanely creative and hilarious. Truly nothing like it, but in a good way. I told all my friends to go, but it didn't last long at the IFC Center. I was thrilled to see that it's available on Netflix now.

Man, Ebert, it's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Stop. Wasting. My. Time.

How can I finish this damn thing when people like you (and, in fact, you yourself) are tempting me with this crazy shit? If the greatest American novel in the world doesn't make it to bookstores next year, it's your fault. Think about that. Yeah.

The comments on this thus far are so-so, but the production credit at the end lists "Toho." I can only surmise that the same people who brought us cinematic masterpieces such as "Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla" have branched out to doing re-makes of classic American movies starring William Katt and George Wendt, of which there is only one.

I hope this helps.

Um, WTF? I *almost* want to see this movie just for the blood-puking cat moment.

Couldn't you tell? ;0)
It said right on the screen - it's a fantasy horror movie! Only problem I see is that it's been done by a tv AD producer, so my guess is he can't get past the 30 second blip scene, and just mashed together a bunch of them to make a full length feature!

Obviously, it's the source material for what became this film:

http://www.atom.com/channel/channel_the_house_that_drips_blood_on_alex/

70's japanese horror film for kids who like the afterschool specials.
Blood, bad dreams and mayhem ensue.

Obviously, it's the source material for what became this film:

http://www.atom.com/channel/channel_the_house_that_drips_blood_on_alex/

Obviously, it's the source material for what became this film:

http://www.atom.com/channel/channel_the_house_that_drips_blood_on_alex/

I've seen the movie, it's pretty much just five girls who go visit one of the girls' aunts only to find out the aunt is dead and the house is haunted. From what I gather the director is actually pretty famous in Japan for making commercials, which is easy to see, since the movie is pretty much split up in to small chunks.

The pitch: Psycho meets Hello Kitty

The pitch: Psycho meets Hello Kitty

The pitch: Psycho meets Hello Kitty

It's like the Exorcist meets Alison in Wonderland meets Scooby Doo. Amazing. Besides, you don't see enough carnivorous pianos in film these days...

It's about you stress that comes from unexpected house-guests. The college age can be so inconsiderate!

Maybe the movie is a happy-go-lucky romance, and the Devil thought he could have a little fun by creating his very own YouTube mash-up spoof, throwing in his own nefarious effects. If people and houses and even (according to PTL founder Jim Bakker) computers can become possessed by the Devil, is it all that much of a stretch to think that a movie trailer can be as well?

I feel like I should step in and defend this film. I first heard about it two years ago and, as an avowed horror geek, I needed to see it. Nowadays, it's my favorite horror film, and one that I tell everybody about anytime I get the chance.
I've read a lot of comments on the web that say this movie is "so bad it's good", which really grinds my gears. Is it kitschy? Yes. Silly? Absolutely. Out there? You bet. But bad? No way.
And as for those who have seen the film and can't understand the plot: what's the matter with you? The plot is incredibly simple, but the beauty of this film isn't necessarily the story, but how it's presented. Obayashi reached into his circa 1977 bag of visual tricks and threw all of them at the screen like an abstract painter splattering paint onto a canvas, and presented the audience with something completely original. After suffering through the bullshit and tripe that America calls "horror films", seeing this film was a breath of fresh air and a kick to the face, all at once. It may not be the best film ever, but what the director did was completely original, and for that I applaud him. Whether you love this film (as I did) or couldn't stand it, you have to admit that you've never seen anything like it before, and likely never will again. I think this film is pure genius - though, as they say, the line between genius and insanity is razor-thin. But as far as I'm concerned, that's not a bad thing at all.

That's my two cents.

Makes "Un Chien Andelou" look like "Little Women."

House is a haunted house movie. A bunch of archetypal Japanese high school-aged girls visit the house of a crazy old woman and all havoc breaks loose. The movie has this sort of wild, unevenness that is really rather attractive. The female characters are introduced in vignettes that stylistically shift between various Japanese TV drama genres. Their behavior matches the blend of naivety and cuteness expected from Japanese film and TV stars of the time. Even when a girl has her fingers eaten off, she does less of a look of immediate fear or pain but rather a "take" like the kind seen in a Chuck Jones cartoon.

The movie shaped the aesthetic of many 1980s-era Japanese media images of horror. I am not sure that this will be appreciated by the audience that watches it (obviously, you would have to have seen the source material that drew from it), but I think there is an audience for the movie.

If this movie is a success on DVD in America, it will owe a massive debt to word-of-mouth generated by piracy and tape trading that went into making this a popular midnight movie over thirty years after its initial release.

Hey this looks great. My best description would be 'Evil Dead meets Repo Man meets Suspiria'

Well it takes place in a haunted house. Girls get murdered. There seem to be seven girls. I assume that it's a house they are visiting or new to, and not one where they have permanently resided for a while. I'm going to guess that all of them get murdered in some sort of gruesome and incredibly bizarre way. Plus there's a random fat man who gets turned into a cartoon skeleton. The woman at 1:02 instantly made me think of Barbra Streisand. I think that random head is the head of one of the girls who's been killed in a gruesome and incredibly bizarre way. I will also never look at cats the same way. Evil little buggers.

Anyways, my synopsis:
Seven girls go to a house to visit relatives for an idyllic vacation.But all is not as it seems. The house is haunted by a strange force (perhaps a long dead relative? seems plausible) that is both cruel and inventive. One by one, the girls die in gruesome and bizarre ways. Pianos and cats have never seemed deadlier. But who's the cause of all this horror? Watch and find out.

Meh. I tried.

As someone who has recently seen in the movie (in a theater no less) I will not abandon hope of attempting some explanation, or perhaps interpretation would be more correct. The basic trajectory includes a bunch of young teens visiting one of the teen’s (main protagonist) aunts in a house in a secluded forested section of Japan. There the aunt turns out to be either a ghost or representative of a haunted house itself. The main female protagonist, who is going through some angst wherein her father is marrying a younger woman (related to at the beginning of the move), enters a world within the house that probably reflects the emotional turmoil happening within. The end of the movie results in the removal of all main characters but the main female, and includes some interaction with her mother (as I recall). The experiences of the characters become more fantastical (as well as their manner of demise) as the movie progresses. It seems that perhaps the movie is a reflection of the angst in the female (or maybe general) youth population of the time and an answer by the director that there is no answer (speculation here of course). Would I watch this movie again: no, I am glad I watched it the first time: yes.

What I can make of it is that it's about a possessed house (no clue how it became possessed, but that's the only thing that makes sense) and somehow has a Love Boat-esque interlude. Truly something to be feared...

Oh come on, Catherine O'Hara did this skit on David Letterman back in the '80s.

Roger Corman meets hmmm....something, something... I'm at a loss but at least they shot it on Panavision and gave it a catch title

It has to be a Japanese horror film about a haunted house, but it also appears to be like a Japanese Brazil.

If the bus that they're on gets above 50 mph, the bomb is armed. If it go below 50 mph, it blows!

wow this must be a cult movie by now.
the first fantasy horror film to come to the screen certainly had an interesting trailer.

Looks like footage from several different movies sliced together...

A coming of age story about a group of six childhood friends who get together for a summer to recapture their lost youth only to discover that grandma's orphanage car wash is about to be taken over by an evil corporation who's aim is to tear it all down to build a Starbuck's and the only way to raise enough money to save grandma's business is to compete in the severed fingers classical piano competition in a sudden death rematch. Duh!

It's simple. It's The Sound Of Music, but instead of being chased by Nazis they are chased by their house.

Rented it. Watched it. Have no idea WTF it is about.

Surrealism. Important source of Korean drama horror genre.

it's a parable about the mortgage crisis.

Easy: it's about these japanese girls who walk through the forest, get to a house, scream, are bathed in blood by a cardoard cat and get eaten by a piano. I'm pretty sure it's a nice documentary.

I just watched House and I think about half of the trailer scenes were not in the actual movie. Maybe I missed them. The entire movie was like that though, so it is representative.

House orders Japanese carry out for delivery and eats.

I just watched it tonight, and I must say that it fails to live up to the hype of the trailer. :P