Reviews of the house
The House, Netflix’s new year's release, is a stopmotion miniseries featuring three stories. It takes place in a sprawling house. Each short is directed by a different director. However, they share an uncanny sense dread and spookiness.
The House is the latest anthology from Nexus Studios, and it's another in a long line of projects to come out of the UK-based company (which also brought us Billie Eilish's Happier Than Ever animated special). Each of its three segments, each lasting half an hour, focuses on different aspects in the same house.
Chapter one is set in the 1800s, and centers on a poor family who move into a strange house that seems to bring bad luck and evil to its inhabitants. It's slow-burning and evocative of Wes Anderson, with a stop animation aesthetic that's as much reminiscent of Ray Harryhausen, Salad Fingers and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
The House is not just a dark comedy. It's an arthouse-style miniseries which forces you to think. The House does this in a surprising and often rewarding way.
This piece of cinema is funny, sad, hopeful and creepy. It's definitely worth a look with its captivating story beats, modern stop motion animation and fascinating story.
The House is visually stunning stop-motion film. Each chapter has beautiful detail, from flocked figurines for the second story and felt characters for the first.
The House's look is a nice throwback at the 1980s Epoch Sylvanian Families series. The chapter's felt characters add a cozy feel to the terror, while the more realistic characters in the second chapter make stop-motion films lovers happy.
The House's visuals are stunning and the script is well-written, but they aren't perfect. It doesn't overcome the minor flaws of its stories. They often substitute the surreal with more logical plot elements. While there are some moments of humor, it makes for an uneven and ultimately unsatisfying ending. This film is still worth watching for fans of stop motion animation and dark comedies.