Paperhouse 1988

I liked that, it was lovely and it was different, definitely drew me in from the start. I liked the idea behind it too.

There are a couple of things I enjoyed during "Paperhouse". One was the image of Anna's father descending from the hillside and the other was the stark imagery of the "paper" house. But that's it. I honestly could barely sit through this. It was just grating to me most of the time. The actors are repeatedly hollering "Anna!" or "Marc!" Everyone in the movie seemed totally self-absorbed. I found it impossible to care what the dreams were about or whether they had anything to do with Anna changing reality.

I watched the first 45 minutes of the movie three different times because I thought I had to be missing something. I normally can see what it is that is appreciated about a particular film, even if I disagree. I personally found very little to like about this.

This was a surprisingly great movie.

I saw it when it was somewhat new. Back then, my brother and I would each get one rental. I picked action/spy movies, he went straight to the horror section. And Paperhouse was one he picked. Today I wouldn't call Paperhouse a horror movie, but back then it was a little scary in a couple places.

Then I got a chance to see it again, in HD as well. The first two thirds are mostly what I remember. After that was all new to me. Maybe I fell asleep the first time?

Either way, great movie. Watched it with my wife. She'd never seen it before, or heard of it. Both of us were impressed.

I want to rate it higher, but for what it was, an 8 is generous. It's more deserving of a 7 or 7.5. I guess it gets the extra point for such a unique and imaginative story.

Paperhouse is an amazing movie. I hope this to get a remake, even liking the simplicity of this film.

Bernard Rose is most famous for directing Candyman, one of my personal favorites of the genre, handling atmosphere and horror to an almost perfect degree.

Before Candyman however, Rose directed this fever dream (pun intended) dark atmospheric kids thriller. Anna goes through phases of passing through a developing cold while also balancing her awkward childhood life and dreams that seem to interweave between real life and fever. Rose definitely captures the atmosphere and horror as Anna tries to make sense of her dreams, her past, her father missing from her life and what it means if he comes back into it.

As a kid, this definitely made me hide under the covers a lot. Super creepy. Watching it now, the logic is fuzzy and the script is a little weak, but the story and set created for it more than makes up for it. They really don't make them like this anymore. The end is really the worst part of this.

Rebekah McKendry recommended this on her IG and I'm so glad I followed her advice. Loved this movie! Such an interesting spin on a Twilight Zone-ish idea. The kid actor was so great at being a little shit sometimes. Also....is Glenne Headly putting on a British accent? I'm used to seeing Brits putting on an American accent but I never realized that duh, there are British movies with Americans doing a British accent.