I always enjoyed this horror/comedy when I was a kid and upon viewing it again, I still enjoy it. The film just clicks for me and there is a lot going on in this one. I watched two other horror films recently, and more happened in this film than happened in those two films combined. Not saying they were bad as one was a horror film from the 70's and there are a lot them that are slow burn and rely on a last disturbing scene to make the film. The other one was kind of bad as it was a monster film that did not feature the monsters much as all. This one shows us monsters, has flying tools that want to chop you up and has a Vietnam vet returning from the grave! It also stars a lot of actors that were more known for their roles in television rather than film as it has William Katt known for, The Greatest American Hero, George Wendt from Cheers and Richard Moll from Night Court. The comedy is pretty good, but they still keep quite a bit of horror in this one too. The second film in the series would rely a bit more on comedy and action rather than horror.
The story has a man named Roger Cobb who is a writer. He has been having trouble writing since his son turned up missing one day. His aunt kills herself in the home where the boy seemingly disappeared in the pool and Roger soon moves into the old house. He meets his neighbor who is a fan of Roger's and everything proceeds normally enough...for a couple of minutes anyway! Soon Roger is being assailed by hellish creatures in the closet of his aunt's room, being attacked by the tools in his shed, sees his ex-wife turn into a grotesque monster and has to deal with many other things in the house full of craziness. All through the movie he also tries to write his latest novel which is a true story about his time in Vietnam. He also has to babysit a kid he doesn't even know and he and Harold (the neighbor) try to fight off the 'racoon' in the closet.
This film would spawn a sequel that would feature John Ratzenberger in a small role, so this one featured Norm and then the next Cliff. There is no true part three to the series as they named a completely unrelated film named, "The Horror Show" the title House III for its non U.S.A release, but here instead of naming the next actual House film, part III they went straight to IV. That film would not be a success, but if you have seen it you can easily see why as it has none of the charm of this film or second film and was just horrifically bad! This was the best of the House films I have seen. Never saw the not really a House film, Horror Show, but considering it was not really meant to be a House film I guess it really does not count. Though I am interested in seeing it if they ever release the full version of it. Apparently, its initial cut was so gruesome it garnered an X rating! This one could almost be PG-13 as there really is not too much gore in it, no nudity and minimal cussing. Still, it was a very fun horror film to watch. I loved the whole strangeness of the House, as there are monsters in it and strange portals to strange dark realms!
