House is a 1985 American comedy horror film directed by Steve Miner. The film is the first installment in the House film series, and stars William Katt, George Wendt, Richard Moll, and Kay Lenz. The film centers on Roger Cobb, a troubled author who moves into his late aunt Elizabeth Hopper's seemingly haunted house, and is forced to deal with supernatural phenomenon. All the while, he tries to solve the mystery of his son Jimmy’s disappearance.
House began filming on April 22, 1985. The first two weeks of production comprised shooting exteriors at the estate known today as Mills View, a Victorian style home first built in 1887 and located on Melrose Avenue in Monrovia, California. At the time, the building was owned by two Los Angeles firemen, brothers Brian and John Wade.
Production designer Gregg Fonseca and a crew of five spent about four weeks modifying the existing Victorian manor that included repainting the whole of the exterior, bordering the front yard with a wrought iron fence supported by stone pillars, and attaching foam spires to the roof. The back of the house had its clapboard façade covered with brick, and landscapers were brought in to plant flowers and reseed the dying lawn. The yard had no sidewalk at the time, so a faux walkway – made from plywood painted gray to look like concrete, and positioned to lead straight to the front porch – was added as a finishing touch. This sidewalk was pivotal in the finished film. Some time after production, a true concrete walkway was then installed in the same spot, capturing the evil nature of the one in the film.
The final six weeks of production moved operations to Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood, where two floors of the interior of the Monrovia house were recreated on sound stages. This included sets for the living room, staircase, den and three upstairs bedrooms. On a separate adjacent set, the jungle exteriors for the Vietnam flash-back scenes were also built on sound stages, taking three days to put together.
A total of seven monsters were designed and fabricated for the production. These creatures – which included the obese witch, the zombified corpse of Big Ben (Richard Moll), three demonic kids, the flying skull-faced monster in the void, the plaque mounted marlin that comes to life and the war demon from the closet – were constructed by seventeen special effects artists, over a period of three-and-a-half months. The war demon, in particular, was an elaborately built puppet, measuring eighteen feet, fully mechanized, operated by fifteen people and featured a fully working lower bowel system. In addition to puppetry and animatronics, also stop-motion and actors in rubber suit was used to create the monsters.
Despite mixed reviews, House grossed $22.1 million worldwide on a $3 million budget, making it a financial success. The film has since gone on to become a cult favorite among genre fans, and was followed by three sequels.
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment